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History in
a Pecan Shell
Josiah Hughes Bell
is credited with founding the town in 1823. His plantation, known
as Bell's Landing supplied other settlements along the river. In 1824
Bell platted a town and called it Marion. Lots were sold in
1829, but were unsuccessful. In 1831 the town had a mere handful of
cabins, a store and Bell's home. Wharves and warehouses were built
and ships shuttled between East Columbia and New Orleans.
Bell sold the growing town to Walter C. White in 1827, but the town
was still called "Bell's Landing" through 1840. Two years later
it was known as West Columbia, and finally was renamed East
Columbia.
When Houston became the
capital of Texas, East Columbia prospered. It received another boost
with the arrival of the Houston Tap and Brazoria Railroad in 1859.
The onset of the Civil War stopped East Columbia's prosperity. The
town had a population of 800 in the mid 1880s and a few years later
it hit 1,500. Another period of decline set in and by 1914 it was
down to 150.
The local post office once known as Columbia, was renamed East
Columbia in 1927. The population declined to a low of 89 in the
early 70s. |
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Bell's Landing
Historical Marker
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, May 2012 |
Historical Marker:
Brazos and Front St., East Columbia
Bell's Landing
Founded 1823 as
Brazos River landing for Josiah H. Bell's plantation. Townsite of
Marion laid out in 1824. Later named East Columbia. Army enlistment
point and ferrying dock during Texas Revolution. Key river port and
trade center during Republic of Texas days.
(1965) |
Photographer's
Note:
"The Belle's Landing site, on the east shore of the Brazos, is
actually totally different from where the Bell's Landing site was,
down stream on the western shore of the Brazos." - Barclay
Gibson |
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Historical Marker
Text
Site of Carry
Nation's Hotel
During a brief
and troubled time in her life, Carry Amelia Moore Nation (1846-1911)
operated the "Old Columbia Hotel" on this site about 1880. She later
achieved fame as a hatchet-wielding crusader against the use of alcoholic
drink and tobacco.
Born in Kentucky to slave-owning parents, Carry Moore and her family
moved to Grayson County,
Texas, soon after the outbreak of the Civil War. After an unhappy
first marriage in Missouri to an alcoholic, she married David Nation
in 1877. They acquired 1,700 acres of farmland on the San Bernard
River west of here. Unsuccessful at farming and marriage, David moved
to Brazoria to practice law, and
about 1880 Carry moved here to Columbia to operate the hotel owned
by A. R. and Jesse W. Park. Her name is on the Columbia Methodist
Church roll. She lived at the hotel with her daughter Charlien Gloyd,
"Mother Gloyd" (Carry's first mother-in-law), and David's daughter
Lola. David Nation also operated a saddle shop just southwest of this
site.
The family soon moved to Richmond, Texas,
to operate a hotel, then moved to Kansas in 1889. The Nations were
divorced in 1901 after Carry began her crusade against saloons. She
lectured at the University of Texas in Austin
in 1902 and 1904.
Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986 |
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1907 Brazoria
County postal map showing Columbia
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
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