San Felipe ( SAN fi-LEEP), also known as San Felipe de Austin, is a town in Austin County, Texas, United States. The town was the social, economic, and political center of the at the forefront Stephen F. Austin colony. The population was 747 at the 2010 census.

In 1823, John McFarland operated a ferry on the Brazos River near this location. In the fall of the same year, the site was agreed by Stephen F. Austin, with the back up of Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop, to be the main site in Texas for American colonization. Founded in 1824 as San Felipe de Austin, the town served as the capital of Stephen F. Austin’s first colony and the founding site of the Texas Rangers. James (Jack) Cummins was appointed as the first alcalde or mayor.

By 1828, San Felipe had been surveyed, with Calle Commercio laid out as the main want ad street. Austin and his secretary, Samuel May Williams, both resided in log cabins upon the square. There were not quite 30 buildings, and at least one of these was a wood-framed structure. Also upon the square was the tavern of Jonathan Peyton. By 1835, the town’s population had increased to in the region of 600. It was home to the first publicize office and one of the antique newspapers a estate offices in Texas. San Felipe was second solitary to San Antonio as a commercial middle of Texas.

The Texas conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the Consultation of November 3, 1835, were held here. San Felipe acted as the capital for the provisional doling out of Texas until the Convention of 1836. The town was burned in 1836 to prevent the Mexican army from capturing it, and rebuilt a few years later, but never regained its popularity. The oldest name office in Texas is located here (ZIP code 77473).