William J. Hutchins (March 3, 1813 – June 4, 1884) was a businessman and a

Mayor of Houston The following is a list of people who have served as mayor of the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Until 2015, the term of the mayor was two years. Beginning with the tenure of Bob Lanier, the city charter imposed term limits on offi ...

Early life

Hutchins was born in Duchess County New York. He spent most of his childhood in

New Bern New Bern, formerly called Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 29,524, which had risen to an estimated 29,994 as of 2019. It is the county seat of Craven County and t ...

, North Carolina, where he stayed until the age of twenty-two. In 1835, he relocated to

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

, establishing himself as a merchant for three years before selling his interest. He arrived in Houston in 1838, after the town was established as the capital of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...

. He worked there as a merchant.(1895)''History of Texas, together with a biographical history of the cities of Houston and Galveston; containing a concise history of the state, with portraits and biographies of prominent citizens of the above named cities''. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, p.276. https://archive.org/details/historyoftexasto01chic, accessed July 08, 2013.

Business career

In addition to his activities as a commission merchant, Hutchins invested in several infrastructure development companies. He co-founded the Houston Plank Road Company; Houston Navigation Company; the Buffalo Bayou Ship Channel Company; and the

Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway (B.B.B.C. or B.B.B. & C.), also called the Harrisburg Road or Harrisburg Railroad, was the first operating railroad in Texas. It completed its first segment of track between Harrisburg, Texas (now a ...

—the first railroad to operate in Texas. Around 1860, Hutchins started construction of a new four-story, brick building on the site of the old City Hotel (1837-1859). Finally completed after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, the Hutchins House was open until it burned in the early 1900s. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas. Hutchins served variously as a director, owner, and president of the

Houston and Texas Central Railway The Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC), was an 872-mile (1403-km) railway system chartered in Texas in 1848, with construction beginning in 1856. The line eventually stretched from Houston northward to Dallas and Denison, Texas. with branch ...

. He and a partner purchased the railroad at auction in 1861 for $10,000. Hutchins purchased the

Houston Tap and Brazoria Railway The Houston Tap and Brazoria Railway was chartered in September 1856 to extend southward from Houston to West Columbia in Brazoria County. The railroad's nicknames were the Columbia Tap and the Sugar Road. The railway absorbed track from an earlie ...

at auction in 1869 for $500. Hutchins was Vice-President of the Houston Insurance Company. According to the 1860 Census, Hutchins estimated his assets at $700,000 (equivalent to $ million today), the second largest estate in Houston.

Political career

Hutchins served as Alderman for Houston’s Second Ward for several terms. He also served a single term as Mayor of Houston in 1861. During the Civil War, he headed the Texas Cotton Board, charged with collecting cotton for the Confederate States and getting it to foreign markets in exchange for supplies and war materials.

Hutchins, Texas Hutchins is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. Its population was 5,338 at the 2010 census. History The area was first inhabited by families around 1860 as a trading place for immigrants who settled along the west bank of the Trinity ...

was named in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchins, William J. 1813 births 1884 deaths Mayors of Houston History of Houston 19th-century American politicians People from Fishkill, New York People from New Bern, North Carolina People of the Republic of Texas