In early 1822, settlers under Stephen F. Austin's colonization grant, including members of the Old Three Hundred, established a fortified community at a bend in the Brazos River in what is now Fort Bend County. A log fort built at this river bend gave rise to a settlement known as Fort Bend, or the Fort Settlement, which functioned primarily as a defensible river crossing and a trading point where colonists exchanged goods, received supplies, and organized militia protection against raids. The Brazos River location made it a natural stop for river traffic and overland trails linking the coast to the interior of Austin's colony. The original settlement was abandoned during the 1836 Runaway Scrape, but the site was re-established in 1837 as the town of Richmond, named for Richmond, England, and incorporated by the Republic of Texas that same year. When Fort Bend County was organized in December 1837, Richmond became its county seat, a role it retains today. A rail connection in 1855 later made Richmond a shipping and market center for surrounding cotton plantations. Today the Old Fort Settlement site is commemorated by historical markers in and around Richmond, and the town functions as a modern county seat and heritage destination, with the Fort Bend Museum and local markers preserving the memory of the original 1822 fortified settlement and its founding role in Anglo-American colonization of Texas.