Bridges, Schools, and Population Growth

In November, Mason Thomas T. Blackwell died, causing creation of Masonic Cemetery in 1849. City Council passed an act to provide for digging a number of ditches sufficient to drain the Inner Town.  Also all laws, acts, ordinances passed before January 1, 1847 were repealed.   In April, an act was passed to build five bridges across ditches within the city. On July 31st, the First Baptist Church of Gonzales organized. The Union Sabbath School was established (in the 1854 Inquirer, T.J. Pilgrim listed as President). An estimated 16, 770 residents lived in Gonzales County, and an estimated 296 persons lived in the town of Gonzales