Nacogdoches

by Robert Bruce Blake

Commercial Expansion

In the meantime the town began to grow. It was the home of many of the prominent leaders of Texas during the time of the republic, whose influence was felt in the public affairs of the country. General Thomas J. Rusk was a citizen of Nacogdoches until his death. Sam Houston frequently was a resident until his removal to Huntsville. Charles S. Taylor was very prominent in public affairs. William B. Ochiltree lived here for a time. Thomas J. Jennings, the elder, lived here until his removal to Marshall, as did Dr. James H. Starr. James Reily, who was minister to the United States, had his home here. These are some of the men more prominent in public life; among private citizens there were also many whose names were well known throughout the land. Adolphus Sterne, Archibald Hotchkiss, Henry Raguet and others might be mentioned. Of the county officers Oscar L. Holmes, Richard Parmalee, Murray Orton, William Hart and others were prominent. Colonel Haden Edwards, who returned to Nacogdoches after the bitterness of the Fredonian rebellion had subsided, was here until his death, and his family continued to live here for many years afterwards.

S. M. Orton Home
Built in 1840.
Has “Strong Room” built for temporary detention of prisoners by Sheriff Orton.

The invaluable services of Nacogdoches and its people in opening up the great northern regions of Texas, after the expulsion of the Indians, had the result, unfortunate for it but inevitable, of diminishing the population and importance of the town. New centers of agriculture and trade sprang up and became towns which attracted more and more people to themselves, and new opportunities presented themselves for business enterprise. It was easier to fence in the prairies than to clear the forest lands of East Texas. Many of the citizens of Nacogdoches, including some of the more prominent persons, removed to other places.

After the annexation of Texas to the United States, Nacogdoches gradually settled down to the station of one of the many flourishing towns of the State, and lost the preeminence in political and social matters which had been its lots from the beginning of its history. With San Augustine it still continued to be the center of this section of the State, and the two towns cooperated harmoniously in the development of the surrounding regions.

Nacogdoches has always been an important social center. Even under Spanish rule it was noted for the culture of its inhabitants, and during the residence of the Governor of the State at this place in the unsettled period after the Louisiana purchase, there was a social life here that was not unworthy of a larger city. During the third and fourth decade of the Nineteenth Century social amenities prevailed even through the confusion of changing political scenes of that time. The Mexican officers at that time were, as a rule, gentlemen, and the American immigrants included many persons of high culture and attainments. After the revolution the social standing of the place grew even stronger. It was not merely in entertainments and enjoyments that Nacogdoches and San Augustine set the pace in East Texas; they became centers of learning as well. Schools flourished, and a refined taste in literary and scholastic affairs exhibited higher ideals of mental achievements. The University of Nacogdoches was established in 1845, and attracted many persons who were desirous of scholastic training.

Old North Church
Founded 1838.
Standing four miles north Nacogdoches. See [page 22].

When the shadow of war fell over the country in 1861, Nacogdoches at once took her place among those who were ready to offer their belongings and their lives upon the altar of their country. Her soldiers went to the front and did gallant service for the cause of the Confederacy. At home, the women and other non-combatants worked and prayed for the success and safety of their loved ones far away on the battlefield. But war brought ruin to the town; the schools were overwhelmed in the general desolation. Business enterprise was at an end, and the great stores gave place to little shops, which barely supplied the necessities of life. The soldiers came home and went back to their farms, but the old plantations had disappeared and the fields barely produced a living for their owners and workers. The town itself was reduced to the proportions of an insignificant village. The people bravely kept up the traditions of a more affluent existence, but it was a mournful struggle against untoward conditions.

These conditions prevailed for twenty years, but at length a harbinger of better times appeared in the shape of a railroad, the Houston East and West Texas, connecting Houston and Shreveport. It was a narrow-gauge road, burning wood for fuel and creeping along at an extremely low rate of speed, but it was the first road to pass through East Texas, where formerly the wagon and the two-horse hack formed the sole means of transportation. It brought new business, new people and new ambitions to the place which soon began to be built up in brick in place of the old wooden houses of the earlier years. Soon cotton wagons assembled, bearing bales of wealth, and in the autumn season the streets were filled with people from surrounding counties selling their crops and buying supplies.

There was no boom. The town grew gradually and slowly. Greater business enterprises were undertaken and accomplished and various kinds of improvements were effected in the way of conveniences of living. For many years the village spirit remained among the people. Everybody knew everybody else, and each was interested in the welfare of all. New churches were erected and a new court house and also, sad to relate, a new jail. A large lumber mill was erected on the east side of town which added to the prosperity of the place.

