Alvin, Texas

Everything Alvin is known for

2 songs mention this city 0 artists from here

Music in Alvin

Songs About Alvin

Alvin Texas Were I'm From
Keysta, Bassinova, Assassin & Chuck D.
79%
"Alvin Texas Were I'm From"
the ballad of lavern and captain flint
guy clark
10%

Artists From Alvin

No artists from Alvin in the database yet.

Rivers & Roads in Song near Alvin

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Alvin.

Interstate 45 8 songs Brazos River 42 songs FM 3005 2 songs Trinity River 11 songs U.S. Route 59 9 songs Interstate 10 36 songs

History of Alvin

43 Inches of Rain in One Day RoadyGoat

On July 25 and 26, 1979, the slow-moving remains of Tropical Storm Claudette parked over the Alvin area and dumped 43 inches of rain in just 24 hours at a gauge near town. That figure stood as the United States 24-hour rainfall record for nearly four decades, until a 49-inch measurement was finally verified on the Hawaiian island of Kauai in 2018. Even so, Alvin's total remains the recognized 24-hour record for the continental United States. What makes the story a genuine weather lesson is how unremarkable Claudette was by the usual measures. It wasn't a powerful storm; its winds were modest. The danger came entirely from its sluggish movement, the deep tropical moisture feeding it, and its habit of dropping rain over the same ground again and again. Alvin became the textbook example of why a weak tropical storm, given enough time and water, can be far more catastrophic than a fast-moving hurricane. The flat, slow-draining coastal prairie around town did the rest, holding the water where it fell. (Source: National Weather Service.)

The Town Whose First Post Office Was a Railroad Boxcar RoadyGoat

Alvin grew up around a Santa Fe Railway cattle-loading point near Mustang Bayou, in the flat coastal prairie south of Houston. A railroad employee named Alvin Morgan arrived in the 1870s, built a home here in 1879, and later opened a general store and a saloon to serve the cluster of people gathering around the tracks. When the settlement needed a post office, Morgan improvised: he converted a railroad boxcar into the town's first postal building, so Alvin's mail literally started out in a repurposed freight car. The residents wanted to name the place Morgan after him, but another Texas town had already claimed that name, so they fell back on his first name instead. That quirk may make Alvin the only Texas town named because its founder's last name was already taken. Local folklore adds one more odd detail: Morgan was supposedly seen around town in the company of three unusual companions, a dog, a goose, and a white buzzard. Stand near the old Santa Fe line today and you're at the seed of the whole town. (Source: Handbook of Texas; Alvin Historical Museum.)

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When Alvin Was a Gulf Coast Fruit Boomtown RoadyGoat

It's hard to picture now, but in the 1890s Alvin briefly boomed as a Gulf Coast fruit town. The surrounding coastal prairie turned out prolific harvests of strawberries, pears, figs, and vegetables, and the town built a canning plant to handle them. Before a local ice factory existed, blocks of ice cut from frozen northern rivers and lakes were shipped all the way south just to keep Alvin's produce from spoiling on its way to market. The growth was startling: the population reportedly jumped from roughly 100 in 1890 to about 2,000 by 1896, enough to support hotels, newspapers, an opera house, a pickle works, and finally that ice factory. According to the Alvin Historical Museum, the town was proud enough of its produce to display it at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The boom faded, but the agricultural identity never fully disappeared. It still survives just outside town at Froberg's Farm, a family operation dating to 1936 and known today for seasonal strawberry picking. (Source: Alvin Historical Museum; Handbook of Texas.)

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Nolan Ryan Hometown - Alvin

1947

Nolan Ryan grew up in Alvin, Texas, where his fastball was clocked at 100.9 mph in an era before radar guns were standard. He threw seven no-hitters and struck out 5,714 batters across 27 seasons.

