Larry Callies graduated from Boling High School. He was born over in El Campo in 1952 and grew up roping and helping his father break horses, and his father supplied stock to rodeos all over Texas, so he spent his boyhood summers on the circuit. He wanted to be a country singer like Charley Pride, and he got closer than most people ever do. He fronted Larry Callies and the Bronco Band, George Strait's manager managed him, and Clint Black's band backed him. Then in 1990, about two weeks before he was finally going to cut a record, his voice went. A neurological condition took it and it never came back. He carried mail for a living after that. In 2017 he opened the Black Cowboy Museum in downtown Rosenberg, which is his answer to the fact that roughly one in four working cowboys was Black and almost nobody was telling anyone about it.

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Boling, TX RoadyGoat

Boling, Texas, isn't exactly on the way to anywhere, which is probably why it's remained so steadfastly itself. You might think it's just another blink-and-you'll-miss-it spot in Wharton County, flat as a pancake and smelling faintly of the Gulf breeze and whatever's growing in the rice fields. But Boling's got a secret, a kind of slow-burn economic engine that sets it apart. It's the mineral wealth beneath those seemingly endless fields. While the surrounding towns built themselves primarily on agriculture, Boling became a hub for the sulfur industry. The Texas Gulf Sulphur Company established a major operation here, drawing workers and their families. That industry shaped the town's character, creating a blue-collar, hard-working community. Today, the sulfur mines are long gone, but that legacy remains. What draws people now is the quiet, the open spaces, and the real, unpretentious nature of the place. Locals will tell you people end up in Boling because they're looking for something genuine, a place where the stars are bright and the neighbors still wave. They’ll also likely mention the good hunting and fishing. It’s that simple, really.

Boling, TX RoadyGoat

Boling, Texas, sits on the rich coastal prairie of Wharton County, a place shaped by a fascinating blend of European cultures. The area was initially settled by Anglo-Americans drawn by the promise of fertile land for cotton and sugarcane. But alongside them came a wave of Czech and German immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, seeking new opportunities. These families left an indelible mark on the landscape and character of the town. While English became the dominant language, you could once hear Czech spoken in homes and at community gatherings. Over time, particularly after the World Wars, the language faded as younger generations assimilated. Yet, the cultural heritage persists. The Catholic church still stands as a central point in the community, reflecting the strong religious traditions of the early settlers. Family names etched on mailboxes and in the local cemetery hint at the area's European roots. And while you might not find polka music on the radio, you'll still see kolaches and sausage making their way onto tables, a delicious reminder of Boling's unique cultural blend.

Boling Dome

1925

Boling Dome, an underground rock structure that contains petroleum, sulfur, and salt, is on the western bank of the San Bernard River almost entirely in Wharton County (at 29°18' N, 95°56'W). It is oval in shape and ranges five miles east-west and three miles north-south, encompassing 5,500 acres. The Boling Dome caprock mantle of minerals is shallow, 383 feet below the surface. Another 120 feet through caprock, at the center of Boling Dome, is the salt dome itself, about 500 feet below the surface. Its outer edge requires up to 5,000 feet of drilling before reaching salt. The entire Boling Dome area is seventy-five feet above sea level. Salt domes in Texas have been of particular geologic significance because of their mineral production. Most of them are located on the Gulf Coast between the lower Colorado and Neches rivers. They have also been used for product storage and disposal. Sulfur production at the Boling Dome is from the crest of the caprock to deep down the southeast flank of the cap. The first well went into production in March 1929, using the Frasch method for removal (pumping steam into the ground to melt the sulfur, then pumping the liquid sulfur out). The sulfur reserve covers more than 1,500 acres. This reserve, owned by Texasgulf , Incorporated, once produced more sulfur than any other sulfur mine in the world. By the time the mine closed in 1993, 80.8 million long tons of sulfur had been removed. The first oil well at the dome went into production in December 1925. As of 1989 the Boling field had produced 6,246 million cubic feet of natural gas and 25,635,836 barrels of oil. Over 8,000 wells had been drilled to mine the sulfur reserve, and 12,000 wells for oil and gas. In addition, at the Boling Dome, Valero, Incorporated, operates three gas-storage caverns in the salt stock, with a combined volume of 7.5 million barrels. Spacing between the boreholes for sulfur wells is about 100 feet; the sulfur holes, with the 12,000 additional injection wells for oil and gas, produce a highly porous zone that affects the integrity of the dome. On August 12, 1983, a sinkhole approximately 250 feet in diameter and twenty-five feet deep, formed suddenly over the crest of the Boling Dome on Farm Road 442 three miles north of Boling, collapsing the roadway. Water filled the ditch. In early drilling records such as those that the Gulf Production Company kept for a well drilled near the middle of the sinkhole in 1927, there is evidence that an underground cavern once extended over 100 feet vertically but apparently collapsed. Several other sinkholes have occurred over the Boling Dome, a condition that is becoming common at other salt dome sites where sulfur and oil are produced. Two communities, Boling and Newgulf, are located at the Boling Dome. Their existence is due directly to the production of sulfur and oil from the dome. Newgulf is a Texas Gulf Sulphur (now Texasgulf) company town that has largely depopulated since the Texasgulf mine closed in 1993, and Boling is located at the intersection of State Farm roads 1301 and 442.

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Boling

1900

This area was called Floyd's Lane prior to the advent of the New York, Texas & Mexican Railway in 1900. Named for the Bolling family of Virginia, the town name was misspelled when citizens applied for a U. S. Post Office. The economy was based on farming and the railroad until sulphur, oil, and gas were discovered on the Boling dome in 1925. Boling became a boom town; the population grew from 20 in 1920 to 450 in 1930. Many streets and subdivisions were named for the companies that flocked here. Mineral production was the dominant industry in the area for 70 years.

