06/08/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/1CebpeqGDZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Before Houston had a skyline, before Dallas had a skyline, there was a bend in the Colorado River where Stephen F. Austin's colonists stopped and said: this is where we build. 🌿
Columbus, Texas doesn't always make the list when people talk about the oldest towns in the state. But it should be first on it. Settled in 1823 as part of Austin's original colony, Columbus became the seat of Colorado County and one of the earliest organized Anglo-American communities in all of Texas. The people who built it came with almost nothing: a land grant, a river, and the kind of stubborn hope that only makes sense when you're standing on ground nobody has claimed yet.
They built a courthouse. They built a church. They planted live oaks along the square that are still standing today. And they named their town after the river that gave them life, the same river that flooded them out more than once and never once made them leave.
Do you have family roots in Colorado County or the Austin Colony? Drop a name in the comments, we'd love to hear your connection to this piece of Texas history. 👇
