Gonzales History

The Original Town of Gonzales in the Dewitt Colony was established April 14, 1825 and was named for Don Rafael Gonzales who was then the Provisional Governor for Coahuila and Texas in the Republic of Mexico. It consists of four leagues of land granted to Empresario Green Dewitt by Don Jose Antonio Navarro, Commissioner of the Colony of Dewitt for the State of Coahuila & Texas, for the purpose of developing it as a town site and as a capitol city for the colony. It was first surveyed by James Kerr with a survey crew consisting of Erastus “Deaf” Smith, Basil Durbin, Gerron Hinds, John Wightman, James Musick, and a Mr. Strickland whose first name is not of record

A plan was devised in which the original four leagues were divided into Lots, Blocks, Ranges, and Tiers. This plan was submitted to the Governor of the State of Coahuila and Texas in an official letter dated the 5th day of February 1825along with other documents included by the Attorney for Empresario Green Dewitt. The Governor of the State of Coahuila and Texas approved the plan as submitted, by decree, in an order dated the 10th day of March 1826.

Although copies of maps that show the delineation of the town site do exist, the original copy of the plan is not contained in the public records. However, a copy of the official letter to Don Jose Antonio Navarro from the office of Ramon Musquis, Political Chief of the Department of Bexar, dated the 4th day of April 1831, notifying him of the approval of the plan for the Town of Gonzales is contained in Volume I-2 Page 73 of the Gonzales County Deed Records. Attached to this letter and also filed in the County Deed Records is a copy of the plat of the original Town of Gonzales grant of four leagues and the accompanying field notes for said plat as prepared by Byrd Lockhart, P.S. (Public Surveyor).

The plan of the town site called for an Inner Town of Gonzales which consists of 49 blocks arranged in a square seven blocks in each direction and divided by streets 20 varas in width. Each of these blocks measuring 120 varas in each direction and subsequently divided into six lots per block, each measuring 40 varas x 60 varas. The plan also called for an Outer Town of Gonzales which is divided into blocks and ranges West of Water Street which contain four lots per block, each measuring 40 veras x 60 veras. The Plan also called lfor an Outer Town of Gonzales which is divided into blocks and ranges West of Water Street which contain four lots per blocks and were divided by streets running North, South, East and West, and lots, ranges, tiers, and two avenues (North Avenue, and East Avenue) East of Water Street divided by streets running North and South with the exception of Tiers One and Two along East Avenue. –Courtesy of Kenneth V. Mosher II