Finally, after the World War, when a number of new teachers colleges were authorized by the Legislature, the enterprising spirit of the citizens secured the location of that one named for Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, and the promise of cultured prosperity evinced in the days of the Republic, but sadly interrupted by war, was at length realized. Nacogdoches had now become one of the fairest of the little cities of Texas and bids a hearty welcome to all comers within her borders.

And so we close the story of Nacogdoches under nine flags: The Lilies of France with LaSalle in 1685; the Flag of Castile and Aragon of Spain in 1716; the green flag of the Magee-Guitierrez Expedition in 1813; Long’s flag of the First Republic of Texas in 1819; the white and red flag of the Republic of Fredonia in 1826; the flag of the Mexican Republic—1821-1836; the Lone Star Flag of the Republic of Texas; the Stars and Bars of the Southern Confederacy—1861-1865; and finally the Stars and Stripes forever.

Historical Sites in Nacogdoches County

THE OLD STONE FORT
The above drawing was made from the earliest photograph of the Old Stone Fort. The original picture has been re-photographed and the reproduction forms a treasured scene in many homes of the city.

For one hundred fifty years tradition has thrown a veil of romance around the old building that formerly stood at the corner of Main and Fredonia streets, facing the northeast corner of the Plaza Principal in Nacogdoches, where the two main branches of El Camino Real merged.

Even as early as Revolutionary days it was regarded by many as being one of the old mission buildings, and later years this belief was strengthened when a wandering sign painter, with the permission of John S. Roberts, painted a sign for the front of his saloon in the old structure: “The Old Stone Fort, erected in 1719”.

The Stone House, as it was called in the early records, has a history more intriguing, more romantic, than any other building in the state of Texas, not even excluding the Alamo. Over its walls all but one of the nine flags of Nacogdoches have flown.

Built as a private enterprise by Antonio Gil Ybarbo in 1779, as a trading post, it soon became the most important building in the New Philippines. In 1801 Lieut. Musquiz brought Peter Ellis Bean and the remainder of Philip Nolan’s expedition and placed them in the Old Stone Fort, where they remained for thirty days.

Cordero, governor of the Province of Texas, together with General Herrera and 1300 Spanish troops, had his headquarters in the stone house when the treaty creating the “Neutral Ground” was agreed upon on November 6, 1806. For three months it was the seat of government of the Eastern Provinces of Spain, when Governor Manuel de Salcedo was here in the summer of 1810.

Magee and Gutierrez proclaimed their republican government from the old building in 1813; as did Dr. James Long on August 14, 1819. Again it became the capitol of the Fredonian Government, and on December 23, 1826, the Fredonian flag was raised over its walls.

Following the collapse of the Fredonian republic, the old building was occupied as a home by John Durst, and the happy laughter of little children resounded within its walls. Louis O. and Miss Benigna Durst were born in the old house, inherited by Durst from his foster-father Samuel Davenport, who purchased the property in 1806.

In 1831 John Durst moved to his new home on the Angelina river and the Old Stone Fort was sold to Juan Mora, the district judge, and Vicente Cordova, district attorney under the Mexican regime, in 1834. The official records were again placed in the old building, where they remained until a courthouse was built in 1840.

Within its walls the oath of allegiance was administered by the Mexican authorities to such celebrities as James Bowie, Thomas J. Rusk, Sam Houston and David Crockett. Around its walls the forces of Bustamente and Santa Anna vied for supremacy on August 2, 1832, at the Battle of Nacogdoches. Then in the spring of 1836, the stone walls of the old building seemed a bulwark of safety to the few brave souls who refused to flee from threatened Indian massacre in the Runaway Scrape.

On March 17, 1837, the first regular term of district court under the republic assembled in the Old Stone Fort, followed by a special term in August of the same year, presided over by “Three-legged” Willie, with a pistol as his gavel, at which time General Thomas J. Rusk delivered one of his famous orations, which has been preserved to us in our court records.

Even the transfer of title to the old house from Vicente Cordova brings an element of tragedy and in some respects even comedy. Cordova was the leader in the so-called Cordova Rebellion in 1838, in which Zechariah Fenley was murdered and one of his slaves taken away. Following this, in 1840, Rebecca Fenley filed suit for damages against Cordova, not for the death of her husband, but for the loss of her slave. Cordova was a fugitive and a judgment against him for $1500 resulted in a sale of his half-interest in the Old Stone Fort under execution, being purchased by Rebecca Fenley, who was a daughter of Mrs. John S. Roberts.

