175th Anniversary - Founding of Montgomery, Texas - (1837-2012)

Montgomery, Texas will be celebrating Founders Day on Saturday, July 7, 2012 to commemorate the 175th birthday of the City of Montgomery, Texas. July 2012 marks the 175th anniversary of the founding of Montgomery, Texas.

Celebrating 175 Years of History!  Saturday, July 7, 2012

9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. - Founders Day Breakfast at Lake Conroe Event Center (KOA)
19785 Texas 105 West

Keynote Address: Kameron Searle
Get the history booklet: The Early History of Montgomery, Texas

Video, Presentations, Recognitions

9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. - Lone Star 1st Saturday at the Old Community Center

Farmers Market and Wine Tastings

Slide show of historic pictures inside the building.

NOON - RINGING OF THE BELLS!
Dedication of the China Chapel bell and new bell tower (Fernland).

12:00 Noon - 3:00 p.m. - Founder's Village at Fernland Historical Park
780 Clepper Street

Firing of the Cannons!
Featuring Historical Re-enactments with Rolling Thunder
and the Lone Star Volunteers

Get the history booklet: The Early History of Montgomery, Texas

6:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. - Birthday Cake at the Old Community Center Building!
Downtown

7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. - Old Fashioned street dance on College St.

Live music by Earlywine

Early settlers that received land grants in 1831 in that portion of Austin's Second Colony that is now western Montgomery County included Mary Corner, John Pevehouse, Archibald Hodge, James Hodge, Owen Shannon, William C. Clark, William Landrum, Zachariah Landrum, William M. Rankin, Noah Griffith, Benjamin Rigby, William Atkins, Jacob Shannon, Raleigh Rogers, John Corner and Anne White. Shortly after their arrival, the area became known as the Lake Creek Settlement.

William W. Shepperd founded the town of Montgomery in the middle of the Lake Creek Settlement in July of 1837. The town was founded at the site of his trading post which was known as "the store of W. W. Shepperd on Lake Creek." The original site of the town was located on 200 acres of land in the north-western most corner of the John Corner League.This original location of the town was under the hill along the creek that would later become known as Town Creek.

The Early History of Montgomery, Texas

W. W. Shepperd founded the town in association with John Wyatt Moody, the First Auditor of the Republic of Texas. W. W. Shepperd provided the land and buildings for the new town.  J. W. Moody provided the political influence in the capital of the Republic of Texas then located in Houston. If a new county could be created and the new town of Montgomery became the county seat of that new county, then the success of the new town would be guaranteed. The advertisement below was placed with the Telegraph and Texas Register newspaper in Houston, Texas on July 4, 1837, and the advertisement ran for the first time in the July 8, 1837 edition of the Telegraph and Texas Register.  Shepperd and Moody were very confident in the success of their project. In the advertisement, they wrote "It is expected that a new county will be organized, at the next session of congress, embracing this section of country, in which event, the town of Montgomery, from its central position, must be selected as the seat of justice."

About 5 1/2 months after the town of Montgomery was founded, Montgomery County was created on December 14, 1837.  The town of Montgomery was serving as the county seat of Montgomery County as early as February of 1838.  Chief Justice Jesse Grimes was holding court and County Clerk Gwynn Morrison was filing documents.

On February 26, 1838, W. W. Shepperd purchased 212 additional acres of land from John Corner due south of the original site of the town. This new site was located on the hill. On March 1, 1838, the first Montgomery County Commissioners' Court meeting was held.  Through his agent C. B. Stewart, W. W. Shepperd donated a one half undivided interest in 200 of the 212 acres of land he had purchased on February 26, 1838, to the County. The commissioners accepted the donation and voted to "move the place of the town" from its original location below the hill to the new site on top of the hill.  The town of Montgomery prospered at this location as the county seat of Montgomery County for several decades.

Note: Montgomery County will also be 175 years old on December 14, 2012.

Click here, for more information about the first annual Montgomery Texas Founders' Day Celebration.  The 175 Montgomery, Texas 1837-2012 logo a trademark of Historic Montgomery Business Association, HMBA. All rights reserved.