San Felipe de Austin was laid off by Stephen F. Austin as the capital of his colony in 1824. It was the site of the only Federal District Court ever convened in Texas under Mexican rule. San Felipe also hosted key events leading to the Revolution, including the First Convention on Oct. 1, 1832, the Second Convention on Apr. 1, 1833, and the General Consultation on Nov. 3, 1835, when a Provisional Government for Texas was organized with Henry Smith as Governor and J.W. Robinson as Lieutenant Governor. Stephen Fuller Austin, empresario and remembered as the Father of Texas, was praised as one who through unceasing toil laid in the wilderness the foundation for an infant colony and built thereon a vigorous state.