Austin’s First Federal Buildings
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 towards Congress Avenue. 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 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 Pickney 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.
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