This corner was a favorite site where General Sam Houston sat in a special hide-bottom chair to whittle small objects and talk with customers at the General Mercantile Store owned by his friends Thomas and Sandford Gibbs. Early records of the company indicated that the Gibbs brothers extended credit to the Houston family for their household purchases. General Houston’s whittling knife and samples of his creations carved from white pine and other soft woods are located at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum.

This cemetery existed as early as 1846, for three graves were placed here that year. Pleasant Gray, Huntsville's founder, deeded in 1847 a 1,600-square foot plot at this site. The original tract has been greatly enlarged by other donations from local citizens. Numerous graves bear the death date 1867, when a yellow-fever epidemic swept the county. Among the many famous persons buried here are General Sam Houston; Henderson King Yoakum, author of the first comprehensive history of Texas; state congressmen; and pioneer families.

The present monument was erected by the State of Texas and unveiled on April 21, 1911, the 75th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto. Among several thousand spectators present were Houston family members, State officials, the two surviving veterans of San Jacinto, and descendants of prominent early Texans. Dedicatory addresses were by noted orator William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska and Texas Senator McDonald Meachum of nearby Grimes County, who sponsored legislation for the $10,000 gray Texas granite monument by Italian Sculptor Pompeo Coppini, whose other works include the Alamo cenotaph. Sam Houston is seen as the General in Command of the Texas army, flanked by symbolic figures of victory and history, who holds the first chapter of Texas history. Andrew Jackson’s words were from a tribute made after the Battle of San Jacinto. Coppini also designed the black iron fence featuring Roman battle axes, inverted to indicate and end of fighting, connected by laurel wreaths signifying the Texan victory.

One of 25 lodges started during the Republic of Texas, Forrest Lodge No. 19, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, was chartered on Jan. 11, 1844. It is the eighth oldest lodge in Texas. Among its early members were Sam Houston and Texas historian Henderson Yoakum. Another outstanding member, William Martin Taylor (1817-1871), is known as "The Father of the Texas Work". He published a handbook called "Taylor's Monitor" which brought uniformity to Texas Masonic ritual. It was approved by the Grand Lodge at a meeting held here in 1858. At least 28 local Masons have attained offices in the Grand Lodge.

The upper floor of a store owned by Alexander McDonald, the first worshipful master, served as an early meeting place. A two-story lodge hall on the north side of the square, built in 1850, was destroyed by fire in 1881. It was replaced by a brick building near the corner of University and 11th Street in 1883. The present property was acquired in 1896 and the new structure dedicated in 1909.

The Masons have shared their facilities with the Red Cross, the First Baptist Church, and the public schools. Lodge funds have aided distressed members, widows, and orphans; bought war bonds; and supplied scholarships.

 One of the earliest Baptist congregations in Texas, this church was organized in 1844 by the Rev Z.N. Morrell, who served as first pastor. The Rev. J.W.D. Creath, a missionary from Virginia, was the second, and the Rev. G.W. Baines, known now as an ancestor of U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson, was the third. General Sam Houston, ex-president of the Republic of Texas, was a member. The congregation dedicated its first church building in 1851; it was on this site. A bell added in the 1850s became a pride of the city.

This church hosted the Baptist State Convention five times in the 1850s and 60s. One of the first regular Sunday schools in Texas functioned here by 1864. Blacks in the membership requested and received letters of dismission in 1868, to organize a church of their own. After Sam Houston Normal Institute (now Sam Houston State University) was established in 1879, many of its people came to augment the leadership in this church.

The congregation has erected houses of worship in 1891, 1924, and 1954. Throughout its history, it has promoted and financed mission work, and has helped to organize and encourage other congregations.

Built in 1862, this Greek revival house was, originally the home of the Thomas Gibbs family an was used briefly as a rent house and for student housing in the 1880s and 1890s. Thomas Gibbs and his family would visit the coast and bring back with them raw oysters. When they would arrive home, Thomas Gibbs would invite his friend, Sam Houston, over to enjoy them. Sam Houston is said to have enjoyed raw oysters, sugar cookies and coffee as a favorite meal. The home was then purchased by Judge Ben Powell, II, in 1897. Although altered over the years, the house retains its original character and exhibits stylistic features such as square porch columns and a central entry with transom and sidelights. It became a local history museum in 1984.