Travis County has had two locations named Montopolis. The first was during the Republic of Texas period north of the Colorado River. The second is today's Montopolis neighborhood in Austin, Texas south of the river. Located southeast of the city's urban core, today's neighborhood is in ZIP code 78741. Montopolis is bounded by Lady Bird Lake on the north, by Grove Street and the Pleasant Valley neighborhood on the west, to the south by Texas State Highway 71, and by U.S. Route 183 on the east. The southeast corner abuts Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Montopolis is in City Council District 3.
History Travis County has had two locations named Montopolis that differ in their formation and location, sometimes causing confusion when the two are conflated.
The first was a planned townsite by Jesse Cornelius Tannehill during the Republic of Texas period north of the Colorado River, east and adjacent to what would become Austin, with a systematic design of building lots, farm lots, out lots, and streets laid out on a grid much like Edwin Waller's design of Austin;its planners aspired to make this site the capital of the nascent Republic of Texas.Montopolis Historical Marker. Texas Historical Commission, marker number 22517, marker year 2019.Bastrop County (Tex.), County Clerk’s Office, plat of the town of Montopolis, Deed Book C:499-504.History of Texas together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1891), p.298; University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth846133/Jesse Cornelius Tannehill. Bio, Texas State Cemetery, https://cemetery.tspb.texas.gov/pub/user_form.asp?pers_id=63 Accessed May 2, 2022Travis County Deed Records: Deed Record Transcript 1 Page: 239 Accessed May 10, 2022. Transcript of the original full deed of the "Town of Montopolis" filed July 2, 1839 in Bastrop County, Texas. Travis County was originally part of Bastrop County. Includes map showing easterly flow of Colorado River putting town site on north bank, also specifying the town was part of the Tannehill league, again on the north bank.Holder, Ann Thiele. Tennessee to Texas: Francis Richardson Tannehill (1966), Austin:Pemberton Press. Descendants of Tannehill still live in Austin. John Henry Faulk and author Ann Thiele Holder (both deceased) are descendants.Travis County Clerk Records: Commissioners Court Minutes A, p.16. June 2, 1840, Commissioners discussing new road from Austin east to Bastrop provide details on how Austin streets aligned with those of Montopolis; that Montopolis' "Broad Street" was a continuance of Austin's Pine Street, today's 5th Street: "...the road shall go down Pine Street of the Town tract of Austin till you strike Broad Street of the tract of Montopolis & continuing Broad Street to Main Street [approximately today's Shady Lane] in said Town of Montopolis then [north] along Main Street till it strikes the corner of farm lots no. Six and Seven then east with the line of said lots Six and Seven to the lower line of the [Montopolis] Town tract."
The second was a community south of the Colorado River that began taking shape in Texas' Reconstruction era and into the early 20th century, evolving over several decades and ultimately becoming the neighborhood most Austinites recognize today as Montopolis.
The common thread joining old and new Montopolis is a historic river crossing become ferry then bridge of the same name with history that predates both.
Republic of Texas period The founder of the Republic of Texas era townsite of Montopolis was Jesse Cornelius Tannehill (1797-1863).Texas State Cemetery https://cemetery.tspb.texas.gov/pub/user_form.asp?pers_id=63 Accessed May 2, 2022. The first name is sometimes spelled "Jessie". His headstone at the Texas State Cemetery uses "Jesse" and descendants have stated that is their preference. That spelling was used on the Texas Historical Commission historical marker. A recent though often repeated misconception is that Tannehill's Montopolis was founded in 1830; Tannehill's time in Texas is well documented showing this is not so.Barnes, Michael (September 24, 2016). "Older than Austin, Montopolis opens up its history". Austin American Statesman. Barnes article is an early source of this erroneous date of 1830. The article also conflates Tannehill's Republic of Texas era townsite with today's Montopolis neighborhood. Barnes later tried to redress the confusion with the article "Montopolis: A Tale of Two Towns" in his book Indelible Austin: More Selected Histories, Waterloo Press, 2018. Tannehill and family came to Texas in 1828 first settling near Caney in Matagorda County. As a member of Stephen F. Austin's "Little Colony",Texas General Land Office, Jessie Tannehill’s request for admission to Austin’s Colony, Texas General Land Office (GLO) file number SC 000028:41 The request states he “moved from Tennessee and arrived in this colony [Austin’s Little Colony] April 1828”; see also Texas General Land Office, Austin’s Register of Families. they soon moved to Bastrop. In 1836 during the Texas war for independence, when Mexican forces threatened settlements along the Colorado, the Tannehills and other families fled Bastrop in wagons eastward towards Nacogdoches along the Old San Antonio Road. This evacuation was referred to as the Runaway Scrape. Following the war, the Tannehills lived in Huntsville and later in La Grange until 1839.Handbook of Texas. "Montopolis, TX"History of Texas together with a biographical history of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1891), 298; University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth846133/.
