Historical Marker
Old River
Old River-Winfree, Chambers County · Texas
Erected 1982
The post office names show how often this place changed its mind. A letter from the 1830s mentions a Town of Archer on the river. From 1880 to 1881 the office was called Straddle, and from 1885 to 1919 it was Winfree. In the early 1900s the Old River Rice Irrigation Company watered fields along the stream. In 1979 voters incorporated the town as Old River-Winfree, influenced by the petrochemical plants that had been moving into southwestern Chambers County since the 1960s. The Texas Historical Commission marked the waterway three years later.
What the plaque says
Old River Formed as a channel of the meandering Trinity River, Old River rises in southwestern Liberty County and flows to the southeast, joining the trinity in northwestern Chambers County. During the 1820s and 1830s the tributary was the center of early area settlement. Among the first pioneers to migrate here were Robert and Eleanor (Dorsett) Wiseman, who settled on nearby land grants in 1827. Fertile soil for farming and abundant grassland for raising cattle made the Old River area an important early agricultural center of southeast Texas. Goods from the community, including animal skins, timber and charcoal, were shipped to market in Galveston. Commercial activity in the Old River settlement grew as the population increased. Dr. James P. Alford pioneered in the area's shipping and business trade with Galveston, which led to the development of shipbuilding firms such as that of Capt. William Icet. Other significant businesses here included the brick kiln of P. Almeras and river ferry operations. The early residents of Old River set patterns of residential and industrial growth which are evident today. Descendants of the pioneer southeast texas settlers still live in the area. (1982)
Where it stands
29.87371, -94.82937 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 17 miThe 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.
- Space Center Houston — 27 miThe visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center at Clear Lake, with flown capsules, a shuttle replica riding a 747, and tram tours to Mission Control and a Saturn V.