History
The Colony, was actually originally named Peter's Colony. The land around the Peters Colony headquarters was named Stewartsville and also became the location of the area’s first general store and post office. The headquarters remained open until it was destroyed by fire in what is known in Texas history as the Hedgecoxe War of 1852. The headquarters building was located on land that is now close to the western edge of The Colony.
The headquarters was burned during a raid by land speculators, led by John J. Good, who later became mayor of Dallas. Good and other land speculators attempted to seize company land records and depose the company’s unpopular agent and chief surveyor, Henry O. Hedgecoxe. Hedgecoxe and his clerk Steven Venters were warned about the raid and escaped with many of the company’s records.The underlying reason for the Hedgecoxe War was vocal land speculators, mostly from the Dallas area, who opposed legislation passed by the Texas legislature that allowed Peters Colony additional time to survey “the colony” lands.
