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RICHMOND,
TEXAS
Fort Bend County
Seat, Gulf
Coast
Highway 59 and U.S. 90
15 miles SW of Houston
Population 16,920 (1990)
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Former
Fort Bend County jail in Richmond
TE photo, 2001 |
Richmond
Landmark Architecture
The
Fort Bend County Courthouse >
(1908) Nearly identical to the Hays Co. courthouse in San Marcos
- built the year before. Both were by C.H. Page and Brothers, architects.
Ft. Benders bought the kit that included clock faces... more
The Ft. Bend
County Jail c. 1896: Just southwest of downtown Richmond - across
the tracks.
John Moore
Home, c. 1883
Long-Smith
Cottage
Confederate
Museum
Fort Bend
Historical Museum: 500 Houston Street
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| Railroad
bridge over the Brazos. TE photo, 2001 |
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History in
a Pecan Shell
Deaf
Smith, Mirabeau B. Lamar and Jane Long were once Richmond residents.
Jane Long is buried in the cemetery and there is a statue of Lamar
directly in front of the courthouse.
A time line
of Richmond history:
1822: First settlers
arrived, closely followed by members of Austin's "Old 300" The settlement
was named after a log fortification on a bend of the Brazos River
- the location was an important ford on the river.
1836: Evacuated during "The
Runaway Scrape"
1837: The town is platted, promoted and named after Richmond, England.
Incorporated in May of 1837 and becoming county seat when Fort Bend
County was organized later in the year.
1839: First newspaper - the Richmond Telescope and Texas Literary
Register, was published
1842: First courthouse built
1853: Yellow Fever epidemic hits Richmond
1855: The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad arrives
1866: Freedman's Bureau opens when enamcipated slaves leave plantations
and move to the city
1867: Union occupation troops stationed at Richmond
1871: New Courthouse
1878: The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe RR bypasses Richmond by 3 miles
- giving birth to Rosenburg, Texas
1888: First bridge across the Brazos is built
1893: First steel bridge is built
1899: Brazos floods
1908: Fourth
County Courthouse
1920s: Population is 1,273. Oil discoveries add to the economy - rice,
sugar and cotton are main crops
After WWII, the more mobile population moved to Houston
for better jobs. The population was stagnant until people started
commuting from Houston in the 1970s.
Book
Your Hotel Here & Save
Richmond/Rosenberg
Hotels > |
Richmond History Articles
Jaybird-Woodpecker
War by Archie P. McDonald
("All Things Historical" Column)
"In Fort Bend County, a silhouette of the jaybird symbolized
the Redeemer portion of the Democratic Party and the woodpecker
represented those who had flourished during Radical Republican reconstruction,
who also had begun to call themselves Democrats by the 1880s."
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Richmond
Tourist Information
Rosenberg/Richmond
Area Chamber of Commerce
4120 Avenue H Rosenberg, Texas 77471
Telephone 281-342-5464
Website: http://www.roserichchamber.com/ |
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Rosenberg's
Cole Theater
TE photo |
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