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| Traffic
is not a problem in Anahuac. TE Photo |
History
in a Seashell
In 1721 a French explorer named Jean Baptiste de La Harpe visited a village
of Atakapans Indians near what would become Anahuac.
Construction of
a fort was begun in 1830.
Gen. Manuel de Mier y Terán, commanding officer
of the Mexican province of Coahuila y Texas, named the town Anahuac in 1831. The
is the Aztec word for the known world - which before the Conquest, was the Aztec
capital.
The town experienced turmoil in 1832 and 1835 before the Texas
Revolution began in earnest.
After Independence,
Gen. Thomas Jefferson Chambers and Charles Willcox both claimed ownership of the
townsite which stunted the community's growth. Chambers was killed by an assassin
in his home one night in 1865, ending the dispute. General Chambers modestly called
the town Chambersea in his own honor - a view that wasn't popular. His
house is now a local historic site.
A
brief timeline of significant events in Anahuac's history:
1900s:
The Anahuac Townsite Company began real estate development
1902: Construction
of the Lone Star Canal began
1907: Election
was held to make Anahuac county seat over Wallisville.
1935: Oil is discovered offshore
1963: National Wildlife Refuge was established
16 miles from Anahuac |
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Chambersea:
The home of Thomas Jefferson Chambers
Washington Ave. and Cummings St.
Recorded
Texas Historic Landmark
TE Photo, 2003 |
Chambersea
Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, October 2010 |
ChamberseaBuilt
in 1845. Home of Thomas Jefferson Chambers, early civic and business leader whose
love for Texas was proclaimed by the "Star" window in the west gable. The modest
board-and-batten pioneer house has another unique feature in the graceful, spiral
exterior stairway at the front. Surrounded by plantings, white lattice summer
house, barns and outbuildings, this was center of plantation until Chambers was
assassinated here in 1863.
Recorded
Texas Historic Landmark - 1968 |
Home of Thomas
Jefferson Chambers
1802
- 1865
Surveyor general of Texas, 1829.
Sole superior judge of Texas before
1836. Active in the cause of
independence. Member of secession convention,
1861. Chambersea, later Anahuac, and a Texas county were named in his honor.
Erected
by the state of Texas
1936 |
Dr.
Schilling Medical Office
Washington Ave. and Cummings St.
Photo courtesy
Terry
Jeanson, October 2010 |
Dr.
Schilling Medical Office Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, October 2010 |
Historical
Marker - Washington Ave. and Cummings St.The
Dr. N. T. Schilling Medical OfficeNicholas
T. Schilling, born in Bavaria on Nov. 28, 1845, came as a small child with his
parents to the United States. He served in the Civil War (1861-65) as a youthful
volunteer in the Maryland cavalry. In 1872, he received his M.D. degree from the
chicago Medical college. When he came to Cedar Bayou (20 mi. SW) in 1874 he worked
in a brick factory, earning funds to set up practice, and revealed his skill by
treating an accident victim on the job. His first office was a lean-to behind
a mercantile store. In 1883 he married Linna E. Gaillard (d. 1922). For some years
he practiced from the family residence, then in 1890 built this office nearby,
arranging it in ideal order for his treatments, library, and copious records.
Besides his general practice, he fitted eyeglasses and performed dentistry. He
traveled far and wide to call on patients, and often accepted his fees in the
form of vegetables, fruit, livestock, and farm labor. His son John grew up to
assist in the practice and later became a physician in Houston.
Dr. N.
T. Schilling died in 1919. His daughter Annie kept the office intact until she
died in 1966. Then structure and contents, donated to Chambers County, came here
by barge to be preserved as a museum.
1976
|
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The
Chambers name is still prominent in the county.
The road near Wallisville
TE Photo, 2003 |
Anahuac
ChroniclesDisturbance
of 1832 by Archie
P. McDonald (From "All Things Historical")
The
Women of 1836
by Linda Kirkpatrick
The women who came to Texas were strong beyond means. They faced every hardship
and danger that one can imagine and still they survived. The following stories
relate the tales of a few of these women. The first is an unnamed woman from Anahuac...