Historical Marker →

G. C. and Clara Mick Home, 1909

1903

Oldest in town founded 1900, on new Wharton-Palacios rail line. Mick, Missouri wheat grower and stock farmer, entered Texas on a "Rice Special," 1903. First home on land was a hurricane victim. Eldest son, A. C. Mick, laid out Iago, was architect this house. Used Cuban carpenters. Mansard roof. Cistern on porch. First electric plant in area. Bell rung only in emergencies. Often a shelter in hurricanes. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965

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Iago, TX

1899

Iago is at the intersection of Farm roads 1301 and 1096, two miles northwest of Boling and twelve miles east of Wharton in southeastern Wharton County. The local Caney Creek was originally named Canebrake Creek for the large primeval forest of what Texans call "cane," a native bamboo, Arundinaria , growing to heights of twenty feet. The first settlers burned off the large tracts of canebrake, built large plantations, and grew sugarcane and cotton. The results of the Civil War and the sugarcane blight ended the large plantations, and the area was generally abandoned until 1899, when the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway ran a branch from Wharton to Van Vleck in Matagorda County. This opened up the area to small farming interests. Clarence D. Kemp owned three and one-sixth leagues of land where he set up a mercantile store in the late 1880s. The nearest settlements were Waterville, five miles west, and Preston, three miles west. A post office operated in Iago from 1891 until 1901 with Kemp as postmaster. Kemp was sheriff of Wharton County from 1914 to 1921. G. C. Mick surveyed and laid out the township of Iago in 1911, from 1,000 acres that he bought from Kemp. The area had been part of the Seth Ingram league and was next to the railroad. The name Iago was chosen by M. D. Taylor and C. D. Kemp, after the villain in Shakespeare's Othello . The first school was organized in 1902; it became part of the Boling school district in 1941. By 1920 Iago had two gins, a syrup mill, a blacksmith, several mercantile and grocery stores, a drugstore and doctor, a barbershop, saloons, a church, and a population of 200. The 1927 Wharton County poll tax roll lists 134 White registrants, seven of whom were women, and fifty-three Black registrants, three of whom were women. The church was a federation of Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and Disciples of Christ. Each group was responsible for services one Sunday each month, and any fifth Sunday was open to other denominations. Summer revivals were sponsored by the groups in alphabetical order. An oil well was drilled in the front yard of the church in 1945, and the mineral royalty financed the building program on the original lot given by William Stafford . In 1958 the population was 300, but it dropped to 150 by 1964. The Iago Federated Church was still active in 1991. The school served as a Boling junior high. In 1990 a few businesses still operated in the area, and several outlying farms and oil and gas wells were still productive. A cemetery behind the school campus was neglected and overgrown. In 1990 Iago had a population of fifty-six, and in 2016 the population was estimated at 155.

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Albert Clinton Horton

1834

(1798-1865)
 Georgia native Albert Clinton Horton came to Texas in 1834 from Alabama, where he had served in the state legislature. He established a plantation along Caney Creek in present Wharton County. In 1835, he returned to Alabama to recruit volunteers for the Texas army, and he served as colonel of a cavalry unit during the Texas revolution. Upon the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836, Horton was elected to Congress. He was chairman of the commission appointed by President M. B. Lamar, which selected Austin as the site for a permanent capitol for the Republic of Texas in 1839. When Texas became a state in December 1845, Horton was elected its first lt. governor. He served as acting governor for a year while Governor Henderson was leading Texas forces in the Mexican war. When Baylor University was founded in 1845, Horton was a charter trustee. By the 1850s, he had homes in both Wharton and Matagorda. His home near this site, "Sycamore Grove," was razed in 1960. A community leader, he helped found Wharton's First Baptist Church. He and his wife, Elias Holliday, had six children, only two of whom lived to maturity. Horton died in 1865, and is buried in Matagorda Cemetery. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986

Historical Marker → · 8.8 mi away

Everything Near Boling

286 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

The Singer Who Lost His Voice and Built a Museum
Larry Callies graduated from Boling High School. He was born over in El Campo in 1952 and grew up roping and helping his father break horses, and his father supplied stock to rodeos all over Texas, so he spent his…
Boling, TX
Boling, Texas, isn't exactly on the way to anywhere, which is probably why it's remained so steadfastly itself. You might think it's just another blink-and-you'll-miss-it spot in Wharton County, flat as a pancake and…
Boling · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
This area was called Floyd's Lane prior to the advent of the New York, Texas & Mexican Railway in 1900. Named for the Bolling family of Virginia, the town name was misspelled when citizens applied for a U. S. Post…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Boling (Boling) · 0.3 mi
Boling (Boling, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Brayden Macek (2 HR).
Boling Dome · 0.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Boling Dome, an underground rock structure that contains petroleum, sulfur, and salt, is on the western bank of the San Bernard River almost entirely in Wharton County (at 29°18' N, 95°56'W). It is oval in shape…
Boling, TX · 0.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Boling, Texas, a town that owes its existence to a railroad and a little girl's name. Back in 1900, the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway pushed through this area. Robert E. Vineyard surveyed a…
Iago, TX · 1.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Iago is at the intersection of Farm roads 1301 and 1096, two miles northwest of Boling and twelve miles east of Wharton in southeastern Wharton County. The local Caney Creek was originally named Canebrake Creek for the…
G. C. and Clara Mick Home, 1909 · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
Oldest in town founded 1900, on new Wharton-Palacios rail line. Mick, Missouri wheat grower and stock farmer, entered Texas on a "Rice Special," 1903. First home on land was a hurricane victim. Eldest son, A. C. Mick,…
The Sergeant Who Held the Line Until Morning · 2.8 mi
Farm to Market Road Thirteen Oh One in Wharton County is the Master Sergeant Mike C. Pena Memorial Highway. A Texas House resolution says Mike Pena was from Newgulf, the son of Mexican immigrants. In nineteen forty, two…
Grove Hill Missionary Baptist Church · 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Matagorda County, passing the site of Grove Hill Missionary Baptist Church. Organized in 1884 by the Rev. Jack Yates and London Branch, this church was more than just a place of worship. Its…
Pledger, TX · 6.5 mi · Local history
Pledger, Texas, sits squarely on the coastal plain of the state, a place where the prairie rolls almost imperceptibly toward the Gulf. Unlike some of its neighbors, Pledger never saw a boom from oil or a major port…
Snake Creek Cemetery and Church · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Snake Creek Cemetery and Church near Needville. This quiet place holds the stories of early settlers, with names like Hodges, Boon, and Darst etched in stone. Look closely, and you might spot…

