San Felipe

San Felipe, historic town, Austin county, southeastern Texas, U.S. It lies along the Brazos River, some 45 miles (70 km) west of Houston. Known as the “birthplace of Anglo-American settlement in Texas,” it was founded in 1824 as headquarters for the colony of Stephen Austin, who there first employed the Texas Rangers as a defense force. In 1829 the colony, then known as San Felipe de Austin, published the Gazette, the first English-language newspaper in Texas, and opened one of the first English-language schools in Texas. Conventions petitioning for independence from Mexico were held in the Town Hall (now demolished) in 1832 and 1833, and at the Consultation of 1835 several Anglo-American municipalities met to plan a provisional government and organize the Texas Revolution. In March 1836 San Felipe was burned by retreating Texans under Captain Mosely Baker, prior to occupation by General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s invading Mexican army. The town was rebuilt after the Texan victory at San Jacinto (April 1836), but it declined after Bellville, 15 miles (24 km) to the north, became officially established as the county seat in 1848. Stephen F. Austin State Park, near an old ferry crossing on the river, includes a replica of Austin’s log home and a well dug by the colonists. San Felipe remains a small farming community with narrow roads that bear the names given by the colonists in the 1820s. Pop. (2000) 868; (2010) 747.