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Historical
Marker - Hwy 61 and Magnolia St. Events
at Anahuac Leading to the Texas RevolutionIn
the spring of 1832, Wm. B. Travis, Patrick C. Jack and other American settlers
in Texas were unjustly imprisoned by Col. Juan Bradburn, commander of the Mexican
garrison at Anahuac. Bradburn's refusal to deliver his prisoners for civil trail
caused alarm throughout the American settlements, resulting in the organization
of an armed force of citizens for intervention to save their friends from trial
by a military court in Mexico. Rallying at Liberty, the Texans on June 10 went
to Anahuac to parley with Bradburn, who agreed to free the colonists in exchange
for Mexican soldiers held by the Texans. When Bradburn refused to keep his word,
the Texans resolved to fight, and sent to Brazoria
for reinforcements of men and cannon, thus precipitating the Battle of Velasco
on June 26, 1832. These events were climaxed by the arrival of the Mexican military
commander from Nacogdoches,
who resolved the conflict by releasing the colonists and placing Bradburn under
arrest. Mexican resentment aroused over the events at Anahuac and Velasco was
a contributing factor in the development of the Texas Revolution.
1965 |
Historical
Marker - Fort Anahuac Park Fort
Anahuac Known
as Perry's Point until 1825, Anahuac was a port of entry for early Texas colonists.
In 1830 the Mexican government established a military post here to collect customs
duties and to enforce the law of April 6, 1830, which curtailed further Anglo-American
colonization. Situated
on a high bluff at the mouth of the Trinity River, Fort Anahuac controlled access
to East Texas settlements. Two 18-pound guns topped the 7-foot thick brick walls
of the bastion. Four-foot thick walls protected the adjacent barracks, and an
underground tunnel led to a nearby powder magazine. Col. Juan Davis Bradburn,
commander of the Anahuac garrison, angered Texas colonists by conscripting labor
and supplies to construct the fort and by failing to control his disorderly troops.
In 1832 he unjustly imprisoned William B. Travis, Patrick C. Jack, and other settlers
here. When he refused to release the men, armed conflict erupted between Texas
and Mexican forces. The confrontation here, which also sparked fighting at Velasco
and adoption of the Turtle Bayou resolutions, resulted in Bradburn's dismissal
and the removal of Mexican troops from the post. Today the ruins of Fort Anahuac
are a physical reminder of events that kindled the drive for Texas independence.
1976
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Historical
Marker - Hwy 61 and Washington Ave.Lone
Star CanalBerriman
Richard Garland (1840-1918), a native of Indiana, saw the need for fresh water
for rice crops in east Chambers County. Garland and A. L. Williams began in 1902
acquiring land and constructing this irrigation canal. It started at the mouth
of Turtle Bay, now known as Lake Anahuac. In 1904, "Lone Star Canal Company" was
incorporated. E. O. Emerson and Burt H. Collins directed the business in 1906.
Sailing vessels anchored next to the warehouse carried the rice to market. In
dry seasons, salt water backed into Turtle Bay and into the canal, killing the
rice crops. To prevent the damage, the Trinity River Irrigation District formed
in 1911 and built a dam and locks at the mouth of the bay. Thomas S. Ellis changed
the name to "Anahuac Canal Company" in 1914. After the 1915 hurricane destroyed
the dam, pumping plant, and warehouse, the company changed owners several times,
closing from 1927-32. In 1932 four men purchased the canal, resumed the name "Lone
Star Canal," and reopened operations. In 1947 the Chambers-Liberty Counties Navigation
District purchased the canal. Water is available for industrial as well as agricultural
use with the goal of improving the economy of the area.
1979 |
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A
country road in Chambers County
TE Photo |
Anahuac's
water tower
TE Photo |
1907
Chambers County Postal Map showing Anahuac
(Above "M" in "CHAMBERS")
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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