Show all 200 nearby places

Albert Clinton Horton · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker
(1798-1865)
 Georgia native Albert Clinton Horton came to Texas in 1834 from Alabama, where he had served in the state legislature. He established a plantation along Caney Creek in present Wharton County. In…
Horton Foote's 'Harrison, Texas' · 9.4 mi
As you look at the old brick buildings and quiet streets of downtown Wharton, you're seeing the real-life stage for some of America's most celebrated plays and films. This is 'Harrison, Texas,' the fictional town…
Wharton, TX · 9.4 mi
Wharton, Texas, sits nestled in the bottomland hardwood forests, where the Colorado River meanders through the county. It's a place where the whisper of rice fields rustling in the wind blends with the occasional bellow…
The Hometown of Dan Rather · 9.4 mi
For decades, the steady, authoritative voice of Dan Rather anchored the CBS Evening News, bringing world events into American living rooms. That voice was shaped right here in Wharton. Dan Rather was born in Wharton in…
The 'Pink Palace' Courthouse · 9.4 mi
If you head toward the center of town, you can't miss it: the Wharton County Courthouse. In 1888 the commissioners court hired Houston architect Eugene T. Heiner, and by August 1889 the building was finished, Second…
The Hydrology of a Record Flood · 9.4 mi
Wharton's existence is tied to the Colorado River, and in 2017 that relationship was tested. During Hurricane Harvey, an almost unbelievable amount of rain fell into the river's watershed upstream, and all of that water…
I.A. Victor and the Plaza Theatre · 9.4 mi
On the courthouse square, look for the Plaza Theatre, and know that it started life as a hotel. The Plaza Hotel was built and run by R. B. Huston and his wife, Lula Merriwether Huston, and stood on this lot for decades.…
Shearith Israel Synagogue · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton, and right here is the story of Shearith Israel Synagogue. Jewish families started gathering for services around 1899, and by 1913, they had their official charter. They built their first…
Wharton Hispanic Cemetery · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Wharton Hispanic Cemetery, a final resting place for many of the city's early Hispanic citizens. This land was officially conveyed in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1925</say-as>, but the…
Wharton Cemetery · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton, and just a few blocks from here sits the Wharton Cemetery. It was officially established in 1866, but people were already buried here. The oldest marked grave belongs to Barbara Betts,…
First United Methodist Church of Wharton · 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton, and right here, you're passing the site of the First United Methodist Church. While this building is from 1972, the congregation's roots go way back. They officially organized right here…
Hawes, Judge Edwin, House · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Judge Edwin Hawes, a key figure in Wharton County's early days. This double-galleried house was built in 1896 by Rosa F. McCamly. The very next year, it was purchased by Edwin…
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton, and right here is St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church. It all started in the late 1890s, when a German missionary named Ernst August Wenzel began visiting German immigrant families…
St. Paul Lutheran Church · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton, and right here is the story of St. Paul Lutheran Church. It all started back in 1893 with German settlers near Waterhouse. They loved to worship together, but storms just wouldn't leave…
Wharton County Abstract Company · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton, and right here is the story of the Wharton County Abstract Company. It all started back in 1890, founded by attorney William S. Brooks, also known as 'Billie.' He got a helping hand from…
World War II Prisoner of War Camp, Site of · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Camp Wharton, a World War II prisoner of war camp. This land has a long history, originally part of a grant to an Old Three Hundred colonist in 1824, and later owned by Albert Clinton…
Wharton County Courthouse · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Wharton County Courthouse, a building with a dramatic history. Litigation and landowner disputes delayed its construction in the late 1880s, but when it was finished in 1889, it stood as a grand…
Wharton · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Wharton, a town with roots stretching back to the earliest days of Texas settlement. Look around – this area was first home to William Kincheloe, one of Stephen F. Austin's original "Old Three…
Security Bank and Trust Company · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton, and right here is the site of the Security Bank and Trust Company. Its story starts back in 1902 with the Wharton National Bank, the city's second-ever bank. That first bank closed in…
First Baptist Church of Wharton · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Wharton, but its story starts even earlier, back in 1822. Imagine, worship services held in the home of William Kincheloe, one of Stephen F. Austin's original…
Williamson, Robert McAlpin, Site of the Home of · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the home of Robert McAlpin Williamson, a true Texas pioneer. Born in Georgia in 1806, he came to Texas and became the editor of early newspapers like 'The Texas Gazette.' Williamson was…
Site of Plaza Hotel and Plaza Theater · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton, and right here, on the courthouse square, stood the Plaza Hotel and Theater. It started around 1904 as a two-story hotel, owned by R.B. and Lula Huston. It wasn't just rooms; it hosted…
Wharton County · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton County, formed way back on April 3rd, 1846. It was carved out of Matagorda and Jackson counties and organized the very same year. The county is named for brothers William H. and John A.…
Williamson, Judge Robert McAlpin, Home · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where Judge Robert McAlpin's home once stood, a block and a half east of here. The marker you see today was moved to this location in 1976.
The Shootout on the Colorado River Bridge · 10.1 mi
The highway crosses the Colorado River right here, and in the fall of 1932 this bridge put Wharton into the Bonnie and Clyde story. Clyde Barrow had robbed the Piggly Wiggly in town in broad daylight, and the warrant…
Quinan, Judge George E. · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Judge George E. Quinan's law office in Wharton. He wasn't just any lawyer; Quinan was a true Texas pioneer, arriving from Dublin, Ireland, back in the 1830s. By the 1840s, he'd set up…
Hamilton, Joseph A., House · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Joseph A. Hamilton House in Wharton. Hamilton, a Union Army veteran from Ohio, settled here after the Civil War and got involved in local politics. He bought this property back in 1885, moving…
Taylor, Hobart T., Sr. · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hobart T. Taylor, Sr., entrepreneur, millionaire, and political and civic leader, was born in 1890 in Wharton, Texas, to Millie (Wright) and Jack Taylor. After finishing high school in Wharton in 1913, Hobart furthered…
Dawson, Charles Washington · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton, and right here is a community that owes a lot to Charles Washington Dawson. For 46 years, he dedicated himself to educating the children of Wharton. Starting as a math and science teacher…
Post West Bernard Station · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, not far from Hungerford. Right here, in the summer of 1837, was Post West Bernard Station. It was a vital supply and repair depot for the Republic of Texas military, handing out…
Thatcher, Thomas · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, Texas, and right here, in what was then Mississippi, Thomas Thatcher shot and killed his own cousin on Christmas Day, 1835. He did it because his cousin wouldn't hand over a dirk…
Wharton, TX · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton, a town named for two brothers who fought for Texas independence: John and William Wharton. Settled in 1846 by colonists, it quickly became a hub. The first lieutenant governor of Texas,…
