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KATY, TEXASAt the juncture
of Harris, Waller, and Fort Bend county lines
Texas Gulf Coast
Interstate 10 and Highway 90
25 miles W of Houston
Population 11775(2000) 8,005 (1990)
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One of Katy's several grain elevators
Photo by John Troesser, Feb. 2003 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Named after the Katy (Missouri, Kansas and Texas) Railroad,
or according to other sources, the wife of a local saloonkeeper, the
town had first been called Cane Island.
Before 1890 the local depot was operated by the Texas Western Railroad,
a narrow-gauge line running west to Pattison, Texas. The depot was
a mile south of the platted town site of Katy.
The Katy Railroad built through in 1893, but it wasn't until
1895 when the first railroad agent took up duties. The depot was finished
three years later. The Texas Western was abandoned.
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Another
of Katy's several grain elevators
Photo by John Troesser, Feb. 2003 |
Katy
had five one-room schools encircling the town until 1919 when the
Katy ISD was formed.
The Katy post office opened in 1896 and rice farming was introduced
in 1901. It quickly replaced peanuts and corn and slowly replaced
cotton.
The farming community supported several businesses: a drug store opened
in 1904 when the town had 119 people. Katy soon had hotels, saloons,
lumberyards, a meat market, two livery stables and a rice and peanut
warehouse.
A gas field was drilled in 1934 leading to a doubling of Katy's population.
From 1925 to 1942 the population was reported at 400, rising to 800
in 1943.
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© John
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