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 by Whit Snyder The Baytown Sun |
Click on STARS for more information. |
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Roseate Spoonbill
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| Location and History | Demographics, Schools, and Government | Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge | Fort Anahuac Park and Gatorfest |
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by Whit Snyder The Baytown Sun |
Click on STARS for more information. |
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Roseate Spoonbill
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| Location and History | Demographics, Schools, and Government | Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge | Fort Anahuac Park and Gatorfest |
| Location and history | Top |
Anahuac is located in the middle of Chambers County, six miles south of Interstate 10, east of Baytown across the Trinity, Old and Lost Rivers. The city serves as the main business center for the smaller unincorporated communities of Wallisville, Hankamer, Double Bayou, Oak Island, and Smith Point.
Named, some believe, after the ancient valley in Mexico which served as the capital of the Aztecs, Anahuac's earliest inhabitants were Atakapan Indians. In 1721 French explorer Jean Baptiste de La Harpe recorded a visit to a village of some 200 Atakapans located between the future site of Anahuac and Round Point.
In 1830, the infamous Col. John Davis Bradburn was appointed chief officer of the area, then the Mexican capitol of Texas. He arrived in Anahuac (then known as Perry's Point after an adventurer who settled there in 1821) with a small military force to construct a garrison/customs house on the bluff over-looking the mouth of the Trinity River. This garrison, named Fort Anahuac by government authorities, was the scene of incidents in 1832 and 1835 that helped ignite the Texas Revolution.
Bradburn earned the animosity of Anglo-American settlers in the area through his heavy-handed, dictatorial command of the law and tax collection methods. His troops, some of whom were former convicts sent to the frontier to do heavy construction work in order to earn their freedom, were also loathed for their boorish, brutish manner.
In 1832, Bradburn arrested William B. Travis and imprisoned him in a brick kiln. This prompted a colonists' rescue force of some 200 men to shoot it out with Bradburn and his troops before ultimately winning the release of the future Alamo hero. Out of the clash the colonists 4rew up a document explaining their actions which became known as the Turtle Bayou Resolutions.
Shortly afterward, the brigand Bradburn was relieved of command and, fearing plots on his life, fled to New Orleans.
The 1835 incident was similar. This time a merchant named Briscoe was imprisoned by Fort Anahuac's new commander, Capt. Antonio Tenorio. Travis raised a force of 25 Anglo volunteers who marched to Harrisburg (now Houston) from the Brazos and commandeered a small ship for Anahuac. Tenorio surrendered to the insurgents, who dis- armed the Mexican troops and returned with them to Harrisburg.
After the Texas Revolution, a long- running civil dispute between Gen. Thomas Jefferson Chambers and Charles Willcox over ownership of the Anahuac town site began in 1838 and was not resolved until Chambers' murder in 1865. The crime was never solved and stalled development of the town.
After a sawmill venture failed in the 1890s, the Anahuac Townsite Company began real estate development of the town in the early 1900s. Business leaders were successful in an April 11, 1907, election to make Anahuac the county seat over Wallisville. Legal efforts to reverse the election failed, and the First Court of Civil Appeals ordered all county records transferred to Anahuac in 1908.
Discovery of oil at Anahuac and near-by Turtle Bay sparked a brief period of growth for the little town in the 1930s. Developed by the Humble Oil and Refining Company, the Sun Oil Company, and Gulf Oil the Anahuac Field is significant because the small number of operators in it followed a systematic drilling program that spaced wells for the most favorable recovery and economic return.
Between its discovery in 1935 and 1993, the field produced more than 277 million barrels of oil. Between 1974 and 1993 the field ceded more than 43.3 billion cubic feet of gas.
Voters approved the incorporation of the city of Anahuac in 1948, and elected attorney Everett Cain mayor the next year.
| Demographics, Schools, and Government | Top |
The Anahuac school district was established in 1917 and covers the middle portion of Chambers County, including the communities of Double Bayou, Eminence, Hankamer, Oak Island, Smith Point, and Wallisville. All three school campuses -Anahuac High, middle and elementary schools are located in town.
The Texas Education Agency has rated AISD Acceptable. Anahuac high and Anahuac middle schools, however, have been rated Exemplary and Recognized in the state accountability rankings.
A seven-member school board over- sees the district. The school property tax rate is $1.50 per $100 valuation.
The city ad valorem tax is $0.40 per $100 valuation. The county rate is $0.54 per $100. There are navigation district and hospital district taxes which are $0.23 per $100 and $0.4 per $100.
The town is home to the Chambers County Museum. Located in the Courthouse Annex, the museum
offers exhibits of general history;
local and pioneer history and archaeology.
 Immature Yellow-crowned Night-heron |
 Snowy Egret |
 American Bittern |
| Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge | Top |
| Fort Anahuac Park and Gatorfest | Top |
The Anahuac Area Chamber of Commerce organized the first annual Gatorfest in September 1989, an event that drew 14,000 people to Fort Anahuac Park.