Efforts to build a railroad from Harrisburg to the Brazos to carry the commerce of rich plantations failed in 1840-41 under merchant Andrew Briscoe and the Harris family, founders of Harrisburg, but after their holdings, including the Harrisburg townsite, were sold in 1847 to a group of Bostonians and Texans led by San Jacinto hero Gen. Sidney Sherman, the first railroad in Texas was successfully built. The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railway was chartered Feb. 11, 1850, with construction materials shipped from Boston to Galveston and brought up Buffalo Bayou by barge, and chief engineer John A. Williams began the survey in May 1851. After a few miles of track were laid, the first passengers ever to ride a train in Texas traveled to Thomas Point, 3 mi. west, on April 21, 1853, for a celebration that included salutes from the Twin Sisters cannon used in the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto. Four months later the tracks reached Stafford's Point and B. B. B. & C. operations officially began, with Harrisburg as the terminal. One block north stood the depot, roundhouse, and docks, while a half block south was the site of the 1836 Texas Capitol. The road was sold in 1870, renamed the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio, and eventually became part of the Southern Pacific system.