Bolton, John Thomas · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, the same ground where John Thomas Bolton served as a Confederate assistant surgeon during the Civil War. He enlisted in 1861, serving in Texas and even campaigning in Louisiana.…
Dennis, Isaac N. · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton, Texas, a town that became home to Isaac N. Dennis in 1853. Dennis was a lawyer and planter, but his real claim to fame was his long career in the Texas Legislature. He served in the…
Quinan, George E. · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, Texas, and right here is the area where George E. Quinan lived. Born in Ireland in 1819, Quinan came to Texas around 1840. He studied law, became a district attorney, and served as…
Wharton County Junior College · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton, and right here is the site of Wharton County Junior College. Back in 1944, community leaders had a vision for postwar education. By August 7, 1945, a committee was formed, and in 1946,…
Whitten, James D · 10.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton, Texas, a town that played a role in the rebuilding after the Civil War. Right here, in 1866, James D. Whitten, a local farmer and lawyer, was tasked by the county commissioners to find a…
John Duncan · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Pledger, and just ahead is the final resting place of John Duncan, a veteran of the Texas Revolution. Born way up in Pennsylvania in 1788, Duncan fought for Texas's independence before settling down.…
Texas Gulf Sulphur Company-Newgulf · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Newgulf, Texas, a company town built by the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company. It all started back in 1909 in Matagorda County, but by 1918, it was officially the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company.…
First East Bernard School · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the first East Bernard School. Built in 1888 a mile north of town, it was moved into Wharton in 1892. By 1895, it was sold again and moved to become a gristmill, blacksmith shop, and…
Wharton Training School · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Wharton Training School, a beacon of education for African Americans in Wharton County for nearly eighty years. Established in 1896 as the Wharton Colored School, it grew from a…
Needville, TX · 11.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Needville, a town that started as a bit of a joke. Back in 1891, August Schendel founded it and called it Schendelville. When he applied for a post office in 1894, he jokingly named it Needmore,…
The Jay Cafe: Needville's From-Scratch Country Kitchen · 11.1 mi
If you're hungry rolling through Needville, the local pick is The Jay Cafe out on Highway 36, a from-scratch country kitchen that has anchored this farm town's appetite for decades. The Plaster family ran it for years…
There's an Asteroid Discovered Right Outside Needville · 11.2 mi
Out at the edge of Needville's mailing area, inside Brazos Bend State Park, sits the George Observatory, and from its domes a piece of the sky was discovered and given this town's corner of the solar system a permanent…
The Town That Wanted to Be Called Needmore · 11.2 mi
The prairie town you're rolling through almost ended up with a very different name. Around 1891 a settler named August Schendel built a home, a store, and a cotton gin out on this high coastal prairie and called the…
The Big Telescope That Texas Schoolkids Helped Rescue · 11.2 mi
The largest dome at the George Observatory near Needville holds the 36-inch Gueymard Research Telescope, one of the biggest scopes in the country regularly open to the public. It has a well-traveled history. The mirror…
Needville's NFL Champion Linebacker · 11.2 mi
This small farming town produced a genuine NFL champion. Dennis Earl Gaubatz was born in Needville on February 11, 1940, and grew up in this Fort Bend County country before becoming one of the harder-hitting linebackers…
The Needville-Born Back Who Led the AFC in Rushing · 11.2 mi
Needville's football pedigree didn't stop in the 1960s. Earnest Jackson was born here in Fort Bend County on December 18, 1959, and went on to a hard-charging NFL career as a running back. After playing college ball at…
The Round Hall Where Needville Came to Dance · 11.2 mi
For the first half of the 20th century, the social heart of Needville was a building everyone simply called the Round Hall. Put up by 1910, it stood out from every other gathering spot in the area for one obvious…
The Harvest Festival That Funds the Town · 11.2 mi
Every October, Needville throws the party that ties the whole farming town together: the Needville Harvest Festival. It started in 1983 as a way to do something practical for a small agricultural community, drawing…
The Czech and German Farmers Who Built Needville · 11.3 mi
Needville grew up as a tight farming community shaped heavily by Czech and German immigrant families who worked the surrounding cotton and stock-raising prairie. As Catholic families of Czech descent moved into the area…
Needville Methodist Church · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Needville United Methodist Church. This congregation started in 1892 as the German Methodist Episcopal Church, North, founded by missionary Jacob Ott. For years, worship services were…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Needville (Needville) · 11.4 mi
Needville (Needville, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Angelo Aprea (0.494 avg, 5 HR); Jaydon Ortiz (3 HR); Ralphie Ortiz (2 HR).
Needville · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Needville, a town that literally started because it needed more! In 1892, August Schendel opened a general store on his land. By 1894, he'd added a blacksmith, a cotton gin, and even the post…
Damon, Samuel · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Samuel Damon's long life in Texas. Born in Massachusetts in 1809, Damon arrived in 1831, just in time to serve in the Texas Revolution. He was a wagonmaster for Stephen F. Austin himself,…
Darst, Abraham · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site where Abraham Darst once lived. He arrived in Texas way back in 1827, one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists. Darst fought in the Battle of Velasco in 1832. But his real legacy? Five…
Darst, Edmund Calloway · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of Edmund Calloway Darst, a veteran of the Texas Revolution. Born way up in Missouri in 1815, Darst came to Texas and fought for its independence. He survived the Battle of San…
Damon Cemetery · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Damon Cemetery, one of the oldest in Brazoria County. It started way back on December 13th, 1837, with the burial of Sylvester Winn Damon himself, right here on land granted by Mexico in 1829. This…
Josiah Dawson Hudgins · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Josiah Dawson Hudgins. Josiah Dawson “J.D.” Hudgins, born in 1852, was one of four sons of Joel and Rachel Northington McKenzie Hudgins to survive to adulthood. Hudgins’…
The Texas Division and the Rapido River · 12.3 mi
State Highway Thirty Six and U S Highway One Ninety both carry the name Thirty Sixth Division Memorial Highway. The Thirty Sixth Infantry Division was called the Texas Division, because when it entered federal service…
Damon, Samuel · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Brazoria County, and you're passing through the story of Samuel Damon. He arrived in Texas in 1831, a carpenter looking for opportunity. When he got to the Brazos River, officials said…
Darst, Abraham · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Damon, in Brazoria County. This area was once the A. Darst league, granted by the Mexican government in 1831. Abraham Darst, born in Kentucky in 1786, was no stranger to hardship. He was the…
J. D. Hudgins Ranch · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton County, passing the historic J. D. Hudgins Ranch. It all started back in 1839 when Joel Hudgins arrived in the Republic of Texas. After his death, his wife Rachel and their sons took over,…
