Historic Walker County

Eight decades later, following a disastrous
economic recession, King Carlos III of Spain
issued a royal order known as the New
Regulations for Presidios. This 1772 directive
was intended to strengthen the Spanish defensive
perimeter, while cutting costs and eliminating
waste. It called for the abandonment of all
missions and presidios in Texas—except those
at San Antonio and La Bahia—and the removal
of soldiers and settlers from East Texas.
Despite this new order, however, settlers
from East Texas persuaded the Spanish Viceroy,
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, to permit
them to return to the region in 1774. Once
there, they established a settlement named
Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Bucareli at the intersection
of the Old San Antonio Road and the
Trinity River. This settlement, which most likely
sat at the modern day site of Robbins Ferry
northeast of Midway, was within the original
1846 borders of Walker County. By the time
Walker County was established, however,
Bucareli had long been abandoned. In 1779,
after a series of epidemics and Comanche raids,
Antonio Gil Ibarvo led the Bucareli settlers further
east, where they established Nacogdoches.
Even so, the Bucareli site is an important historic
location and signifies the intent of Spanish
settlers to remain in Texas, even as their king
called for them to move southward toward
Mexico City. 7
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Top: Pleasant and Hannah Gray
signed a deed granting the people of
Walker County ownership of the
Huntsville public square in 1846.
COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE
ARTS COMMISSION.
Middle: Alexander McDonald built
one of the first brick buildings in
Huntsville in 1843.
COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE
ARTS COMMISSION.
Bottom: A sketch of Huntsville (1843)
from William Bollaert’s Texas.
COURTESY OF THE HUNTSVILLE
ARTS COMMISSION.
6 ✦ H I S T O R I C W A L K E R C O U N T Y