HISTORY
When Republic of Texas Vice-President Mirabeau B. Lamar accepted an invitation from his friend Jacob Harrell for a hunting trip to Central Texas, the buffalo were running aplenty around Harrell's trading post alongside the Lower Colorado River.
As Lamar surveyed the verdant, rolling landscape, he mused about all great cities following Rome's tradition of being built on seven hills. On that fall day in 1838, Lamar declared, "This should be the seat of future government."
When he succeeded Sam Houston as president a few months later, Lamar immediately set out to move the seat of government from Houston to the settlement that would soon be named Austin for Stephen F. Austin, who brought the first Anglo colonists to the area in 1821. Work on a new capitol began in May 1839, and the first 306 lots for the newly platted city sold on August 1, 1839.
The limestone hills and peridot-colored waters have always and continue to define Austin's legacy and charm. The original settlers, Tonkawa or Tickanwatic tribes who called themselves "those most like humans"-followed deer and buffalo herds to the fertile land. Spaniards explorers first arrived in 1709. They returned in 1730 to build a mission at the free-
When Republic of Texas Vice-President Mirabeau B. Lamar accepted an invitation from his friend Jacob Harrell for a hunting trip to Central Texas, the buffalo were running aplenty around Harrell's trading post alongside the Lower Colorado River.
As Lamar surveyed the verdant, rolling landscape, he mused about all great cities following Rome's tradition of being built on seven hills. On that fall day in 1838, Lamar declared, "This should be the seat of future government."
When he succeeded Sam Houston as president a few months later, Lamar immediately set out to move the seat of government from Houston to the settlement that would soon be named Austin for Stephen F. Austin, who brought the first Anglo colonists to the area in 1821. Work on a new capitol began in May 1839, and the first 306 lots for the newly platted city sold on August 1, 1839.
The limestone hills and peridot-colored waters have always and continue to define Austin's legacy and charm. The original settlers, Tonkawa or Tickanwatic tribes who called themselves "those most like humans"-followed deer and buffalo herds to the fertile land. Spaniards explorers first arrived in 1709. They returned in 1730 to build a mission at the free-
AUSTIN
By Adi Tuchshnieder
By Adi Tuchshnieder
