British Book Dealer Discovers Rare Maps of Houston That Predate the City

When looking through old books, it is a good idea to pay attention and know something of cartography. In the case of Daniel Crouch, a book dealer in England, he was both attentive and knowledgeable when he found a handful of rare maps of Texas drawn by scientist Jean Louis Berlandier in the early 1800s. The maps depict the Texas Gulf Coast, specifically Brazos Santiago, a town destroyed by hurricanes in the area near Galveston Bay. This was well before any urban development and about five years before the Allen Brothers hoodwinked a bunch of people into settling in Houston.