Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Colorado County in southeastern Texas. The population was 3,699 as of the 2020 census. It is located upon the Colorado River. The Colorado County Courthouse is listed upon the National Register of Historic Places.

A Santa Claus museum is located in Columbus.

The first American settlers arrived in 1821 on what is known as the legendary site of Montezuma’s Indian village. In 1822, the Mexican management issued home grants to members of Stephen F. Austin’s Old Three Hundred, who included Benjamin Beason (originally spelled “Beeson”) and Abram Alley. Alley’s 1830s log cabin has been preserved in Columbus and is used as a tool museum. Beason arrived in 1821, received his land comply in 1822, and fixed along the Colorado River later his wife Elizabeth “Betsy” and family. By late December 1821, colonists Robert H. Kuykendall taking into consideration his brother Joseph, and Daniel Gilleland arrived in the area of present-day Columbus. In 1822, Benjamin Beason began in action a ferry across the Colorado River, and the concurrence became known as Beason’s Ferry or Beason’s Crossing. Beason also acknowledged a gristmill, gin, and a sawmill; his wife operated a boarding house.

Beason’s Crossing became ration of Austin’s San Felipe colony in 1822, when the colony was divided into two districts by the Mexican official José F. Trespalacios. The Mexican management granted the rights to verify a town, and the locals elected town officials. John J. Tumlinson Sr., was elected alcalde, with Robert Kuykendall captain and Moses Morrison lieutenant. Tumlinson’s estate adjoined Beason’s; together, they made in the works much of the site of present-day Columbus. Tumlinson was killed by Native Americans in 1823. In 1834, after the Tumlinson kids inherited the estate, they sold home to William Dewees, who was married to Beason’s daughter, Lydia. Dewees’ land comply was near the site of present-day Glidden, Texas.