10 Historical Markers to Visit in Huntsville
SAM HOUSTON
General of the Army which won the war for Texas Independence , 1836 , and first President of the Republic , 1836-1838 , Sam Houston was one of the most controversial and colorful figures in Texas history .
In his eventful career , Houston had resided in Nacogdoches , Liberty , Houston and Austin . He and his wife Margaret ( Lea ) built this house , “ Woodland ”, in 1847 to provide themselves with a town place . With enthusiasm , we wrote to a friend that the new home was a “ bang up place !” and that the climate was “ said to be healthy ”.
Houston and his wife lived at Woodland while he was a U . S . Senator , 1846-1859 , perhaps the happiest and most prosperous years of his life . Four of their children were born here . The house was built in a style common to the South at the time : squared logs covered with hand-hewn , whitewashed boards . The detached kitchen and law office were built of unfinished squared logs .
In 1859 Houston was elected Governor but , although opposed to secession , he could not keep Texas from joining the Confederacy in 1861 . Deposed from office , he returned to his second Huntsville home , called the “ Steamboat House ”, where he died in 1863 .
Both homes are located on the grounds of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville .
— Markers are located across the museum grounds at 1836 Sam Houston Ave ., at Sam Houston ’ s gravesite , located at the corner of Avenue I and 9th Street .
HUNTSVILLE “ WALLS ” UNIT
The Huntsville “ Walls ” Unit remains an active prison to this day .
The Republic of Texas Congress passed a law to establish a prison system in 1842 , but it wasn ’ t until 1848 , after a new law passed the state legislature , that steps were taken to achieve the goal . Huntsville was selected as the site for the state prison facility , and Governor George Tyler Wood appointed master builder Abner H . Cook as first superintendent and construction supervisor for the prison . The first three inmates — a cattle thief , a murderer and a horse thief — arrived at a partially completed facility in 1849 .
This penitentiary held Kiowa chiefs Satanta and Big Tree , infamous gunslinger John Wesley Hardin and federal prisoners of war during the Civil War .
Death Row was located in the East Building of the Huntsville Unit from 1928 to 1952 , and from 1952 the electric chair was located in a building by the east wall of the unit . The prison remains home to one of the most active death chambers in the United States .
— The Huntsville “ Walls ” Unit is located at 815 12th Street .