In spring of 1822, a group of 24 men associated with Stephen F. Austin’s colony, including three enslaved individuals, constructed a humble log building, about 20 feet square, on the high bank of a bend in the Brazos River near the present site of Richmond. Later, it was referred to nostalgically as the “Old Fort,” and the community surrounding it became known as the “Fort Settlement.” When Fort Bend County was formed in 1837, its name paid homage to the log structure that had come to symbolize the genesis of Anglo-American settlement of Texas. The original site of the “Fort” is now beneath the Brazos River. It was likely near the Old Fort Street terminus at the river. (2023)