Damon, TX · 12.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Damon, Texas, a town that owes its existence to a geological anomaly. Right here, the land rises in what's known as Damon Mound, a rare geological outcropping on the otherwise flat coastal plains.…
Needville Methodist Church Cemetery · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Needville, where this small cemetery holds the stories of early German Methodist immigrants. The land was purchased in 1896, but the first burial here was in 1903, for the infant son of Pastor…
A Town That 'Needed More' · 12.4 mi
The name 'Needville' isn't just a label; it's the town's origin story, told with a dose of dry, frontier wit. When August Schendel put up a house, a store and a cotton gin out on this prairie around 1891, folks called…
Needville, TX · 12.4 mi
In 1891, August Schendel established the town of Schendelville, which included his house, a store, and a cotton gin. The town's name was humorously proposed as 'Needmore' by Schendel when he applied for a post office,…
From Cotton Fields to Water Worlds · 12.4 mi
The fields around Needville tell a story of agricultural engineering, and it starts with a joke. About 1891 August Schendel put up a house, a store and a cotton gin on this high prairie and called the place…
The Guitar Player Hungerford Sent to New York · 12.5 mi
A man named Ennis Lowery was born in Hungerford in 1923 and learned guitar from the bluesmen around here, playing juke joints in Wharton County. Around 1949 he went to New York, changed his name to Larry Dale, and…
New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad and The Community of Hungerford · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Hungerford, Texas, a town born from a railroad with a funny nickname. Back in 1880, John W. Mackay, a silver baron, and Count Joseph Telfener, an Italian nobleman, started building the New York,…
Post West Bernard Station, Site of · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Post West Bernard Station, established in the summer of 1837. This was an important ordnance depot for the Republic of Texas army, strategically placed on the West Bernard River to guard…
Quinan Community, Site of · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Quinan, a Texas community founded around 1872. It was named for Judge George E. Quinan, an Irish immigrant who became a Texas Senator and served on the state Court of Civil Appeals. He…
Damon, TX · 12.7 mi
Damon, Texas, was first settled by Europeans in 1831 when Samuel Damon arrived from the United States. He married Lorena Darst and built a home on the south side of the mound. The settlement grew over the years, and by…
Bought by the People Who Had Been Sold · 13.0 mi
You're driving through Kendleton, and the deed record is the whole story. In the 1860s the planter William E. Kendall cut his cotton plantation into small farms and sold them to the very people who had been enslaved on…
Kendleton, TX · 13.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Kendleton is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 59 and Farm Road 2919, fourteen miles southwest of Rosenberg in western Fort Bend County. It was once the site of a plantation belonging to William E. Kendall. In the…
Williams, Benjamin Franklin · 13.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Benjamin Franklin Williams, legislator and clergyman, was born a slave in Brunswick County, Virginia, in 1819. He was taken to South Carolina, then to Tennessee in 1830, before being brought to Colorado County, Texas,…
Kendleton · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Kendleton, a town with roots stretching back to Mexican Texas. Elizabeth Powell's home once served as a stage stop right here. Imagine, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as>,…
A Community of Their Own · 13.2 mi
Imagine it’s the late 1860s. You’ve been freed from slavery, but you own nothing and the future is uncertain. That was the reality for millions. But here, in what would become Kendleton, a different story unfolded. A…
The Teacher Who Built a Town · 13.2 mi
In the early days of Kendleton, one man stood out as a pillar of the new community: Benjamin Franklin Williams. The town itself grew out of William E. Kendall's plantation, carved up in the 1860s into small farms and…
The Heart of the Community: Powell Point School · 13.2 mi
For nearly a century, the heart of Kendleton was the Powell Point School. From the community's earliest days, education was a top priority. The school you see today, now a community center, stands on the same ground as…
The Unruly River · 13.2 mi
The San Bernard River, which runs past Kendleton on its way to the coast, is both a blessing and a curse. Its ancient floods laid down the fertile soil that let this town farm. But from a hydrology standpoint the San…
Kendleton, TX · 13.2 mi
Kendleton's history began with its establishment by emancipated slaves after the Civil War. The area was once part of William E. Kendall's plantation, who in the 1860s divided his property into small farms and sold them…
J. D. Hudgins Ranch · 13.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, not far from Hungerford, where you're passing the J.D. Hudgins Ranch. Established in 1882, this ranch has been family-run for over a century, a rarity in the cattle industry.…
Kendleton, TX: The Land Was Sold to the Freedmen · 13.2 mi
The engine that powered Kendleton for generations was agriculture, and the reason this town exists at all is that the land got sold to the people who worked it. Kendleton is a freedmen's town. In 1869 an Anglo lawyer…
Kendleton, TX: Hundred-Acre Tracts, Sold Only to Freedmen · 13.2 mi
The reason Kendleton could become a farming community is hidden right under your tires. You are driving on what geologists call the Lissie Formation, a layer of sand, silt and clay deposited by ancient rivers flowing…
Hungerford, TX · 13.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, and right here is Hungerford. It wasn't always called Hungerford, though. Back in the 1870s, this farming community was known as Quinan. It had a post office, a school, even a…
Magnet, TX: A Sales Pitch That Fizzled · 14.0 mi
A Texas town called Magnet, and you'd swear it sits on a deposit of magnetite or iron ore, something pulling a compass needle off true. But there's no ore here. The name was a sales pitch. Promoters trying to sell land…
Cesinger Cemetery · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Cesinger Cemetery near Needville. This quiet resting place began with a family tragedy. In 1894, George Cesinger deeded one acre of land for a family burial ground after his sister Philipina died…
Perkins Family Cemetery · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Perkins family cemetery near West Columbia. Stephen William Perkins and his wife Anna arrived in Texas in 1840. They built a home near here in 1842, and a small family graveyard started when…
Pierce, Shanghai, Ranch House · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Shanghai Pierce Ranch House, built in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1886</say-as> in a style that was truly lavish for its time. This wasn't just a home; the first floor…
Pierce, Shanghai, Ranch · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton County, passing the former home of Abel H. Pierce, a man who truly embodied the Texas spirit of grit and determination. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1834</say-as>, Pierce…
Hudgins Family Cemetery · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wharton County, near Hungerford, and you're passing the Hudgins Family Cemetery. This burial ground began in 1851, serving generations of Joel and Rachel Hudgins's family. They had thirteen…
Engineering the Prairie for Rice · 14.9 mi
As you look out at the fields surrounding Beasley, they seem perfectly, unnaturally flat. That’s not an accident; it’s a massive feat of agricultural engineering designed for one crop: rice. This coastal prairie is…
The Seventy-Year Wait to Become a City · 14.9 mi
Beasley was founded with a post office and a town plat in 1898, but it wasn't legally a city. For more than seventy years, it was just an unincorporated community, governed from the county seat in Richmond. That all…
Beasley, TX · 14.9 mi
The largest employer in the Beasley area is Hudson Products Corporation, which established manufacturing operations in 1973 on approximately 260 acres, located two miles west of Beasley. This large-scale manufacturing…
