Rosharon, Texas

Rosharon Known As "Buttermilk Station" is an unincorporated area in Brazoria County, Texas at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 521 and Farm to Market Road 1462.

Demographics

Neighborhoods include Songbird Ranch Airport (private), Lindell Estates, Lakes of Savanna, Chenango Ranch, Coffee Lake, The Enclave at SouthFork, Southern Trails, Silverlake, Seven Oaks Ranch, and Sun Creek Ranch, Sterling Lakes.

There are also four Texas Department of Criminal Justice Prison Units in Rosharon: Darrington, Ramsey, Stringfellow, and Terrell.

History

The Rosharon town site went unnamed during its early years. The area was settled by cotton and sugar plantations before the American Civil War. Once the Columbia Tap Railroad was completed in 1859, the Rosharon town site stop on the train line was given the name Masterson's Station, after a nearby plantation owned by a Mr. Masterson. Rosharon was known locally by trainmen as “Buttermilk Station” because an early resident was known to bring a bucket of buttermilk and a dipper to the railroad station to give the engineer and crew a drink.

George Wetmore Colles, Jr. (1871-1951), an electrical and mechanical engineer educated at Yale University (BA 1892) and the Stevens Institute of Technology, bought property in the area around 1900 and called his estate the Rose of Sharon Garden Ranch after the many Cherokee Roses (Rosa laevigata) that grew there. Colles also designed the community water system.

Antonio G. Arcaro served as Rosharon's postmaster from 1912 to 1920. The Rosharon post office was discontinued in 1920 and mail was then sent to Sandy Point. The post office reopened in 1936, only to be closed again in 1979.

Tom Lochridge platted the town site. Lochridge was responsible for having a cotton gin moved to Rosharon from Houston. Aside from providing employment for several persons, the gin's engine was used as Rosharon's first power plant. The community's first telephone exchange was operated out of Lochridge's home.

Rosharon's school was initially held in private home, and later in its own building. Eventually, the Rosharon school district was consolidated with the Angleton schools. Students began being bussed to Angleton in the late 1900s, a practice that continues to this day.

Church meetings were first held in a former school, then in a tavern that community members had bought and converted into a church. Eventually a brick church was constructed.

South Texas Water Company located in Rosharon in 1935, and its fresh watercanals for irrigating rice brought some seventy-five to eighty rice farmers to the area.

By the late 1980s, Rosharon had an estimated population of 500. In 1990 the population was 435. Most residents commute to jobs in nearby towns.

The farming and ranching economy is bolstered by the Texas Department of Corrections, which operates four units nearby.

Education

Students in Rosharon attend either Alvin ISD or Angleton ISD.

Postal Service

The United States Postal Service operates the Rosharon Post at 1810 E FM 1462 Rd Rosharon, TX 77583

External links

* [http://www.rosharonfire.com/ Rosharon Volunteer Fire Department]
* [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/hlr42.html Handbook of Texas Online entry for Rosharon]
* [http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/unitdirectory/all.htm TDCJ Directory of Prison Units]
* [http://www.cityofrosharon.4t.com-a.googlepages.com/home City of Rosharon] Neighboring Cities webpages
* [http://www.cityofmanvel.com City of Manvel]
* [http://www.cityofiowacolony.com City of Iowa Colony]