By:  Kubiak                                            H.R. No. 650
       73R9849 SRD-F
                                  R E S O L U T I O N
    1-1        WHEREAS, November 3, 1993, marks the 200th anniversary of the
    1-2  birth of Stephen Fuller Austin, known respectfully and
    1-3  affectionately by the citizens of this state as "The Father of
    1-4  Texas"; and
    1-5        WHEREAS, Austin County, created and organized in 1837, and
    1-6  named for Stephen F. Austin, together with the town of San Felipe
    1-7  and the cities of Bellville, Sealy, and Wallis, have agreed to host
    1-8  the 200th birthday celebration for Stephen F. Austin in San Felipe
    1-9  on November 6 and 7, 1993; and
   1-10        WHEREAS, It is fitting and proper that such celebration be
   1-11  held at San Felipe in Austin County because San Felipe de Austin,
   1-12  the first Anglo-American settlement in Texas, was the home of
   1-13  Stephen F. Austin, the colonial capital of Texas from 1823 to 1836,
   1-14  and the scene of the conventions of 1823 and 1833 and the
   1-15  consultation of 1835 that led to the Texas Revolution, and also was
   1-16  the place to which William Barrett Travis's famous message of
   1-17  "Victory or Death" from the Alamo was sent; and
   1-18        WHEREAS, The other incorporated cities in Austin County also
   1-19  have great historical significance; Bellville, the county seat, was
   1-20  named for Thomas B. Bell, one of the Old Three Hundred who came to
   1-21  Texas in 1822 and who with his brother, James, donated much of the
   1-22  land within the corporate limits as incorporated in January 1929;
   1-23  and
   1-24        WHEREAS, Sealy was named for George Sealy, a banker and
    2-1  president of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad, which was
    2-2  laid out on land the railroad purchased from the Corporation of San
    2-3  Felipe in 1878; and
    2-4        WHEREAS, Wallis, the southernmost town in Austin County on
    2-5  Texas Highway 36, was originally founded by William Guyler, who
    2-6  moved to the area in 1853, but was designated on January 23, 1880,
    2-7  by George Sealy as Wallis in honor of J. E. Wallis, who was a
    2-8  director of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad; and
    2-9        WHEREAS, Organizations throughout Austin County are working
   2-10  together with the county and municipal governments in the
   2-11  preparation for and promotion of the two-day celebration on
   2-12  November 6 and 7, 1993, to pay honor to the Father of Texas and to
   2-13  include all of Austin's original colony; now, therefore, be it
   2-14        RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 73rd Texas
   2-15  Legislature salute and commend the Commissioners Court of Austin
   2-16  County and the municipal governments of San Felipe, Bellville,
   2-17  Sealy, and Wallis for their cooperative efforts in hosting the
   2-18  200th birthday celebration for Stephen F. Austin, The Father of
   2-19  Texas.