Brazoria County

Brazoria County is south of Harris County, but is a major part of the growth of the Houston Metro area.   Brazoria County includes Pearland, Alvin, Angelton, Clute, Lake Jackson, Manvel, Iowa Colony, Freeport, Sweeny, West Columbia and parts of Friendswood.  I've attached a link to the county clerk's website.

Pearland was once known as Mark Belt, until 1894 when the plat of Pear-Land was filed by Witold von Zychlinski, changing the community name to Pearland because of the fruit farms he saw that covered the majority of the land. Until the 1990's Pearland remained very small. During the last decade of the 20th century, large developers began to expand the Houston Metro area once again down 288.

Alvin is known for being the home of Nolan Ryan, where his ranch is located.  Alvin was founded with bull ranches in the middle of the 19th century.    Alvin was incorporated in 1893, and named after one of the original residents, a worker for the Santa Fe Railroad Company.  It is a growing community currently over about 27,000 residents.  If you want to learn more, visit the Alvin city website.

Manvel is another small township with under 10,000 residents.  It is east of Alvin, south of Pearland and Iowa Colony the west.  Visit the Manvel city website to learn more. 

Iowa Colony a small town, much like Manvel with a population of less than 9000.  Iowa Colony grew over 400% through the years of 2010-2020.  The town will most likely continue to grow with the Houston Metro area as more development start projects in the works.  Visit the Iowa Colony website to learn more.

Lake Jackson was brought about and developed for employees of Dow Chemical Company.  It was designed by Alden B. Dow as a planned community.  It was incorporated in 1944, and home ruled in 1954 and located in south-central Brazoria County.  Learn more about this planned community at the Lake Jackson website.

Clute is a bit larger than Iowa Colony.  Clute first came about in the late 19th century, but didn't start to grow until Dow came to create Lake Jackson which boosted the population of Clute.  This finally allowed the town to incorporate in May of 1952.  Clute is also home of a couple significant archeological finds of mammoths bones in 2003, that are over 38,0000 years old.  Visit their website to learn more.

West Columbia is the home of the Republic of Texas first congress in 1836, and was for a moment the capital of Texas.  This town has less than 5000 residents, bordering Bay City, Rosenberg , Freeport and Angleton.    Find out more by visiting the West Colombia City website.

Angleton was named after the wife of the General Manager of the  Velasco Terminal Railway.   Angleton is the county seat for Brazoria county, and has been since beating out of the town of Brazoria in 1896.  South off highway 288, it is short commute to the Houston Metro area.  Angleton website will lead you to more information and activities.

Sweeny is located in the western most part of the county, and a population of less than 5,000.  As the rest of the county grows, so does this little town only 20 miles from the Gulf Coast.  Visit the Sweeny website to see what it has to offer.

Freeport was founded by European-Americans in the early 1900's as a settlement for the Freeport Sulphur Company.  In between 1929 and 1939, the population grew over 4000.  The city grew even more after 1939 because in part of again Dow Chemical which has become the community's largest employer.    Freeport is known for Bryan Beach which it annexed in 2003.  Visit the Freeport website to learn about the beach and more.