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About Seguin
Below you will find "A Brief History of Seguin" which is an overview of the development of Seguin from prehistory to the present. There is much more history to be found on the pages of this site which not only complement this brief history, but also digs deeper into the lives and times of generations past. We hope this website and the other websites listed below will further your knowledge of Seguin's heritage.
- Seguin.net
Seguin is the county seat of Guadalupe County. It is located on Interstate Highway 10 East and the Guadalupe River, thirty-five miles northeast of San Antonio. It lies in the central part of the county. This particular region of South Central Texas has a rich prehistory and recorded history. Marine artifacts have been collected revealing that the region was under water millions of years ago. Some of these artifacts include coral, sharks teeth, celephopods, and many other aquatic species. After the last ice age some 12,000-10,000 years ago large furry animals roamed through this region. That the wooly mammoths and mastodons roamed through this region of Texas is evidenced by their skeletal remains found in local river beds and gullies. A number of these artifacts are not only on exhibit in this Museum, but also in Texas Lutheran University's A.M. and Alma Fiedler Memorial Museum located on the first floor in Langer Hall. It is open to the public and there is no admission charge. As the climate warmed Americas earliest human inhabitants began to explore this region. The museum has a number of prehistoric Native American artifacts, some of which date to 8,000 B.C. Their history is continuously being explored by members of the Museum's staff. The earliest known Spanish explorations occurred during the founding of San Antonio between 1715 and 1718 by the Spanish Governor of Coahuila y Tejas – Martin de Alarcon. In 1718 Governor Alarcon explored the area that is known as Guadalupe County today. His diarist, Father Celiz, wrote about the earliest human descriptions of the land, its flora, fauna, and Native Americans. When Green DeWitt's Anglo Colony, Gonzales, was established in 1825, the second such colony in Texas, after Stephen F. Austin's 1821 Colony, a number of settlers began exploring for more land to settle. After the 1836 Texas Revolution some thirty three Texas Rangers found a site along the Guadalupe River in 1838, bout thirty five miles west of Gonzales. The Live Oak trees that they gathered under still stand. They joined with Joseph S. Martin in laying out a site they initially called Walnut Springs but later changed the name to Seguin in honor of Texas Revolutionary hero, Juan Nepumocemo Seguin of San Antonio. Seguin, a San Antonio native, had been mayor of San Antonio and served as a senator to the Republic of Texas Senate. He not only fought at the Alamo but also at San Jacinto. The small village witnessed and participated in a number of historic events along the Texas frontier. Some of these events were fighting against Santa Anna's attempts to retake Texas such as the Adrian Woll expedition, which resulted in the Battle of Salado, and the Mier expedition, not to mention the infamous Santa Fe Expedition. When the Republic of Texas was admitted to the Union in 1846 as the 28th state, Guadalupe County was carved out of space from Gonzales and Bexar Counties. The first post office was established in 1846 and the first County Judge was Michael Erskine. Guadalupe County chose Seguin as its county seat and governed the county until Seguin was incorporated by charter in 1853. John Rhodes King was the first acting Mayor followed by John D. Anderson as the first elected mayor. Seguin's infrastructure was of primary importance to its early founders. The major parts of this infrastructure were road building, economic development and viability, religion, education, and technological development. All of these were accomplished in its formative years prior to the Civil War. The original road into Seguin was from the south of town from the San Antonio-Gonzales trail, north about three miles to the present day intersection of Court and Austin streets. The founders kept this trail and laid Seguin out into four development areas and established a north–south and east-west grid that exists today. These early roads soon linked Seguin to present day New Braunfels, San Marcos, Gonzales, and San Antonio. As time went on and more communities developed, the road system became increasingly efficient but more complex. Early religions that found their way to Seguin were the Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholic and Baptist Congregations. The Episcopal-Methodist Church, known locally as "First Church" stands on the grounds of the Campbell-Hoermann Log Cabin and is owned by the Seguin Conservation Society. The high standards of education were established early in Seguin. The first chartered school was in 1849. Dr. John E. Park, inventor of Park's concrete, built the first schoolhouse in 1850. This schoolhouse continues today as St. James Catholic School and was recognized by the state in 1962 as the oldest continuously used school building in Texas. Higher education came in the establishment of two colleges. The first was Guadalupe College, established in 1887, and was located where the Joe F. Saegert Sixth Grade Campus is today, on Travis Street. Guadalupe College was the southernmost Black Baptist College in the United States and the oldest Black College in Texas. Many of Seguin's and Guadalupe County’s early black educators came from Guadalupe College. It burned down in 1936 but its grounds continue to be used by the Baptist Ministerial Alliance today. (I need to get the appropriate title of the Alliance.) The second college was Texas Lutheran College, now Texas Lutheran University. It moved to Seguin from Brenham, Texas in 1912 when Mr. Louis Fritz offered fifteen acres of land for its placement and a group of Seguin businessmen raised funds for the establishment of the college. Since then TLU’s graduates have become leading business leaders, educators, athletes, musicians, scientists, physicians, and scholars throughout Texas and the nation. Over the last fifteen years, U.S. News and World Report has ranked TLU as one of the top ten small liberal arts Universities in the western region of the United States. From its founding until the present the economy of Seguin has generally been agricultural. However, as the twenty first century develops its own place in history, this is changing. Agriculture continues to play a major role in Seguin but it is also sharing its wealth with an expanding industrial and high tech base. The first change in an agriculturally based economy came in the early 1920s when oil was discovered in the Darst Oil Field about fifteen miles east of Seguin. Combined with the large discoveries in Luling this part of South Central Texas enjoyed an economic boom that continued well past the depression era. Over the next fifty to sixty years Seguin enjoyed attracting manufacturing and service oriented industries to compliment and diversify its agriculture and oil based economy. Some of these early industries were Structural Metals, Inc., Motorola, Xerxes and many more. By 1988 Seguin enjoyed more than thirty businesses that employed more than fifteen full time workers per business. By the turn of the Twentieth to Twenty First Century Seguin continued to grow at a moderate and steady pace, allowing its infrastructure to adequately adjust to the demands of increased growth. By the end of 2004, there were fifty five manufacturers in Seguin employing more than fifteen employees. Texas Lutheran University and the Seguin Independent School District’s high school, two middle schools, sixth grade campus, and many elementary schools continued to bring local, area, state and national recognition to the community in academics, athletics, bands, choir and many other areas. Over twenty churches provide spiritual refreshment for Seguin’s citizens. Max Starcke Park boasts a challenging eighteen hole golf course, the Guadalupe River for fishing, boating, and family enjoyment that has not been commercialized, a little league complex, large dance pavilion and numerous playgrounds and park sites for outdoor cookouts and family entertainment. Seguin is the only town in Texas where the two central blocks, established in 1838, continue to be used only for the enjoyment of the public. On one block is the Guadalupe County Courthouse and the block across the street is an open air park with historic monuments and plaques reflecting some of this area’s history. Seguin’s downtown is one of the first six Main Street Downtown Historic Districts recognized by the State of Texas in the early 1980s. It continues to improve the historical context of the District and provides a very comfortable walking tour of its businesses and shops. The city of Seguin is vibrant and alive. It still retains a small town atmosphere oriented towards the family and community. On the other hand it enjoys being an active participant in the economic development along I-10 between Houston and San Antonio and I-35 between Austin and San Antonio. The twenty first century will see Seguin grow culturally, economically, and technologically. |
Further Resources
