Santiago del Valle was a Mexican
hacendado
An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or ''finca''), similar to a Roman ''latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchards), ...
and government official for
Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila y Tejas (), was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution.
It had two capitals: first Saltillo (1822–1825) for ...
(Coahuila and Texas) during the
Texas Revolution. Del Valle obtained a
land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
from the Mexican government, which led to the founding of
Galveston, Texas
Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...
and several towns in
Travis County
Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is na ...
, including
Del Valle, which is named in his honor. In 1825, he served as president of the Congreso Constituyente of the state of Coahuila y Tejas, counselor to governor
Victor Blanco, and as the arbitrator in a feud between the
Sánchez Navarro and Elizondo families.
Land grant
The del Valle land grant was originally an ''
empresario
An empresario () was a person who had been granted the right to settle on land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for settling the eastern areas of Coahuila y Tejas in the early nineteenth century. The word in Spanish for entrep ...
'' grant purchased by
Benjamin Milam
Benjamin Rush "Ben" Milam (October 20, 1788 – December 7, 1835) was an American colonist of Mexican Texas and a military leader and hero of the Texas Revolution. A native of what is now Kentucky, Milam fought beside American interests during t ...
in 1825, in hopes of establishing a mining colony.
In 1832, the Mexican government canceled Milam's grant due to an insufficient supply of new citizens for their colony in Texas, following
a new law passed in 1830.
In 1832, the 10
league
League or The League may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band
* ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football
Sports
* Sports league
* Rugby league, full contact footba ...
grant was transferred to Del Valle, who lived and worked in
Monclova
Monclova (), is a city and the seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. According to the 2015 census, the city had 231,107 inhabitants. Its metropolitan area has 381,432 inhabitants and ...
at the time.
In 1835,
Samuel May Williams
Samuel May Williams (October 4, 1795 – September 13, 1858) was an American businessman, politician, and close associate of Stephen F. Austin, who was an Anglo-American colonizer of Mexican Texas. As a teenager, Williams started working in th ...
acquired ten leagues (about ) of the grant from Del Valle and sold the land to
Michel Branamour Menard
Michel Branamour Menard (1805–1856) was a Canadians, Canadian-born trader and merchant, first active on the upper Mississippi River and later in Texas. He co-founded Galveston, Texas. He represented Galveston County, Texas, Galveston County i ...
, who established the town that would become the present-day
Galveston, Texas
Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...
. Menard, in turn, sold nine leagues (about ) of land in
Travis County, Texas
Travis County is located in south central Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,290,188. It is the fifth-most populous county in Texas. Its county seat is Austin, the capital of Texas. The county was established in 1840 and is na ...
to
Thomas F. McKinney in 1839.
[Henson, Margaret Swett. ''McKinney Falls''. The Texas State Historical Association, 1999.] Del Valle sold the remaining league of the grant, a swath of land south of
Bastrop, Texas
Bastrop () is a city and the county seat of Bastrop County, Texas, United States. The population was 9,688 according to the 2020 census. It is located about southeast of Austin and is part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area.
History
Span ...
, to Bartlett Sims.
In the 1850s, McKinney settled the land and built a
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
homestead and
grist mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...
along
Onion Creek. McKinney sold all but approximately 2,800 acres of the land prior to his death; many of McKinney's land sales led to the present-day
Pilot Knob,
Creedmoor,
Bluff Springs, and
Del Valle. In Southeast Austin, much of McKinney's portion of the Del Valle grant was sold to plantation owners such as
Albert Clinton Horton
Albert Clinton Horton (September 4, 1798 – September 1, 1865) was a Texan politician, and the first Lieutenant Governor of Texas serving under Governor James P. Henderson.
Early life
Horton was born on September 4, 1798, in Hancock County, ...
and
Judge Sebron G. Sneed; both homesteads still remain.
Some of the land grant was sold to the City of Austin, who leased 3,000 acres to the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
to create the
Del Valle Army Air Base, later known as "Bergstrom Air Force Base" and currently the
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
Following McKinney's death in 1873, his widow, Anna, sold the remaining land to James Woods Smith, whose family owned a farm on the land until 1973, when they donated it to the State of Texas in 1973 to create
McKinney Falls State Park
McKinney Falls State Park is a state park in Austin, Texas, United States at the confluence of Onion Creek and Williamson Creek. It is administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The park opened on April 15, 1976 and is named after ...
.
References
{{Portal bar, Biography, Texas
Year of birth missing
Mexican civil servants
People of Mexican Texas
Texas pioneers
People of the Texas Revolution
Politicians from Monclova