Editing San Felipe, Texas (section)

==History==
In 1823, John McFarland operated a ferry on the Brazos River near this location. In the fall of the same year, the site was chosen by Stephen F. Austin, with the help of [[Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop]], to be the main site in Texas for American colonization. Founded in 1824 as San Felipe de Austin, the town served as the capital of Stephen F. Austin's first colony and the founding site of the [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]].<ref name=HTO>{{cite web | last=Jackson | first=Charles Christopher | title=San Felipe de Austin, TX | url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/san-felipe-de-austin-tx | access-date=April 24, 2023}}</ref>

By 1828, San Felipe had been surveyed, with ''Calle Commercio'' laid out as the main commercial street. Austin and his secretary, [[Samuel May Williams]], both resided in log cabins on the square. There were about 30 buildings, and at least one of these was a wood-framed structure. Also on the square was the tavern of Jonathan Peyton.<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/samuelmaywilliam00hens/page/16 16]|author=Margaret Swett Henson|title=Samuel May Williams: Early Texas Entrepreneur|url=https://archive.org/details/samuelmaywilliam00hens|url-access=registration|publisher=Texas A & M University Press|location=College Station, TX|year=1976|isbn=9780890960097}}</ref> Starting in 1830, [[James (Jack) Cummins]] operated a nearby lumber mill and grist mill, and about the same time, settlers raised livestock in  the area.<ref name=HTO/>

By 1835, the town's population had increased to around 600.<ref name=HTO/>

It was home to the first post office and one of the earliest newspapers and land offices in Texas. San Felipe was second only to [[San Antonio]] as a commercial center of Texas.

The Texas conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the [[Consultation (Texas)|Consultation]] of November 3, 1835, were held here. San Felipe acted as the capital for the provisional government of Texas until the Convention of 1836. The town was burned in 1836 to prevent the Mexican army from capturing it, and rebuilt a few years later, but never regained its popularity. The oldest post office in Texas is located here (ZIP code 77473).<ref>Charles Christopher Jackson, "SAN FELIPE DE AUSTIN, TX," Handbook of Texas Online (https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hls10), accessed May 31, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.</ref>

Local residents dedicated the original townsite as a commemorative site in 1928. In 1940, the town of San Felipe donated most of the original townsite property to the state, which is now the [[San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site]].