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Liberty County TX
Liberty County

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Liberty Hotels

LIBERTY, TEXAS

Liberty County Seat, Texas Gulf Coast

30°3'27"N 94°47'48"W (30.057546, -94.796662)
US 90 and Highway 146
29 miles E of Humble
42 miles NE of Houston
44 miles W of Beaumont
Population: 9,175 Est. (2016)
8,397 (2010) 8,033 (2000) 7,733 (1990)

Book Hotel Here › Liberty Hotels

Liberty, Texas Topics

  • Liberty History
  • Liberty Landmarks/Attractions - and photo gallery
  • Liberty Chronicles - People and stories
  • Liberty Hotels
  • Liberty Bell in Liberty, Texas
    Replica of original Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Cast in London.
    Photo by John Troesser, 9-04-04
    See Liberty Bell Plaque

    History in a Pecan Shell

    Liberty once stood at the head of navigation on the Trinity River. Founded near a 1756 Spanish settlement called Atascosito American squatters began arriving around 1818. The new arrivals petitioned to be included in Stephen F. Austin's colony, but were refused. Under Mexican law, land commissioner José Francisco Madero established a new municipality, Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de la Libertad which the Americans shortened to Liberty, some say after Liberty, Mississippi, the former residence of some settlers. The town was granted a post office in 1836.

    Sam Houston practiced law in Liberty and maintained two plantation homes in Liberty County until his death. During the Texas Revolution, Andrew Briscoe's Liberty Volunteers fought at the siege of Bexar and the battle of Concepción. After San Jacinto, officers of the Mexican army were held for a time in Liberty at a location now known as Mexican Hill.

    Liberty was incorporated in 1837 and became the county seat. The town became an important port, having steamship connections to Galveston and providing access to stage routes across the Trinity.

    A school was founded in 1838. The town cemetery was marked off in 1848. In the 1850s, as the community expanded, additional industry developed around its gristmills, cattle shipping docks, and two sawmills. The Texas and New Orleans Railroad reached Liberty in 858. The railroad suspended operations during the Civil War, but resumed operations by 1875. Liberty was hit by smallpox and yellow fever epidemics in 1866 and 1867.

    By 1900 the town was a sleepy river community where livestock roamed the streets legally. The towns proximity to the Batson-Old oilfield made it a boomtown for awhile after 1903 and a second boost came in 1925 when the the South Liberty oilfield was discovered. The Trinity Valley and Northern Railway Company arrived in 1907.

    Attempts were made to make the Trinity navigable - and some 236 miles of waterway had been completed, linking barge traffic to the Houston Ship Channel.

    Liberty's population for various years:
    200 in 1845, 497 by 1880, 865 in 1900, 3,087 in 1940, 4,161 in 1950, 5,591 in 1970, and 7,733 in 1990.

    During World War II, a camp for German POWs was constructed at the Liberty fairgrounds. Highway 146 was completed in 1950 and the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center opened in 1977.

    Liberty, Texas Landmarks / Attractions

    Liberty County Courthouse, Liberty, Texas
    Liberty County Courthouse
  • Geraldine D. Humphreys Cultural Center - 936-336-8901
    1710 Sam Houston St., downtown Liberty
    Museum, library and performing arts theater.

  • Historical Sites - Historical monument and markers identifying historic sites, old homes and structures. Visit Liberty-Dayton Chamber of Commerce for information. 1801 Trinity St. 936-336-5736

  • Liberty Bell Tower - adjacent to Cultural Center above

  • Liberty Opry on the Square - Live shows. 936-336-5830

  • Sam Houston Regional Library & Research Center -
    936-336-8821. Free admission.
    FM1011 off Hwy 146. Three miles north of Liberty

  • Liberty Hotels

    Liberty-Dayton Chamber of Commerce - 936-336-5736
    1801 Trinity Street
    P.O. Box 1270, Liberty, Texas 77575
    http://www.libertydaytonchamber.com/
  • Former Park Theatre, now Liberty Opry in Liberty, Texas
    Liberty Opry on the Square in the former Park Theater
    TE Photo, 9-04-04
    Former theater in Liberty, east side of the square
    TE Photo, 9-04-04
    More Texas Theatres
    Liberty Bell plaque, Liberty Texas
    Liberty Bell plaque
    TE photo, 9-04-04
    Old depot and water tower,  Liberty, Texas
    Liberty Depot
    TE Photo, 9-04-04
    More Texas Depots | See Texas Railroads
    Liberty Bridge, Liberty County, Texas
    Liberty County bridge
    Photo courtesy Sarah Reveley
    More Texas Bridges
    Liberty Texas, S.P.Bridge Trinity River, circa 1910
    S. P. Bridge over Trinity River, Liberty, Texas
    Postcard circa 1910 courtesy Will Beauchamp Collection
    Liberty TX Old Trinity River Bridge
    Old Trinity River Bridge
    Photo courtesy Ken Rudine , August 2007
    More Texas Bridges

    Liberty, Texas Chronicles
  • A Moving History by Bob Bowman ("All Things Historical")
    The recent death of Bill Daniel of Liberty removed from East Texas one of its most colorful personalities, a bigger-than-life rancher and politician who, according to one of his eulogists, "squeezed a lot out of life."

    ...Bill Daniel is best remembered by some admirers for one of the strangest events in East Texas--the move of an entire town from Liberty to Waco, a distance of more than 200 miles, in October of 1986 during the Texas sesquicentennial celebration..." more


  • Champ D’Asile by Clay Coppedge
    If a few Frenchmen and their allies could have had their way, Texas might have become part of a new Napoleonic empire. Two of Napoleon’s generals seem to have had this in mind when they founded a colony called Champ D’Asile (Place of Asylum) at a site about three miles up the Trinity River near the present-day town of Liberty...

  • Liberty treated POWs well in 1830s and 1940s by Wanda Orton
    With the Germans in the 1940s and Mexicans in the 1830s, the people of Liberty treated the prisoners humanely and with dignity... more

  • French Connection by Wanda Orton
    While watching a TV history program about Napoleon’s exile on St. Helena, I kept thinking about Liberty County...

  • The July 29, 1878 Solar Eclipse in Texas by Mike Cox
  • Liberty water tower, Texas
    Liberty water tower
    TE photo, 9-04-04
    More Water Towers

    Take a road trip

    Liberty, Texas Nearby Towns:
    Humble | Beaumont | Houston
    See Liberty County | Texas Gulf Coast

    Book Hotel Here:
    Liberty Hotels | Beaumont Hotels | Houston Hotels
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