The Old Stone Fort remained in the Roberts family until it was purchased by Perkins Brothers in 1901; after which it was torn down, the material given to the Cum Concilio Club of Nacogdoches, who used the stones in the erection of the Stone Fort Memorial in 1907 at the northwest corner of Washington Square, where it remained as a museum until 1936, when the State of Texas again used the material from the Old Stone Fort in the erection of the present Replica of the Old Stone Fort on the beautiful campus of Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College at the intersection of Griffith and Clark Boulevards.

REPLICA OF THE OLD STONE FORT
Replica of the Old Stone Fort, erected by the State of Texas as a part of its Centennial program, 1936. It stands on the campus of the Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College and is maintained by the State as a museum.

THE MISSIONS AND PRESIDIO.—During the summer of 1716, under the direction of Captain Don Domingo Ramon, three missions and a presidio were erected in the present Nacogdoches county. The Presidio Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, built in 1716, was repaired and enlarged by the Marquis de Aguayo in 1721, and abandoned about 1730. Built by the Spanish government as a fort and headquarters for soldiers guarding the East Texas Missions and the borders of the New Philippines, it overlooked Los Terreros or Mill creek, near the intersection of the Lower Douglass road with the road from Douglass to Wells.

The Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purissima Concepcion was built 1.25 miles northeast of Goodman crossing of the Angelina river, near “two bubbling springs” in the heart of the Hainai Indian village. In 1731 this mission was moved to San Antonio where it now stands.

The Mission San Jose de los Nazonis was built 2.6 miles northeast of the present town of Cushing, overlooking Dill creek. In 1731 this mission was also removed to San Antonio, where it was called San Juan Capistrano.

Mission Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe was founded at the same time on the west side of North street in Nacogdoches, overlooking Banito creek, which was called “the creek of the mission.” This mission was never permanently abandoned until it was replaced by the church which stood on the little plaza in front of the present court house, built in 1802. The third Catholic church was formerly the home of Nathaniel Norris at the northwest corner of Hospital and North streets. The fourth church was the Sacred Heart church on Pecan street, built in 1847 under the influence of Bishop J. N. Odin; which was in turn replaced by the present Sacred Heart church, built in 1937 on a portion of the homestead of Judge Charles S. Taylor on North street, the house of the old Sacred Heart church being rebuilt about eight miles south of Nacogdoches as the Fern Lake church. The sites of the presidio and missions have been appropriately marked by the State of Texas.

OLD STAGE STAND NEAR CHIRENO.—On Highway 21 about two miles west of the town of Chireno is a very old house on the north side of the road. It was built in the early forties of last century by Mr. James B. Johnson, who was the first mayor of San Augustine. It was used as a halfway station between San Augustine and Nacogdoches for the old Concord coaches used at that time for mail and passenger service. Here the horses were changed and passengers had meals. Another station on the same coach line stands in the town of Douglass, fourteen miles west of Nacogdoches.

EYES OF FATHER MARGIL.—The old Spanish legend relates that in the first year after the Mission Guadalupe was built there was a great drouth and water was scarce. Father Margil went out in faith and smote the rock on the bank of LaNana creek, which had completely dried up, and two unfailing springs gushed out. They were called “Los Ojos de Padre Margil,” The Eyes of Father Margil, and are located in what was formerly known as Mims Park, now a pasture in the rear of the J. R. Gray residence.

RESIDENCE OF PETER ELLIS BEAN.—One of the members of Nolan’s expedition; was captured by Lieut. Musquiz and held prisoner many years in Mexico. During the Revolution under Morelos he made his escape and joined the revolutionary forces. Settled in East Texas and had several homes there. One of these was on the Carrizo creek, on the upper Melrose road, four and one-fourth miles east of Nacogdoches. Marked by the State of Texas.

OAK GROVE CEMETERY.—The State of Texas has placed granite markers at the graves of the four signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence who are buried in this cemetery: Thomas J. Rusk, Charles S. Taylor and John S. Roberts, who represented the Municipality of Nacogdoches, and William Clark, who represented Sabine District. The graves of the following veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto have also been marked: E. E. Hamilton, Capt. Hayden Arnold. Markers have been placed at the graves of Haden Edwards, empresario and leader of the Fredonians, and his wife, Susan Beal Edwards; General Kelsey Harris Douglass, commander-in-chief of the forces that drove the Indians out of East Texas in 1839; Dr. Robert Anderson Irion, Secretary of State in the Cabinet of Sam Houston, first president of the Republic of Texas, and Thos. Y. Buford.

