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Buffalo
Camp Bayou near Lake Jackson
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine |
History in a Pecan
Shell
Lake Jackson is on the site of a former 3,000 acre cotton
and sugar plantation. Prior to the Civil War (1843 to 1845) it belonged to Abner
Jackson. After slavery was abolished, the plantation used convict labor to produce
sugar. Freed slaves formed the nucleus of the town. The Dow Chemical Company bought
the former plantation (which includes four separate lakes) in the early 1940s
and designed it to provide housing for employees, including land to be left for
private development. By 1950 the population was nearing 3,000 and eight years
later it had reached over 11,000.
Being a new town with no existing
business history, it wasn't until the late 60s and 70s that the town became self-sufficient
from a business standpoint. A mall opened in 1976 and the completion of Highway
288 from Houston gave the town
an extra boost. The population reached 22,776 by the 1990 census. The city has
since built a replica of Jackson's plantation house and provides access to the
banks of the Brazos through Wilderness Park, an undeveloped area. |
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