People & Places of Old Sugar Land

I clipped the following article from an issue of the Richmond Reflector printed on April 23, 1879.  I found it at The Portal to Texas History, which is a Web site run by the University of North Texas.  It's very good if you're interested in historic Texas photos and documents.  Click here to view the complete newspaper.  The article is on page 4.

Notice the reporter says 57 trout were caught in the vicinity.  Sounds fishy to me, but maybe the fishermen were locals who made a trip to the Gulf.

Also note that W. L. Dusoing was starting a brick plant on the Dunlavy plantation.  This may have been the start of the Jester Unit's brick works that Jon Pitts (DHS '61) mentioned a few weeks ago.

Finally, the article includes a report that J. Turner Sharp had died at the Terry camp.  This indicates Eward H. Cunningham hadn't bought all the Terry land by 1879.  I'll probably have to review the county land records to determine exactly when Cunningham and Ellis acquired their properties.

The following photo came from Jean McCord Babineaux (SLHS '47).  It shows the first house her father John McCord built in Brookside on Belknap Court.  Commissioner James Patterson will be interested in this because that's his house.  The camera is looking northwest from the north arc of Belknap Court.  I think those are the Charlton and Guenther homes in the background.  I'll have to ask Jean when this was taken, but I guess it's about 1950.

This next photo came from Jean.  It has identifications annotated on the back, which I've included.

     

 

This one also came from Jean - she's let me scan several good photos.  It shows the Sugar Land Elementary choir which participated in the Fort Bend County Meet in 1938.  It has annotations on the back, which I've included.

 

And finally, this image comes from a large panoramic photograph you can see in the Sugar Land Museum, open on Saturdays from 9:00 to 1:00.  I chose this section because it shows two wagons drawn by oxen.  Mules and horses don't surprise me, but these fairly large wagons are pulled by teams of oxen.

They are parked on what is now Kempner St., about where the Saturday Farmer's Market is held.