Alvin, TX

1872

Alvin is twelve miles southeast of Houston in northeast Brazoria County, on land originally granted to the Houston Tap and Brazoria Railroad. In the 1860s the Santa Fe Railroad established a flag station near the head of Mustang Slough on its Galveston-to-Richmond branch line. Santa Fe hired Alvin Morgan in 1872 to supervise the loading and shipping of cattle at the stock pens. Morgan built the first house in the area in 1879 and persuaded many travelers to settle there. In 1881 the settlement acquired a post office, and the residents named the community Morgan but renamed it Alvin upon learning of another Morgan, Texas. City folklore recalls Morgan's inseparable companions-a dog, a goose, and a white buzzard. Alvin was incorporated in 1891 and again in 1893. By the mid-1890s Alvin had experienced a population explosion, with the number of residents increasing from 100 in 1890 to an estimated 2,000 by 1896. Businesses in the community included an ice factory, a pickle works, a cotton gin, a bank, an opera house, six hotels, four churches, and two weekly newspapers. Alvin's economy was based primarily on farming and fruit growing. Methodists organized the first church in Alvin in 1881, and other denominations soon followed: Baptist in 1886, Presbyterian in 1892, Episcopal in 1896, Nazarene in 1934, and Lutheran in 1938. Alvin's first public school classes met in the Methodist church building, but by the 1890s the school had facilities of its own. In 1910 the community raised funds for a two-story brick schoolhouse. Alvin became an independent school district in 1925. A community college opened at the high school in 1949 but moved to a separate campus in 1963. Alvin had a population reported at 3,087 in 1940 and 3,701 by the mid-1950s. The community's economic growth was based on livestock, poultry, dairying, agriculture, jasmine, oil, natural gas, and petrochemicals. During World War II businessmen persuaded the United States government to place an internment camp in Alvin. About 500 Germans from the camp worked in the local canning factory and rice fields for two years. Between 1960 and 1970 Alvin grew 89 percent, from 5,643 to 10,671. In addition to the public schools and community college, it had several private schools and more than 100 civic organizations. Alvin had 100 acres set aside for parks and recreational facilities in 1980. In 1988 the population stood at 18,484; in 1990 it was 19,220. By 2000 the population was 21,413. Annually, from July through November, the city braces for floods, hurricanes , and tornadoes . The Galveston hurricane of 1900 destroyed or damaged most Alvin businesses and homes. In 1979 tropical storm Claudette dumped forty-three inches of rain near Alvin within twenty-four hours, a state record. Four years later Alicia, generally called the most expensive storm in American history, battered the Alvin area ( see WEATHER ). At least two Alvinites have achieved widespread recognition. Dr. F. R. Winn, an Alvin resident, was nationally praised for his 1898 Cuban Report to Theodore Roosevelt and his eyewitness newspaper report of the battle of Santiago. His distinguished record as medical corpsman in World War I brought international recognition and requests for assistance from foreign governments. Alvin's baseball superstar Nolan Ryan pitched for the New York Mets and California Angels before signing with the Houston Astros ; he finished his career with the Texas Rangers in 1993, having set many major-league records, and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

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Richardson, Stephen

1822

Stephen Richardson, one of Stephen F. Austin 's Old Three Hundred colonists, soldier, and supporter of the Texas Revolution , was born at Mount Desert Island, Maine, on June 1, 1794. He served in the War of 1812 under Col. John E. Wool and later traveled in the South, taught school in Illinois, operated a flatboat plying the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, and sailed in the Gulf of Mexico. On December 22, 1822, he was shipwrecked near the mouth of the Brazos River on the Texas coast. He went inland to San Felipe de Austin, where he established a business with Thomas Davis and enrolled in the Old Three Hundred. He received title to a league of land in what is now Brazoria County on July 10, 1824. In July 1826, in answer to a Mexican plea to relieve famine in Yucatán, Richardson chartered a vessel called the Little Zoe , loaded it with corn and lard, and sailed for Campeche. He was ordered away from Campeche by port authorities and was detained so long at Tampico that his cargo spoiled. In October 1827 he was in Saltillo petitioning the government for redress of his losses, but the matter remained unsettled in June 1828. About that time he married Lucinda Hodge and moved to a spot near Wallis in Austin County; the couple had seven children. In October 1829 Richardson was on a committee to examine the students of Thomas J. Pilgrim 's academy and also served on a committee to formulate plans for a new school building. In December 1829 he was defeated by Thomas Barnett in an alcalde election, and in December 1830 he was defeated by Robert M. Williamson in the race for síndico procurador . In 1832 Richardson moved to Chocolate Bayou in Brazoria County and built a sawmill near the site of present Alvin. The mill washed away in the floods of the summer of 1832, and Richardson moved to the area of present Liverpool, where he built another sawmill. In the fall of 1835 he joined the volunteer army under Francis W. Johnson and took part in the Grass Fight and the siege of Bexar , for which he later received 640 acres, half of which were in Montgomery County. He was secretary of the meeting held at Chocolate Bayou to elect delegates to the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos. In April 1836 his sawmill at Chocolate Bayou (Brazoria County) furnished lumber for fortifying Galveston Island. In January 1838 Richardson moved to Harrisburg, where he operated a steam sawmill for about ten years. He moved to Houston before March 3, 1849, when, as one of the "Old Texians," he was appointed to a committee to recommend quieting land titles in Texas. He died in Houston on July 6, 1860.

