Texas. General Land Office

PREFACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PICTURES

I. HISTORY OF TEXAS LAND

II. DISPOSITION OF TEXAS LAND

III. ITEMS OF INTEREST TO BE FOUND IN THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE

APPENDIX

AUTOMOBILES REGULATING RUNNING OF SAME. H. B. No. 93.] Chapter XCVI.

TEXAS FIRST TRAFFIC LAW PASSED BY 30TH LEGISLATURE, 1907

Transcriber's Notes

With a preface by
BILL ALLCORN
Commissioner of the General Land Office

GENERAL LAND OFFICE—THE STATE OF TEXAS

AUSTIN, TEXAS
1958

The Old General Land Office Building, pictured (above) as it appeared about 1890, is located at the southeast corner of the Capitol grounds in Austin. It is one of the oldest remaining buildings in the Capitol City.

It was designed in December, 1854, by a draftsman in the General Land Office, Professor Doctor C. C. Stremme, who enjoyed considerable prestige in Europe before his emigration to Texas. In addition to other honors, Professor Stremme held a title at the Court of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia.

Maps prepared by Professor Stremme suggest his German homeland, and he poured his rich background into the Old Land Office Building. This structure is German Romance in style.

It was built in 1856 and 1857.

Thirty years after its construction, the building was the working home of William S. Porter, who was later to gain fame as a short story writer under the name of O. Henry. He was a draftsman in the General Land Office, and there he turned out numerous maps of rare beauty.

Later, O. Henry used the Old General Land Office Building in one of his stories, entitled “Bexar Scrip Number 2692”.

Statistically, the old building is 62 by 94 feet, outside dimensions. It has 11,656 feet of floor space in its two floors. Its exterior walls are two feet in width. It is characterized by star-transomed windows.

Moving into the Old General Land Office Building shortly after its completion, the General Land Office occupied the structure until 1918, when it moved into its present building.

A new building to be occupied by the General Land Office and the State Library and Archives is now in the planning stage.

More information about the historic Old General Land Office Building can be obtained from Mr. August Watkins Harris, an Austin architect, 13 Niles Road, Austin, who created the picture (below) and with whose permission it is printed.