Region: Piney Woods
Among the oldest settled areas of Texas, several hundred Anglo-Americans
established farms in the 1820s on Mexican land grants. Town was laid out in 1831
and named Villa de la Santissima Trinidad de la Libertad, which was quickly
shortened to Liberty by English-speaking residents. William B. Travis, Sam
Houston and David Burnet all practiced law in Liberty. Three brothers from
Liberty died at the Alamo, and about 50 Liberty citizens fought in the Battle of
San Jacinto in 1836, when Texas won its independence.
Seat of Liberty County, the town was a busy port when steamboats plied the
Trinity River in the late 19th century. Today, it is a farming-ranching
community with substantial oil production dating from 1925. Each March the
"Liberty Jubilee" is held downtown.