Town of Fulshear

Before the railroad the community centered on the Fulshears' cotton gin and flour mill. Many families moved down from Pittsville, which had refused the line, once Churchill Fulshear, Jr., granted it a right-of-way in 1888. By 1898 some 250 residents supported eleven stores, three saloons, a school and a hotel. A 1910 fire took a block of businesses, but within two years residents complained that payday crowds left no room on the sidewalks. The plantation house was torn down around 1933, and the town stayed small until Houston's growth reached it in the late 1970s.

What the plaque says

Town of Fulshear On July 16, 1824, land grant of Mexico to Churchill Fulshear, one of the "Old 300" settlers of Stephen F. Austin, father of Texas. Churchill Fulshear, Jr., veteran of Texas War for Independence, built 4-story brick mansion in 1850s, bred and raced horses at Churchill Downs (at Pittsville, 2 mi. N). His pupil, John Huggins, won world fame by training first American horse to win the English Derby. Town platted here 1890 by San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad, soon was trade center, with many facilities. The Rev. J. H. Holt was first (1894) pastor of the still existant Methodist church. (1971)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Brazos Bend State Park — 28 mi
  Oak and pecan bottomland, lakes and alligators on the Brazos River 45 miles from downtown Houston, with the museum's George Observatory in the woods.

More markers nearby

• Fulshear Cemetery — 0.9 mi
• Pittsville — 2.8 mi
• Randon & Pennington Grant of 1824 — 3.5 mi
• John Foster Land Grant — 4.2 mi