Talk:Montopolis, Austin, Texas

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There were two locations named Montopolis. Conflating the two causes problems here and elsewhere.
Fellow editors: Travis County has had two locations named Montopolis that differ in formation and location, causing confusion when the two are conflated. A relatively recent misconception is that Jesse Tannehill founded the Montopolis neighborhood in 1830. Somehow even a casino was factored into the story. Variations of this verbiage – some with, some without the casino -- has spread to real estate websites, neighborhood websites. Even a document written by the City of Austin for an Art in Public Places (AIPP) program copy and pasted the story: “Montopolis neighborhood was established in 1830 … when Jessie C. Tannehill built a casino and laid out a townsite to be originally called "Montopolis".

Significantly, it has started to appear in applications for historical markers and at least one application for the Nat’l Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Some of the copy and paste by bots and people trace back to this Wikipedia page.

None of this true (especially the casino, though that is definitely funny). It is not a matter of historical interpretation. Tannehill’s Republic of Texas era Montopolis is a legally deeded partnership and town site. The deed is available for all to see. As with one’s house deed, there is no ambiguity as to where, when and who founded the Republic of Texas era Montopolis. I’m hoping all editors can agree it is in everyone’s interest to tell a factual history. The Montopolis neighborhood south of the river deserves a factual history, as do the neighborhoods north of the river that reside on the old Montopolis tract, not to mention Tannehill descendants that still live in Austin.

If you are in doubt, please read the deed filed July 2, 1839; it is both on file with the Bastrop County Clerks Office (Bastrop County Clerk’s Office, plat of the town of Montopolis, Deed Book C:499-504) as well as the Travis County Clerks Office (Travis County Deed Records: Deed Record Transcript 1 Page: 238), the latter available on-line at https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth787611/m1/324/ rdenney (talk) 21:57, 29 May 2022 (UTC)


 * I will add, as the deed specifies, all 800 acres of the Republic of Texas Montopolis was located on the JC Tannehill headright league. If you are unfamiliar with where that is it is on every GLO map. See Pressler, Herman. Travis Co. [Austin, Tex.: General Land Office, 1894] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/2012592086/ Accessed May 30, 2022. This map is also of particular interest in that it calls out communities along the Colorado east of Austin; you will note that no community of Montopolis is shown at the current neighborhood's location at this date of 1894. The first post office was three years in the future. rdenney (talk) 16:27, 30 May 2022 (UTC)
 * To further emphasize that the location of Tannehill's Montopolis is  not , as some have suggested, "an open question", other legal instruments into the 20th century reference the original Montopolis town tract. The validity of these subsequent legal instruments, e.g. deeds, depends on a precise location of the original Montopolis town tract as recorded in 1839. See Travis County Clerk's Office, https://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/partners/TCCO/ accessed June 6, 2022. Search on "Montopolis town tract" in quotes. Results include only documents that have been scanned. Older handwritten documents that have not been transcribed will not appear. Some documents with misspellings (like "Mentopolis") may be missed by search unless the OCR corrections were made. rdenney (talk) 17:10, 6 June 2022 (UTC)