Angleton, Texas

Everything Angleton is known for

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Music in Angleton

Songs About Angleton

the ballad of lavern and captain flint
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Rivers & Roads in Song near Angleton

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

Brazos River 37 songs FM 3005 2 songs Interstate 45 7 songs U.S. Route 59 7 songs Texas Colorado River 6 songs Trinity River 10 songs

History of Angleton

The Courthouse That Became a Museum RoadyGoat

At 100 East Cedar Street stands the old red-brick building that ran Brazoria County for half a century. Accepted as finished in 1897, it was designed by Houston architect Eugene T. Heiner, who built courthouses all over Texas; this one reused the same plans Heiner had drawn for Bay City's courthouse next door in Matagorda County. The walls are masonry, faced in Houston brick with stucco trim, in the heavy, round-arched style fashionable in that era. The county outgrew it and put up a modern courthouse in 1940, after which the old building drifted through odd county uses and slowly fell into disrepair. By the late 1970s it was slated for demolition. The Brazoria County Historical Commission fought to save it, and on March 26, 1979, County Judge E. E. Brewer signed a 100-year lease handing it to the Commission as a museum. Today it's the Brazoria County Historical Museum, free to enter, with exhibits on Stephen F. Austin's colony, the county's plantations, and its oil-and-rail past, all housed inside the very building where that history was once recorded and ruled on. (Source: Brazoria County Historical Museum; Handbook of Texas.)

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The Town That Helped Build the Pacemaker RoadyGoat

This unassuming county seat once sat at the center of America's heart-implant industry. In 1973 a former Medtronic salesman named Albert Beutel founded Intermedics down the road in Freeport, and the company's reach soon spread into Angleton. Its first product was a small, mercury-powered implantable pulse generator, but the breakthrough came in 1976, when Intermedics introduced one of the first lithium-battery pacemakers, an advance that roughly tripled how long an implanted heart device could keep working before surgery to replace it. Building these things demands obsessive precision; a pacemaker is a sealed computer that has to run flawlessly inside a living body for years. To handle that low-volume, high-stakes assembly, Intermedics spun off a manufacturing arm in 1979, and that subsidiary grew up to become Benchmark Electronics, which by 1994 ran its corporate headquarters at 3000 Technology Drive in Angleton, right across from Intermedics. For a couple of decades, devices keeping hearts beating across the country were being engineered and assembled in this Gulf Coast farm town, a genuinely unique chapter of Texas medical technology. (Source: The World of Implantable Devices; Benchmark Electronics.)

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Angleton, TX RoadyGoat

Angleton, Texas, holds a quiet charm, a community-oriented small town where the rhythm of life often feels steady. Yet, beneath this calm, a history of notable figures and local lore runs deep. The city, founded in 1893 and named for Mrs. Angle, whose land facilitated the crucial depot, saw its prominence grow significantly when it became the county seat in 1896. Before that, during the Civil War, the area played a strategic role as the site of a Confederate salt works, a testament to the region's resources. Today, the waterways surrounding Angleton are still home to alligators, a constant reminder of the natural environment that defines this part of Texas. While the petrochemical industry in nearby Freeport draws many residents for work, Angleton has also sent its own talent into wider spheres.

Alsbury, Horace Arlington

1824

Horace (Horatio, Horacio) Arlington (Alex, Alexander) Alsbury (Alsberry, Allsbury; variant spellings occur in the surname of related Alsburys), possibly a native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, came to Texas as one of Stephen F. Austin 's Old Three Hundred . With two of his brothers, James Harvey and Charles Grundison Alsbury , he received title to a league and a half of land now in Brazoria County on August 3, 1824. Although he called himself a doctor, it is not known where he studied medicine. He rode horseback across the Rio Grande between Mexico and Texas numerous times. He wrote voluminously to important persons in the Texas government and volunteered for numerous military activities. In January 1834 Stephen F. Austin wrote from Monterrey that he was sending by "Mr. Allsbury," probably Horace Alsbury, two portrait miniatures of himself to his Texas kin. In late August 1835, after perhaps being at the legislature of Coahuila and Texas in Monclova, Alsbury published a handbill in Columbia, "To The People Of Texas," warning of Antonio López de Santa Anna 's plans to drive Anglo-Americans from Texas. In the siege of Bexar (November-December 1835) he was a member of Capt. John York 's Company. In early 1836 Alsbury married Mrs. Juana Navarro Pérez, daughter of José Ángel Navarro , a Santa Anna loyalist of Bexar. She remained in the Alamo during the siege and final assault by Mexican forces ( see ALSBURY, JUANA NAVARRO ). Alsbury rode from the Alamo as one of the messengers on February 23, during the first hours after Santa Anna captured Bexar. On March 1 he possibly accompanied the thirty-two Gonzales volunteers on their way to the Alamo, and on March 3 he was in Gonzales with other Texas volunteers after failing to contact James W. Fannin 's division expected to reinforce the Alamo. Alsbury was a member of Henry W. Karnes 's company at San Jacinto and was one of the 154 Masons to take part in the fighting. After the battle he joined in the surveillance of Mexican troops retreating from San Jacinto toward La Bahía and Mexico. He returned to Bexar in May 1836 and took his wife and her young son away from the devastated town to Calavero Ranch, on the Goliad road. He received a military donation and bounties for his service at San Jacinto. The Congress of the Republic of Texas allowed him payment for service as major of the infantry and as interpreter for the post of Bexar, 1835 and 1836. He secured a land grant south of San Antonio near the site of present Von Ormy. In 1837 he successfully bid for office of tax assessor for Bexar County, which he may have held for some time before John W. Smith assumed the position. In early 1838 Alsbury and Joseph Baker, as Indian agents of the republic, led a group of men from Bexar and met with the Comanches on a peace mission on the Pedernales. They barely escaped with their lives. In late 1838 Alsbury wrote from San Antonio regarding the favorable business in South Texas with self-proclaimed Federalist traders from Mexico. In late 1839 and early 1840 Alsbury served as commander of Federalist leader Antonio Canales's bodyguard along the Rio Grande during the running battles of Mexican general Mariano Arista 's forces against Canales and Samuel W. Jordan 's movement to establish the Republic of the Rio Grande . During desperate fighting, Alsbury and his command, fleeing for their lives, escaped into Texas. In 1839 Alsbury joined other San Antonio citizens to ask for government protection of their lives and those of their families against Indian and Mexican incursions. In early September 1842 he was among the Texans captured by Mexican general Adrián Woll and marched to Mexico's Perote Prison, where he remained until his release on March 24, 1844. According to Juana Alsbury her husband accompanied the American army across the Rio Grande in 1846 during the Mexican War and was killed somewhere between Camargo and Saltillo in June 1847.

