On November 11, 1839, the Congress of the Republic of Texas met for the time in Austin, in a log and wood structure located just south of the present capitol and just west of Congress Avenue. Austin was selected as the new capital months earlier after Mirabeau B. Lamar, while on a horseback scouting mission, announced his pleasure with the new site while on the bluffs overlooking Walnut Creek and the Pioneer Farms property.