The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900 Page: 271
294 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Old Town of Huntsville.
271
lished in Texas during this period is more deserving of notice than
the Huntsville Item. Without pretension to style, with no display
of extraordinary energy or enterprise, the Item was yet always a
favorite visitor to its readers, and exercised more influence within
its circle than did many a more pretentious sheet."
The Republic of 'Texas had no penitentiary, criminals being taken
in charge by the various counties. Soon after annexation, however,
the Legislature provided for the establishment of *a penitentiary,
and enterprising Huntsville secured the prize, the institution being
located here in 1847. The original penitentiary contained 240
cells, and covered a very small part of the space occupied by the
present buildings. The first convict was incarcerated October 1,
1849. During the ten years following only 412 prisoners were
committed. For a long time the prisoners could be hired under
guards to perform various kinds of work in town. As a result
practically all the carpentering, brick-laying, blacksmithing, etc., of
the place was performed by convicts, to some extent retarding the
substantial growth of the town by preventing the immigration of
mechanics and laborers. The .citizens fondly hoped, however, that
the location in their midst of the first State institution was the
precursor of their securing the capital of the commonwealth.
The State Constitution of 1845 provided that the capital should
remain at Austin until 1850, when by vote of the people its location
for the next twenty years should be 'decided upon. Ambitious
Huntsville at once began to aspire to become the seat of government,
and her aspirations were not without a substantial basis. A letter
in the Galveston News of September 5, 1849, describes the town of
Huntsville as "rapidly rising into importance, and already taking
rank among the most enterprising populations and improving of
our interior towns, with high hopes of becoming the political metrop-
olis of the State." "TTo perpetuate the prosperity of Huntsville,"
the writer suggests, among other needs, "a good wagon road to Hous-
ton, a railroad to the Trinity, and the improvement of the naviga-
tion .of that river." When the vote for the capital was counted in
1850, however, it was found that 'Austin had beaten both her rivals,
Huntsville and Tchuacana Hills. -Old citizens of Huntsville still
console themselves for that defeat by attributing it to the illegal
Mexican vote of the Rio Grande country, which, they assert, secured
Austin's success.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, July 1899 - April, 1900, periodical, 1900; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101015/m1/284/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.