Historical markers at the John Richardson Harris site tell of General Santa Anna's razing the town as he chased Sam Houston and his retreating army just before they reached Lynch's ferry.
John Richardson Harris traveled to New Orleans for parts needed to complete his machinery, but contracted yellow fever and died there.
[2] John Richardson Harris was survived by a wife and children, who were residing in upstate New York at his death.
Meanwhile, David and William Harris expanded their business in Harrisburg by bringing in two ships for the transport of goods in and out of the region.
On April 16, 1836, during the Texas Revolution, almost all of Harrisburg was burned by the forces of Antonio López de Santa Anna.
After making a small investment in Galveston, they failed in a bid for the property at Morgan's Point, Texas, near the mouth of Buffalo Bayou.
Next the Allen brothers traveled several miles upstream to Harrisburg, where they negotiated an agreement for Jane Birdsall Harris to sell the town site.
[4][5][failed verification] The Republic of Texas passed a statute of incorporation for Harrisburg on June 5, 1837.
Briscoe also placed an advertisement to hire sixty enslaved men as railroad construction laborers.
Harrisburg real estate was leveraged for a new plan to build a railroad with an eastern terminus at a peninsula at the mouth of Braes Bayou.
[9] After the Civil War, the railroad expanded and changed its name to the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway.
The population of Harrisburg dwindled with the loss of the railroads and with the widening of the Houston Ship Channel in 1919.
The 1926 annexation of the Harrisburg area added 1,293 acres (523 ha) of land to the city limits.
[11] The United States Postal Service operates the Harrisburg Post Office at 8330 Manchester Street.