Austin has been the capitol city of Texas since 1839, but few people know that the city was once at risk of being ousted from its position. In fact, despite the fact that buildings had been constructed in the city and the entire governing body had been relocated to Austin, Sam Houston made a genuine attempt to relocate the capitol seat from Austin to Houston in 1841.

The decision to name Austin the capitol city of Texas was one that garnered a great deal of controversy. Houston wasn’t the only one who opposed naming Austin as the state capital, but Mirabeau B. Lamar, who was the president of the Republic of Texas at the time, held strong and ultimately succeeded at having Austin named the state’s capital city. Once Lamar’s political rival, Sam Houston, took over the presidency Tadalis SX in 1841, however, Houston made a concerted effort to relocate the seat of the state’s government to Houston and then later to Washington-on-the Brazos.

In his attempt to convince others to move the capitol city, Houston expressed concern about the two Mexican army incursions that had taken place in San Antonio. In response to these concerns and out of fear that the city of Austin was going to essentially turn into a ghost town, its population plummeted to about 200. Those who stayed behind, however, were ready and willing to defend the town until the end. In fact, on December 29, 1842, a group of men attempted to remove the archives of Texas from Austin in order to relocate them to Washington-on-the-Brazos. Those residents who remained would have nothing to do with this action and forcibly kept the archives within the capitol city.

Clearly, Houston’s attempts to relocate the capitol seat were unsuccessful.
By 1844, Anson Jones took over the Texas presidency. About a year after taking over the presidency, Jones called together a convention to consider a new state constitution and to discuss annexation to the United States. After the state was admitted to the Union in 1845, two statewide elections took place in an attempt to once again move the capital elsewhere. Both elections were unsuccessful, resulting in Austin being named the seat of government in the new state constitution.

Despite the fact that Austin had been reaffirmed as the state capital, it’s population still suffered. In fact, it wasn’t until Christmas Day in 1871, at which time the first train arrived in downtown Austin, that a building a population boom ensued. From that point forward, Austin became a mercantile and shipping center for the Central Texas area.

Author Bio: Jim Olenbush works in the Austin real estate industry. His team sells central Cialis Austin real estate, and they are also very experienced with the Lake Travis area. Jim and his team would love to answer any questions you may have about Austin.

Category: Recreation and Leisure/Travel
Keywords: Austin, Texas, Capital, History