The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 121
xiii, 358 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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De Witt's Colony.
town was entitled.' In the southwestern portion of this tract was
the inner town, which was laid out as follows:
It was divided into forty-nine blocks, one hundred and twenty
varas square, each subdivided into six lots, forty by sixty varas.
The streets were each twenty varas wide with the exception of those
adjoining the principal square, which were twenty-five varas wide.
The central block was set aside as the principal square, and six
other blocks were reserved for public purposes.2
It is interesting to note that these seven blocks are still used for
public purposes. Upon the old principal square stand the court-
house and jail. The block facing this on the east, which was to
be set aside for ecclesiastical buildings, now contains the Metho-
dist and Baptist churches and parsonages. The block imme-
diately west of the principal square, which was to be set apart for
municipal buildings, is now the city park. The block just north
of the principal square was at an early date taken for the market
square, and it has served that purpose ever since. The block south
of the principal square now contains the Presbyterian church.
The third block to the east of the principal square was formerly
used as the cemetery, but on it now stand the Episcopal and Catho-
lic churches. The third block west of the principal square was at
one time the location of the jail. It now contains the Christian
and German Methodist churches and the Alamo lumber yard.
The remaining portion of the four league tract was called the
outer town. The lots in this section of the tract were designated
according as they lay east or west of Water Street. This was a
street fifty varas wide running from the southwestern corner of
the inner town, N. 20 W. to the north line of the outer town.
The portion of the tract lying west of Water Street was divided
into blocks five hundred varas square, each subdivided into four
lots two hundred and fifty varas square. The streets in this section
1May 26, 1832 (see map 2).
SSee map 4. This map was drawn in 1903 by one of the old settlers,
Mr. D. S. H. Darst, who has lived in and near Gonzales since 1831. It rep-
resents the town, as he remembers it, just before it was burned in 1836.
Reference to this map will show either that Navarro did not follow ex-
actly the instructions given him concerning the seven public squares, or
that the purposes for which these squares were originally intended were,
in some cases, subsequently changed. Mr. Darst remembers when Market
Square became Jail Square and vice versa. He says that because no block
had been set aside for schools the people agreed to reserve block 8 for that
purpose, and that at the time when Gonzales was burned in 1836 they were
constructing here a large log school house.121
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905, periodical, 1905; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101033/m1/123/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.