Glen Flora Plantation · 15.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Glen Flora Plantation, a home built by Mr. Sanford between 1860 and 1866. Fast forward to 1881, and W. H. Hood takes up residence here. Hood was the man who went on to found this very…
The Old Three Hundred's Footprint · 15.2 mi
Right here in the Fairchilds area, you're touching the very beginning of Anglo Texas. In July of 1824, a man named Henry Jones, who was part of Stephen F. Austin's original three hundred colonizing families, received…
The River's Gift and Curse · 15.2 mi
The story of Fairchilds is written by water. You're in the floodplain of the Brazos River, a powerful force of both creation and destruction. The science behind this place is hydrology. For millennia, the Brazos has…
The Village That Fought The City · 15.2 mi
Why is Fairchilds a tiny independent village and not just another Fort Bend County subdivision? Part of the answer is a vote taken in 1995, when residents incorporated as the Village of Fairchilds and gave themselves a…
Fairchilds, TX · 15.2 mi
The village of Fairchilds carries a name with a historical legacy. It was named after Philo Fairchilds, who settled in the area around 1840. The community's naming is a testament to the early settlers' impact on the…
Powell Point School · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Kendleton, a town with roots stretching back to 1869 when William Kendall sold his plantation land exclusively to Freedmen. By the 1880s, this distinctly African American community was established.…
Fairchilds, TX · 15.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Fairchilds, on Farm Road 361 thirteen miles south of Richmond in southeastern Fort Bend County, is named for early settler Philo Fairchilds, who around 1840 built a home one mile south of the current site of the…
Pierce Hotel, Site of · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Pierce, Texas, and right here is the site of a hotel that never quite was. In the 1890s, legendary cattleman A. H. 'Shanghai' Pierce platted this town, hoping it'd be the county seat. He designed…
Beasley, TX · 16.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Beasley, Texas, a town that almost had a different name entirely! <break time="400ms"/> It was laid out in the mid-1890s by Cecil A. Beasley, a local banker. <break time="400ms"/> He originally…
Glen Flora · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Glen Flora, a town that owes its start to a land grant from Stephen F. Austin himself. But it was C.H. Waterhouse who really put this place on the map around 1890, bringing in German farmers and…
The Town He Tried to Name for the Woman He Married · 16.2 mi
The little railroad town you're rolling through carries one man's love story in its name. Cecil A. Beasley, a Richmond banker born in 1862, laid out this settlement along the rail line in 1894 and first called it Dyer,…
The Depot on the Macaroni Line · 16.2 mi
The tracks running through Beasley have a stranger story than the town they served. They began as part of the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway, a wildly ambitious scheme chartered in 1880 by Italian engineer Joseph…
The Day Beasley Sold Itself at Auction · 16.2 mi
Beasley limped along quietly for over a decade after its founding, then sold itself off in a single dramatic stretch. In 1910 the Stern and Stern Land Company of Kansas City began promoting the town and the surrounding…
The World Comes Here to Get Cooled Down · 16.2 mi
Behind the cotton fields, Beasley hides one of the most specialized engineering plants in the country. Hudson Products Corporation set up manufacturing here in 1973, and the operation grew into what the company calls…
Site of the Home of Elizabeth Powell · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a remarkable Texas home, built before March 21st, 1831. This land was granted to Elizabeth Powell, and her home became a significant landmark during the Texas Revolution. This very spot…
Eight Students and a Schoolhouse · 16.2 mi
Long before Beasley filled out into a trade town, it staked its future on a tiny school. Beasley Elementary opened in 1902 with just eight students, a single small institution for a settlement that was still mostly raw…
Beasley · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Beasley, a town that owes its existence to Cecil A. Beasley and the railroad. He founded this spot in 1894, right along the Texas & New Orleans line. It was first called Dyer, but Beasley renamed…
The Man Who Bought His Own Family's Sausage by Accident · 16.3 mi
When Mark Albright got laid off from his oil-rig job, he cashed in what he had and opened the BBQ Barn in 2016 in his hometown of Beasley, setting up his pits inside a former tire shop along the railroad tracks. He had…
Phillips Family Cemetery · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through land once owned by Zeno Phillips, one of Stephen F. Austin's original "Old 300" colonists. He acquired this land back in 1829. This cemetery began with the burial of Zeno and his brother John…
Hope Lutheran Church · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Hope Lutheran Church in Beasley. Back in the 1910s, a pastor from nearby Needville started holding services for local Lutherans in the Beasley School. By 1918, these folks were organized…
You Are No Jack Kennedy: The Bentsen Highway · 16.4 mi
U.S. Highway Fifty Nine, from Interstate Forty Five to Interstate Thirty Five, is the Senator Lloyd Bentsen Highway, named by the Legislature in nineteen ninety five. Bentsen was born in Mission in nineteen twenty one…
Concord Cemetery · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Rosenberg, and right here is Concord Cemetery. It started in the late 1800s as a burial ground for a community of Mennonites who settled nearby. The first folks laid to rest here were likely…
Van Vleck, TX · 16.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Matagorda County, just east of Bay City. Right here is Van Vleck, but it wasn't always called that. It started out as Hardeman's Post Office, possibly named after Bailey Hartman, a signer of the…
Philip H. Parker Post No. 2438, V.F.W. · 16.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bay City, and right here is where a local VFW post, named for a fallen hero, got its start. The Philip H. Parker Post No. 2438 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars organized in 1940. It was named for…
Sweeny Plantation · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're passing the site of the Sweeny Plantation, a testament to early Texas self-sufficiency. After fighting in the Revolution, John Sweeny Jr. received this land from his father. In 1837, enslaved people built this…
Kuykendall, Robert H., Sr. · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, near the Colorado River, a place Robert Kuykendall helped settle back in 1821. He was chosen as captain of the militia and alcalde, basically the lawman, for this early Austin…
Mercer, Eli · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what's now Wharton County, and right here is where Eli Mercer carved out a life in the Texas wilderness. Arriving in 1829, he established a ferry crossing on the Colorado River, and the area soon…
Norris, John Alexander · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, not far from Alleyton, where John Alexander Norris was born. He wasn't just any engineer; Norris was a pioneer in Texas water resources. As chairman of the Texas State Board of…
Pierce, Abel Head [Shanghai] · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, and right here is the land that Abel Head 'Shanghai' Pierce made his own. He arrived in Texas in 1854, a stowaway on a schooner, and started by splitting rails on a ranch. But…
Egypt, TX (Wharton County) · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Egypt, on Farm Road 102 eleven miles northwest of Wharton, is the oldest community in Wharton County. John C. Clark was there in 1822, and Egypt is located on his league. Robert Kuykendall 's land was below Egypt, and…
Glen Flora, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Glen Flora is at the junction of Farm Roads 102 and 960, on the east bank of the Colorado River six miles northwest of Wharton in Wharton County. The area's first settlers, members of Stephen F. Austin 's Old Three…
