Columbus is a city in Colorado County in southeastern Texas, United States, 74 miles (119 km) west of Houston. It is the county seat of Colorado County and is located on the Colorado River. The town motto, coined by James Harbert Wooten, Jr., M.D., is “City of Live Oaks and Live Folks”. Columbus is the home of a Santa Claus Museum, based on the collection of Mary Elizabeth Hopkins.
The first American settlers arrived in 1821 on what is known as the legendary site of Montezuma’s Indian village. In 1822, the Mexican government issued land grants to members of Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred, who included Benjamin Beason (originally spelled “Beeson”) and Abram Alley. Alley’s 1830s log cabin has been preserved in Columbus and is used as a tool museum. The historic Alley Log Cabin and Tool Museum is another unique site, dating to the 1830s.
