News & Events from
Most Recent Posts
Rogers Was Treasure Trove of Historical Knowledge
By Tracy Gupton Board members of the Columbia Historical Museum are struggling to come to terms with the sudden loss...
Viola Funeral Home in Business for Nearly 90 Years
By Tracy Gupton Columbia Historical Museum Snow’s Cleaners opened for business in West Columbia in 1920, a few years...
Dixon Was Brazoria County’s First Black Mayor
By Tracy Gupton Robert Dixon would have celebrated his 78th birthday last month. The former longtime West Columbia...
Local 4th Grader Wins Essay Contest
Photo by Korey Langford West Columbia Elementary School 4th grader Landon Stewart, left, was presented a gift bag containing chocolate candy and a $25 gift card recently from Columbia Historical Museum board member Pat Weeks. Landon’s essay on “How West Columbia Was...
History of Columbia Methodist church, Part 2
By Winston C. Avera Jr. Apparently another location to build a new church had been considered since there is a deed from Anna L. Sharp to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Columbia, conveying lots in Block 15 in Columbia for the purpose of divine...
History of the Methodist church in West Columbia
By Winston C. Avera Jr. Since 1839, there has been a fellowship at Columbia Methodist Church, organized for the worship of God and the service of man. The Columbia United Methodist Church was first organized as a Methodist Society by Rev. Isaac L. G. Strickland in...
Survivor of Goliad Massacre buried in WC
By Tracy Gupton As Texian soldiers routed General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s Mexican troops at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, celebratory shouts of “Remember the Alamo” and “Remember Goliad” rained down on the fallen and fleeing Mexicans. One of...
Columbia in the Days of the Republic, Part Two
By Beth Griggs Columbia and Marion were first established as towns in the Brazos Precinct of Austin’s Colony, Department of Texas, State of Coahuila, Mexico. By 1834, this was the municipality of Columbia, Department of Brazos, State of Coahuila and Texas. For some...
Columbia in the Days of the Republic, Part One
By Beth Griggs The twin cities of Columbia and Marion were laid out in 1826 by Josiah H. Bell, on a part of the original land grant he received from the government of Mexico. Josiah H. Bell was a longtime associate and personal friend of Stephen F. Austin, and...
Local newspaper published after the Civil War
By Tracy Gupton Columbia Historical Museum My interest in the writer Victor Rose was piqued a little over a year ago when East Columbia history buff Flem Rogers donated his copy of the book, “The Life and Services of General Ben McCulloch,” to the Columbia Historical...
WC hosted state championship 70 years ago
By Tracy Gupton Columbia Historical Museum On December 19, 1953, something occurred in West Columbia, Texas, that has never been duplicated. For the one and only time in history West Columbia, site of the first capital of the Republic of Texas, hosted a state...
Black Cowboys Made Their Marks in History
By Tracy Gupton Columbia Historical Museum This past Wednesday, February 15, 2023, was declared Bailey’s Prairie Kid Day countywide by the Brazoria County Commissioners Court. Taylor Hall Jr., the “Bailey’s Prairie Kid” himself, was in attendance in Angleton to pose...
Roughnecks played in NFL championship games
By Tracy Gupton Columbia Historical Museum The year 1957 marked this writer’s birth in January, the West Columbia Roughnecks’ deepest appearance in the high school football playoffs in history at that time, and a native son playing in the NFL championship game in late...
Viola Funeral Home in business for over 87 years
By Tracy Gupton Columbia Historical Museum Snow’s Cleaners opened for business in West Columbia in 1920, a few years before Chesney’s began selling jewelry on main street in 1924 in the Brazoria County town that was once the first capitol of the Republic of Texas in...
Juneteenth Now a National Holiday
By Tracy Gupton Columbia Historical Museum Juneteenth is celebrated annually across the great state of Texas and beyond, but many are unaware of the event’s origins. With February being “Black History Month” in America, now is a good time to look closer at what...