GRAVE OF WILLIAM GOYENS.—Goyens family cemetery, four miles southwest of Nacogdoches, near Aylitos creek. Only negro to be honored by the State of Texas with a Centennial marker. Participated in Battle of New Orleans. Came to Texas in 1821. Indian Agent under Mexican government, lawyer in Alcalde court. Participated in the Texas Revolution in 1836; noted for his private charities. Although the Constitution of Republic and State both forbade the holding of land by negroes, Goyens amassed a considerable fortune with his land deals and was owner of thousands of acres of land at his death in 1856. His white wife, whom he married in 1828, is buried by his side.

GRIFFITH PARK.—The park fronting North street and extending from Caroline street on the south to the southern border of the campus of Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College on the north. Given to the city of Nacogdoches by the Griffith heirs in memory of Dr. L. E. Griffith and his wife, Sarah Jane Clark Griffith, and Dr. Griffith’s brother, Alfred. Dr. L. E. Griffith came to Nacogdoches from San Augustine about 1850 and was one of the builders of modern Nacogdoches. The park was dedicated to Dr. Griffith and the early pioneers of Nacogdoches.

INDIAN MOUNDS.—On the corner of the school campus at Mound and Arnold streets, was a large Indian Mound 150×75 feet and about fifteen feet high. On the corner opposite was a circular Mound about 75 feet in diameter. These Mounds were leveled to make room on the campus. One small mound still remains on the front lawn of the T. M. Reavley home. An oak tree of considerable size grows from the summit of it. (See [back cover]).

OLD NORTH CHURCH.—About four miles north near Highway 35, North Church was built in 1838, but the congregation had met for some time before the house was built, under an oak tree, the lower part of the trunk of which still stands. It was first known as Union church, being intended for two bodies of Baptists as well as other denominations. It has since become the property of the Missionary Baptists, who hold regular services there. The old cemetery contains the graves of many of the early settlers of Nacogdoches county. Marked by the State of Texas.

ADOLPHUS STERNE’S HOME.—The old home of Adolphus Sterne is situated on LaNana street, formerly called Sterne street. Built about 1830, in this house General Sam Houston was baptized into the Roman Catholic church in May, 1833. Now known as the Hoya home. Marked by the State of Texas.

NACOGDOCHES UNIVERSITY.—The Nacogdoches University was established in 1845, and at first occupied the “Old Red House” on Pilar street. Later the Sons of Temperance Hall was acquired, and in 1856 the present high school campus was donated to the University and given the name of Washington Square. Two buildings were erected—a frame building for the Female Department of the University, and a brick house for the Male Department. The brick structure still stands in the center of the group of buildings. Marked by the State of Texas.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH.—The first Episcopal Church stood on Church street.

OLD SPANISH CEMETERY.—Where the courthouse now stands, was used from 1800 to 1825. The burial place of many of the earliest settlers of Nacogdoches, among whom was Antonio Gil Ybarbo, founder of Modern Nacogdoches. Marked by the State of Texas.

THE PROTESTANT ELM.—The noted Elm Tree stood immediately east of the Southern Pacific freight depot and just south of a brick warehouse now there. Henry Stephenson preached under this tree in 1819.

HOSPITAL STREET.—The old Spanish hospital, from which the street derives its name, was situated on the corner of Pecan and Hospital, in front of the Methodist church. Across Pecan street was the old Cabildo or jail, built in 1835. Adjoining it on the west was the Hall of the Sons of Temperance during the period of the Republic of Texas. On the block where the First Presbyterian church now stands was the old Bull Ring, where bull fights were held during the Spanish and Mexican regime.

THE OLD SOLEDAD.—Famous throughout East Texas prior to 1800 as the headquarters of William Barr and Samuel Davenport, Indian traders; was located on the block on which the Texan Theatre now stands. Marked by the State of Texas.

THE RED HOUSE.—About 1827 Colonel Piedras, comandante of the Mexican garrison in Nacogdoches, built a house—part adobe and part frame—on Pilar street in the block west of the Square, for the accommodation of his officers and as headquarters for his forces. After the Texas Revolution this house was sold under execution on a judgment against Colonel Jose de las Piedras and became the property of Gen. Thomas J. Rusk. General Rusk made his home there when he first came to Nacogdoches in 1835, and remained there for eight or nine years. In 1845 the University of Nacogdoches used it for class rooms. Later it was used by various parties as an inn.

THOMAS F. McKINNEY.—Site of mercantile establishment of Thomas F. McKinney—1823-1830. As senior member of the firm of McKinney and Williams, built first wharf at Galveston. Financial adviser of the Republic and creator of the Texas Navy. Site marked by the State of Texas.