In 1836 and 1837, Columbia, now West Columbia, served as the capital of the Republic of Texas. Josiah Hughes Bell, a colonist with Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, surveyed and platted Columbia in 1824 as a center for shipping activities. In the mid-1830s, Columbia played an important part in the Texas War for Independence as residents adopted resolutions for sovereignty. In July 1836, ad interim President of the Republic of Texas David G. Burnet named Columbia the country's first capital because it had adequate housing for legislators and a newspaper, the Telegraph and Texas Register. The First Congress of the Republic convened there, and Sam Houston, the first elected president, was inaugurated there on October 22, 1836. While based in Columbia, the new government reorganized the Republic's Army and Navy, organized a Post Office Department and General Land Office, established a court system, and approved a national seal and national flags. The First Congress adjourned in December 1836 with plans to meet for a second session in the newly built City of Houston. Although Congress began to meet in Houston, the Executive Branch remained in Columbia, conducting official duties until April 1837, when President Houston moved his executive office to Houston. Afterward, Columbia no longer served as capital, but the legislation passed there in 1836 continued to play a vital role throughout the years of the Republic, and Columbia is revered as the First Capital of the Republic of Texas.