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Birchfield - McCown House

1894

Built by A. J. Birchfield, first editor of Alvin "Sun", 1894. Often a storm refuge, house kept over 100 safe in famed 1900 coastal hurricane. Leading townspeople -- Greer, Carleton, Finger, and McCown families -- have owned this 12-room Victorian structure. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1972

Historical Marker →

Confederate Cemetery

1890

Established in the 1890's by John A. Wharton Camp, U. C. V.; burial ground for Confederate veterans and families. After increase of acreage, use of cemetery was extended to public. Veterans of 4 wars; 1900 hurricane victims as well as prominent civic leaders are buried here. (1968)

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Stanton, George Elliott

1921

George Elliott Stanton, cattle rancher and entrepreneur in Alvin, Texas, was born on August 7, 1898, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, to Elliott James (E. J.) and Leah Ann (Tice) Stanton. The family moved to Texas in 1909 and purchased land north of Alvin. Stanton attended local schools in Alvin before he joined his father in buying, selling, and raising cattle-cattle raising became a major part of the family's business. In 1921 they purchased the John Coward woodyard and renamed it E.J. Stanton and Son. They sold wood and coal and in 1922 expanded to include a feed store with the purchase of four additional lots adjoining the Santa Fe railroad tracks. Stanton married Flora Marie McDonald, on June 11, 1924, in Alvin, Texas. They had six children and were members of the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Beginning in 1926 the family began offering grocery goods in the store, and the July 1, 1927, edition of the Alvin Sun featured the Stantons and their business and promoted their planned expansion of their facility. E. J. Stanton passed away in 1929, and George assumed full operation of the business. The store expanded to include a larger grocery section, and hardware, meat market, and pharmaceutical goods. Stanton continued to increase the products available for sale and had the first shopping center in Alvin. In 1956 the store was renamed Stanton's Shopping Center, and in 1973 he made the final expansion to include a complete grocery with meat market and produce section, along with restaurant, gift shop, hardware, appliance, and farm supplies sections. Cattle ranching remained a major part of the family's business, and in 1942 Stanton increased his cattle operations by purchasing a ranch outside of Johnson City to raise additional registered Hereford cattle . Stanton Hereford Ranch cattle were shown at many steer competition stock shows around Texas and received many awards, including Grand Champion Steer at the 1934 Houston Fat Stock Show and Reserve Champion for both bull and pen of three heifers in the 1954 Texas Hereford Register of Merit Show in Beeville. Stanton served as president of the Blanco County Hereford Breeders Association and is considered a pioneer breeder of Hereford cattle in the Alvin area. He also served as president of the Alvin Chamber of Commerce and was active in the Alvin community. He advocated showing and teaching youth about cattle ranching and worked with the local Alvin Future Farmers of America chapter and the Four-H Club. George E. Stanton passed away on December 7, 1984, from injuries sustained in an auto accident and is buried in the Alvin Confederate Cemetery.

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Things to Do in Alvin

historical 11.5 mi away
NASA Johnson Space Center

Houston we have a problem. Where Mission Control guided Apollo 11 to the moon.
historical 12.3 mi away
Space Center Houston

Houston we have a problem. Every word spoken between Apollo astronauts and Earth came through Mission Control at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. The…
food 23.5 mi away
The Original Ninfa's on Navigation

Ninfa Laurenzo was a widow with five kids when she opened a little restaurant in her late husbands failing tortilla factory on Navigation Boulevard in 1973.…
food 10.1 mi away
Killen's Barbecue

Chef Ronnie Killen's Pearland powerhouse. A classically trained chef who chose brisket over fine dining. The beef rib is absurd.
historical 24.0 mi away
San Jacinto Monument

On April 21 1836 Sam Houston and nine hundred Texans caught Santa Annas army napping at San Jacinto and won Texas independence in eighteen minutes. Six hundred…
historical 24.1 mi away
San Jacinto Monument

Taller than the Washington Monument. Where Texas won independence in 18 minutes.
historical 24.3 mi away
Battleship Texas

The last surviving WWI-era dreadnought. Fought at D-Day and Iwo Jima.
quirky 19.9 mi away
Eclectic Menagerie Park

An outdoor display of giant welded-metal sculptures along the edge of the Texas Pipe and Supply pipe yard including a King Kong hanging from a crane a 20-foot…

Sports in Alvin

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 5A · Football · 2019

Shadow Creek — 2019 UIL 5A Division 1 Football State Champions

Most recent: 28-22 over Denton Ryan · 2019 5A Division 1 final

Shadow Creek High School in Alvin, Texas, has established itself as a formidable presence in Class 5A football. The Sharks have achieved a significant milestone in Texas high school sports, demonstrating their competitive spirit and skill on the field. Their journey through the ranks of UIL competition showcases the dedication found within their program.

The football team's success reflects the vibrant sports culture in the Alvin community. While individual names are not listed, the collective effort of the Shadow Creek Sharks has brought state-level recognition to their hometown. The program continues to be a point of pride for fans and residents alike.

State titles
2019
Most recent
2019, 28-22
Class
5A
The moment

Shadow Creek secured the 2019 5A Division 1 State Championship by defeating Denton Ryan with a score of 28-22.

Sources: UIL State Championship Archives · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near Alvin

622 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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