The first European settlers in the present-day Austin were a group of Spanish friars who arrived from East Texas in July 1730. They established three temporary missions, La Purísima Concepción, San Francisco de los Neches and San José de los Nazonis, on a site by the Colorado River, near Barton Springs. The friars found conditions undesirable and relocated to the San Antonio River within a year of their arrival. Following Mexico's Independence from Spain, Anglo-American settlers began to populate Texas and reached present-day Central Texas by the 1830s. The site where Austin is located was surveyed by Edward Burleson in 1838, calling it Waterloo. It was incorporated in January, 1839, only months before selection as the site of the new capital, ending its existence. Early Austin resident and chronicler Frank Brown says the first and only settler in 1838 was Jacob Harrell who may have been living there already. Living in a tent with his family, he later built a cabin and small stockade near the mouth of Shoal Creek. In its short lifespan of less than two years the population of Waterloo grew to only about twelve people made up of four families.
What was the first name of the city that became Austin, Texas?
The site that became Austin was previously incorporated as Waterloo in 1839.