In 1839, Tannehill, his wife, Jane L. (Richardson) Tannehill (1803-1855), their children, and possibly several enslaved persons,Ann Thiele Holder, Tennessee to Texas: Francis Richardson Tannehill 1825-1864 (Austin: Pemberton Press, 1966). Much of what we know of possible enslaved persons is based on Holder's book. Holder, a descendant of the Tannehills, noted that her book was not a “history book nor a literal biography,” but that she tried to “characterize the principals involved according to the way they have been described to [her],” implying she relied on elements of oral history. moved to a headright of 4,428 acres on the Colorado River, from which 800 acres were surveyed for the town tract. A partnership deed between Tannehill and five others recorded July 2, 1839, established the location of a platted town on the left (north) bank of the Colorado river. Tannehill never owned any part of the Santiago del Valle grant south of the Colorado, nor was he in any way responsible for development or settlement south of the Colorado River, where the current community of Montopolis is located.Bastrop County (Tex.), County Clerk’s Office, plat of the town of Montopolis, Deed Book C:499-504. Montopolis Historical Marker. Texas Historical Commission, marker number 22517, marker year 2019.
The townsite was named Montopolis ("mont" Latin for "mountain" and "polis" Greek for "city"). A recent interpretation of Montopolis is "city on a hill". In research for the Montopolis historical marker no primary or contemporary evidence for this was found.The Montopolis townsite is not hilly, indeed is so flat it was historically prone to floods before construction of Tom Miller dam. The name ("mont" Latin for "mountain" and "polis" Greek for "city") may reference the term "at the foot of the mountains" historically used to describe this section of the Colorado River. The bend in the Colorado where Waterloo (later Austin) and Montopolis sat was commonly referred to as being "at the foot of the mountains"; it is the edge of the Balcones Escarpment. As early as 1832 Stephen F. Austin is using the term "foot of the mountains" (Stephen F Austin to Samuel M Williams, May 8th, 1832. Digital Austin Papers. Department of History, College of Arts & Sciences, University of North Texas (UNT). The Portal to Texas History. http://digitalaustinpapers.org ) The 1887-88 census used this description: "The city of Austin, the metropolis of the county and the capital of the State, is beautifully located at the foot of a range of mountains." Foster, L. L. Forgotten Texas Census: First Annual Report of the Agricultural Bureau of the Department of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History, 1887-88 (2002); Austin, Texas.Montopolis Historical Marker. Texas Historical Commission, marker number 22517, marker year 2019. Copy of marker application on file at the Austin History Center and Travis County Archives. Several families settled in the community. James Smith (1790-1845) was likely the first settler in 1838. His 1841 home is preserved on Boggy Creek Farm.
Tannehill began laying out Montopolis before Edward Burleson laid out nearby Waterloo, which was renamed Austin upon its selection as the republic of Texas' seat of government. There is evidence that Montopolis, as well as the town of Comanche, were also in the running for this honor. But the site selection commissioners chose the Waterloo location one mile from Spring Creek (Barton Springs) and the Montopolis venture died within two years of its conception. By 1841, the partnership that established Montopolis was dissolved, and the land was sold.