Lane City, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Lane City is on State Highway 60 and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line three miles east of the Colorado River and ten miles southeast of Wharton in southeastern Wharton County. The town was named for Jonathan Lane…
Williams, Napoleon Bonaparte · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Napoleon Bonaparte Williams, soldier in the Texas Revolution , was born in 1809 to George F. and Lavinia (Hobbs) Williams. The family moved to Texas from Connecticut. George Williams, as a member of the Old Three…
Clark, John C. · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, not far from the town of Egypt. Right here, in the early 1820s, John C. Clark, one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, was carving out a life in Texas. He wasn't just a…
Danes · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, and right here is the site of Danevang, the largest Danish settlement in Texas. Established in 1894, this community was founded by the Dansk Folkesamfund with the goal of…
Hudgins, Rachel Ann Northington McKenzie · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, Texas, where Rachel Northington McKenzie Hudgins carved out a remarkable life. Imagine a fifteen-year-old girl, fleeing Santa Anna's army during the Runaway Scrape. She was tasked…
Mercer, Elijah G. · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, and right here is the area once known as Mercer's Crossing, or Mercer's Ferry, later called Egypt. This is where Elijah Mercer and his father joined Captain Rabb's company of…
Newman, Joseph · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, near Egypt, where Joseph Newman settled in the early 1820s. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists, granted land in what was then Mexican Texas. Newman was a…
Singleton, George Washington · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Wharton County, a land that George Washington Singleton helped settle in the 1820s. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, arriving with his wife, Sally, and seven…
Bonus, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Bonus, near the junction of Farm roads 102 and 2614, fifteen miles north of Wharton in northern Wharton County, was established in the mid-1890s, when the construction of the Cane Belt Railroad (chartered by William…
Danevang, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Danevang, on State Highway 71 in south Wharton County, started as a colonial effort in 1894. It is the most coherent, and only colonial, area of Danish settlement in the state. The first settlers, Danes who for the most…
Lissie, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Lissie is on the Southern Pacific Railroad and State Highway 90A in northern Wharton County. Though the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway was completed through the vicinity in 1859, it was not until 1878 that a…
Mackay, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Mackay, on U.S. Highway 59 four miles west of Wharton in central Wharton County, was established in 1881 as a station on the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway and named after one of the investors, John W. Mackay, who…
Newgulf, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Newgulf (New Gulf) is on top of the Boling Dome , reputed to be the largest known inland deposit of sulfur in the world, in the extreme eastern corner of Wharton County between the San Bernard River and Caney Creek in…
Rabb, Thomas J. · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Thomas J. Rabb, soldier and member of Stephen F. Austin 's Old Three Hundred , was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, about 1801, the son of Mary (Smalley) and William Rabb . He was the brother of Andrew and John…
Spanish Camp, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Spanish Camp is just north of the junction of Farm roads 640 and 1161, eight miles northwest of Wharton on a mail route from Glen Flora in northeastern Wharton County. Settlers established the community during the early…
Castleman, Sylvanus · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through land that was once the frontier, where settlers like Sylvanus Castleman carved out a life. Castleman was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, arriving in Texas likely in 1821 or 1822.…
Jackson, Alexander, Sr. · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once a vast frontier, and right here, in what is now Wharton County, lived Alexander Jackson, Sr. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, arriving from Ireland in 1808. His…
McKinsey, Hugh · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, right where Hugh McKinsey staked his claim. Born in Scotland, McKinsey was an early settler, one of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred." He and his partner, John Smith,…
Wharton County · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Wharton County, a land first explored by Europeans way back in the late 1600s. In 1687, the famous French explorer La Salle traversed this very area on his final expedition before his death.…
White Man's Union Associations · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through parts of Texas where, for decades, your voice in local politics might have been silenced before you even cast a ballot. In the late 1800s, as Reconstruction ended, groups called White Man's Union…
Burr, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Burr, also known as Lawson and Kriegel, on Farm Road 1301 four miles southeast of Wharton in southeastern Wharton County, began when Burr Albert Harrison and a family named Callaway established plantations in the area.…
Dinsmore, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Dinsmore is on Farm Road 1301 and the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway two miles east of Wharton in Wharton County. It was established in John Dinsmore's quarter league by a Black man, E. W. Roberts, for…
Phillips, Isham B. · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Isham B. Phillips, a member of Stephen F. Austin 's Old Three Hundred , received title on May 9, 1827, to a league of land in an area that ultimately became part of Wharton County. He had arrived in Texas after the 1826…
Pierce, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Pierce is on U.S. Highway 59 five miles northeast of El Campo and eight miles west of Wharton in central Wharton County. It was originally named Pierce's Station in 1881. The New York, Texas and Mexican Railway built a…
Parker, Joshua · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once the wild frontier of Mexican Texas. Right here, in what is now Wharton County, Joshua Parker, one of Stephen F. Austin's original Old Three Hundred colonists, settled his land grant…
Hillje, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hillje is on State Highway 59 and Farm Road 441, eighteen miles west of Wharton in western Wharton County. It was named for Fred Hillje, who with his partners bought part of the West Ranch in 1888 and brought in German…
Magnet, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Magnet, east of State Highway 60 and twelve miles south of Wharton in southeastern Wharton County, was established about 1907 when the Taylor-Fowler Land Company of Oklahoma laid out and promoted a townsite on the Gulf,…
Nottawa, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Nottawa was at what is now the intersection of State Highway 90A with Farm Road 1164, five miles west of East Bernard and one mile east of West Bernard Creek in northeastern Wharton County. The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and…
Peach Creek, TX (Wharton County) · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
The town of Peach Creek was between the Colorado River and West Bernard Creek on Peach Creek. It spanned the Colorado-Matagorda county line until 1846, when Wharton County was established, and the entire township was…
Taiton, TX · 17.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Taiton, also known as Tait, is on State Highway 71 eighteen miles northwest of Wharton in northwestern Wharton County. It was first settled in 1886 and named Tait, probably for Charles William Tait of Colorado County, a…
Van Vleck, TX · 17.4 mi
Van Vleck's history is deeply intertwined with the railroad. In the early 1900s, the Texas and New Orleans railroad brought rail lines to Matagorda County, with a stop in Van Vleck. This was a pivotal moment that shaped…
