SAN FELIPE — If you read the Telegraph and Texas Register in the mid-1800s, you probably read Travis’ letter from the Alamo and the Unanimous Declaration of Independence. But you would be late to the news party. 1829, Godwin Cotten published the first pa per to serve San Felipe de Austin with the Texas Gazette. During this time, the Texas Register published the first book in Texas in 1829. The author, Stephen F.
Austin, himself, wrote a book of gover nance, which was a compilation of trans- lated laws and official documents.
The Telegraph and Texas Register printed its first edition about the Battle of Gonzales and the birth of the Texas Revolution at its business site in San Felipe. The Telegraph and Texas Register became the published voice of the Texas Revolution. It managed to print on a near-weekly production before evacuat ing San Felipe just days before the town was burned to prevent it from falling into Mexican hands. The printing press itself was seized by the Mexican Army in Harrisburg, modern-day Houston and was thrown into the Buffalo Bayou.
The 1800s printing press replica and a village layout of San Felipe may be toured at the San Felipe de Austin Museum in San Felipe. Source: Texas Historical Commission on historic sites about San Felipe de Austin and its colonial press
