Comanche .. the Capital of Texas ?

You may know that today there is today a town named Comanche in Comanche County. But did you know that it wasn't the first town named Comanche in Texas? In Travis County, near Austin, is an important historic site: the "ghost town" of Comanche. Not much is left today, mainly the cemeteries. But at one time Comanche was considered as a possible location as the Capital of Texas!

Comanche dates back to the Mexican period in Texas, decades before Travis County and Austin were settled. In 1830 John Caldwell settled on a large grant of land that was made to Jose Antonio Navarro in 1833 by the Mexican Government; this is presently in the Garfield area, near the site of what would become the town of Comanche. In the special "Alamo Papers" file in the Texas State Archives, is a letter William J Cannon (whom the street in Austin is named after) wrote from Leavenworth, Kansas, on Aug 3rd 1892, of his claim to property in "front of Austin". He states in that letter that before Texas was thought of, his family lived on Onion Creek, 4.5 miles south of Austin, where he was born in 1821. His father came from Tennessee in 1815 and had a small trading post 1/2 mile up this creek where the Caddos, Lipans, Tonkways, and Comanches came in small parties to trade. The trading post was located 1/2 mile from their house to keep Indians away. According to these papers, when he was 10 years old (about 1831), there was a big "run" of Indians, and his family moved to San Antonio for safety. In Travis County there were several forts established to guard settlers from Indians, and one was at Comanche, built in 1831 on the south of the river (Colorado) just below the mouth of Onion Creek.

The towns of Waterloo -- which would become Austin -- and Comanche were incorporated Jan 15th, 1839, and had the first post offices listed in Travis County. So why did they pick Waterloo over Comanche, as the site of the new Texas Capital? After all, Comanche offered 18,015 acres to the republic of Texas if the capital were placed at its location. Waterloo, on the north bank of the Colorado River approximately at the site of the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, was settled by Joseph Harrell, a hunter who erected a tent on the river bank in 1835. He was visited in 1837 or 1838 by Mirabeau B. Lamar, who decided that the spot was an appropriate site for the capital city of the Republic of Texas after successfully bagging a Buffalo on a hunting trip there (reportedly in a ravine that ran up what is today Congress Avenue).  One can only wonder what would have happened had he missed that Buffalo?! This web-page might well be titled "Austin .. a forgotten ghost town" ..

The only book I've found reference to Comanche in is [Barkley].

Googe Maps

Topo maps mark the location of the cemeteries that were once part of Comanche, TX.

Click on map or image to go to TerraServer

Map below will take you to Google Maps

Photos

Comanche is located off Caldwell Lane, near Garfield, TX.   Garfield watertower below.

Not much is visible of Comanche, TX anymore, but it's obvious why Indians and early settlers were attracted to the area.

Not much is visible of the town of Comanche, except for the cemeteries which are marked on topo maps of the area.