The Village That Said 'No' · 17.6 mi
Pleak is named for A.E. Pleak, a real estate developer and oilman who in 1912 donated the land for the community's school. The place itself really got going in the 1920s, on the back of the nearby Pleak oilfield. Farms,…
Abrams, W. H., Well No. 1 · 17.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a monumental Texas discovery! In 1920, this land, once considered fit only for pasture, was leased for its mineral rights by railway official William H. Abrams. On July 20th of that year,…
Riverside Hall: The Last Dance · 17.8 mi
If you want to find the soul of East Bernard, you’ll find it on the worn wooden floor of Riverside Hall. Built in 1927, this is one of the great original Texas dance halls, a place built by the community for the…
A Wartime Refinery Beyond Missile Range · 17.8 mi
The refinery next to Sweeny was born of World War II. In 1942 the U.S. Defense Plant Corporation built it in nearby Old Ocean to make aviation fuel for Allied aircraft. The inland site was deliberate: far enough from…
The Brahma Football Factory · 17.8 mi
There's something in the water in East Bernard, or maybe it's in the work ethic. For a town this size the trophy case is absurd, but the sport that fills it might surprise you. East Bernard's real dynasty is volleyball:…
The Science of the Rice Fields · 17.8 mi
The vast, flat fields around East Bernard aren't just farmland; they are massive, carefully engineered hydrological systems. Growing rice requires something most Texas farmers try to avoid: standing water. And the…
The Tale of Two Bernards · 17.8 mi
Here's a puzzle you can solve from the driver's seat. You're in East Bernard — and you're on the WEST side of the San Bernard River. The name is a fossil. The first settlement really was on the east bank, where a man…
Bay City Post Office · 17.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the old Bay City Post Office, a building that served this community for over seventy years. It all started back in 1894, when the county seat moved here and D.P. Moore's nephew, Joseph, became the…
Cedarvale Cemetery · 18.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Cedarvale Cemetery, which got its start thanks to a tragic hunting accident. In 1896, Rufus Mathis was killed, and his burial on D.P. Moore's land spurred the creation of this cemetery. Moore…
Stephen F. Austin and the Town Where He Died · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker
State Highway Thirty Five, through Matagorda and Brazoria counties, is the Stephen F. Austin Memorial Highway. Austin was born at the lead mines of southwestern Virginia in seventeen ninety three. His father, Moses, set…
Eastview Cemetery · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Eastview Cemetery. This cemetery traces its origin to 1907, when 1.8 acres of land were purchased from D. P. Moore. The first recorded burial was that of Henry Abram in 1912.
The Crop That Grew a County · 18.5 mi
The flat, wet prairie that made Bay City hard to settle turned out to be ideal for one thing: rice. In late 1899, A.P. Borden of Pierce broke ground for rice about three miles north of Bay City. The next year some 600…
The First Capital of the Republic · 18.6 mi
Right here in West Columbia, or 'Columbia' as it was known then, the Republic of Texas took its first breath. After the victory at San Jacinto in April 1836, the new nation needed a capital. They chose this small but…
The Great Oil Gusher of 1918 · 18.6 mi
Imagine this quiet farming town in 1918. Then imagine the ground shaking. A few miles out, on land the late Governor Jim Hogg had leased back in 1901, the Tyndall-Wyoming Oil Company brought in a well called Hogg No. 2.…
The Underground Treasure Map: Salt Dome Geology · 18.6 mi
The story of West Columbia's oil boom is a story of geology. Deep beneath this flat coastal plain lies an immense, ancient layer of salt, a remnant of a prehistoric sea. That salt is less dense than the rock above it,…
A Beacon of Hope: The Columbia Rosenwald School · 18.6 mi
As you pass through town, one of its most remarkable stories sits at 247 East Brazos. It's the Columbia Rosenwald School. In the early twentieth century, under segregation, public funding for Black schools here was next…
West Columbia, TX · 18.6 mi
West Columbia, Texas, sits at the heart of what was once vast cotton country. You can still see the legacy in the names of roads and businesses, and feel it in the rich, silty soil. The Brazos River, of course, is the…
Daily Tribune and Matagorda County Tribune · 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Daily Tribune, a newspaper with roots stretching back to about 1845 in Matagorda. Imagine the stories this paper has told! It moved here to Bay City in the 1890s, just as this town…
Bethel Baptist Church · 18.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bethel Baptist Church in Bay City. About 1904, Harris and Maria Anderson started holding church services in their home for the African American community in the North-end neighborhood. By…
McKinstry, George B. · 19.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a pivotal moment in Texas history! George B. McKinstry, a member of Stephen F. Austin's Colony since 1829, built this home around 1830. It wasn't just his house; it's where the Father of…
Site of Hilliard High School · 19.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Hilliard High School, a beacon of education for Bay City's African American community. It started in the 1890s, a small schoolhouse with a dedicated first teacher. By 1904, the community…
First Christian Church of Bay City · 19.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of Bay City. Trustees purchased lots in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1904</say-as> to build their first permanent house of worship. The congregation…
Early Bay City School · 19.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bay City's first major school building. In 1901, this land was just trees and a strawberry field. The district bought it for $300 and built an eight-room school, moving classes from a…
Holy Cross Catholic Church · 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here is the site of Holy Cross Catholic Church. It all started in 1847 when the Catholic Church established a new diocese in Galveston. Soon after, Polish immigrants…
Matagorda County · 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Matagorda County, one of the oldest in Texas. It was first organized way back in 1834, not as a Texas county, but as a Mexican municipality named Matagorda. Then, in 1836, it officially became a…
East Bernard, TX · 19.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Bernard, a town named for the San Bernard River. It started on the east side of the river, where Jethro Spivi built the first home around 1850. But the real growth came with the railroad in…
Bess, Forrest Clemenger · 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bay City, the hometown of Forrest Bess, a visionary artist born right here in 1911. Bess spent his early life moving around oil towns, but found his artistic calling in Bay City. He developed a…
Ingram, Ira, First Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives · 19.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Matagorda County, heading past the site of a truly foundational Texas figure. Ira Ingram, born up in Vermont, arrived in Texas in 1824 and became a key player in establishing the Republic. In…
Matagorda, C.S.A. · 19.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Matagorda County, a place that was once the second most important port in Texas. During the Civil War, this area was a vital hub for blockade runners, smuggling out tons of cotton and bringing in…
LeTulle, Victor Lawrence · 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here, Victor Lawrence LeTulle transformed the landscape. In 1901, he started farming rice, but his real genius was in water. He bought a canal system and built it into…
Swickheimer, David · 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Matagorda County, and right here, the town of Bay City owes its existence to a mining millionaire named David Swickheimer. After striking it rich in silver out in Colorado, Swickheimer turned his…

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G. C. and Clara Mick Home, 1909

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