In the spring of 1839, lumber for the first permanent Capitol of Texas had
been cut and hauled from Bastrop to the building site at West 8th and
Colorado. The stockade fence and moat extended to Congress Ave.
President Lamar selected the site for the Capitol of the Republic of Texas
during a hunting trip the previous year.
The drawings, courtesy of Austin History Center, were drawn from memory years after the capitol was demolished. The hastily built structure was
started in the spring and was ready for the fourth congress to convene
November 11, 1839.
After congress adjourned in February of 1840, the citizens of Austin used it
to fort up in frequent Indian attacks and for church services. It was here
that Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, lowered the
Lone Star Flag on February 19, 1846. He handed it to the first Governor of
Texas and said, “The Republic is no more!” Governor James Pinckney Henderson raised the U.S. Flag, and at that moment Texas became the 28 th state. The Lone Star Flag was raised under the American Flag and would become the state flag of the Great State of
Texas.