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Bailey, James Briton

1818

James Brit(t)on (Brit) Bailey, one of Stephen F. Austin 's Old Three Hundred colonists, was born in North Carolina on August 1, 1779. He married Edith Smith, and the couple had six children; after her death around 1815, Bailey married her sister, Nancy, also known as Dorothy or Dot Smith, and they had five children. Bailey apparently lived in Kentucky for a number of years and reportedly served in the legislature of that state; however he acquired a controversial reputation and may have been prosecuted for the crime of forgery before he left the state. He also resided in Tennessee for a number of years and fought in the War of 1812. He, his family, and six adult slaves moved to Texas around 1818 and settled near the Brazos River, where Bailey allegedly bought land from the Spanish government. After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821 he continued to claim title to his land, although the Mexican government did not recognize his title. Possibly due either to Bailey's reputation in Kentucky or his questionable land claim, Stephen F. Austin ordered him to leave the Austin colony. However, on July 7, 1824, Austin recognized Bailey's squatter's claim to a league and a labor of land on the east bank of the Brazos River near what is now Bailey's Prairie. Although Bailey and Austin reportedly disliked one another, Austin convened settlers from the lower Brazos region to Bailey's home to take an oath of fidelity to the Constitution of 1824 . At that meeting Bailey became lieutenant of a company of militia. In 1829 Governor José María Viesca granted him a commission as captain. Bailey fought in the battles of Jones Creek and Velasco , respectively in 1824 and 1832. He became known for his eccentric behavior and frequently engaged in brawls. He died on December 6, 1832, probably from cholera. He was buried in the family graveyard on Bailey's Prairie. His will, still extant, required that he be buried standing up and facing the West" legend has added "with my rifle at my side and a jug of whiskey at my feet." His ghost is said to wander the area as a white round ball of light, known as Bailey's Light, searching for more whiskey. The Texas Historical Commission placed a marker near Bailey's Prairie in 1970 to commemorate his life. BIBLIOGRAPHY : James Briton Bailey Papers, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin. Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers (3 vols., Washington: GPO, 1924–28). James A. Creighton, A Narrative History of Brazoria County (Angleton, Texas: Brazoria County Historical Commission, 1975). Edward M. Golson, "Baileys and Polleys among Earliest Texans," Frontier Times , February 1936. Josephine Polley Golson, Bailey's Light: Saga of Brit Bailey and Other Hardy Pioneers (San Antonio: Naylor, 1950). Noah Smithwick, The Evolution of a State, or Recollections of Old Texas Days (Austin: Gammel, 1900; rpt., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin.

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Brigham, Asa

1830

Asa Brigham, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence , first treasurer of the Republic of Texas , and mayor of Austin, was born in Massachusetts about 1790. With his wife, Elizabeth S., two sons, a daughter, and a son-in-law, he arrived in Texas from Louisiana in April 1830. In December the ayuntamiento of San Felipe de Austin announced his election as síndico procurador for the precinct of Victoria (Brazoria), and in December 1831 he was elected comisario for the same precinct. He was one of those who signed a document on June 20, 1832, indicating readiness to participate in military operations in the interest of Texas independence. On October 6, 1832, he was elected treasurer for the Brazoria district. Brigham was appointed a member of the Brazoria board of health in 1831. After 1832 he kept a ferry at Brazoria, where he ran a mercantile business with his son-in-law, and later he was a stockholder in the San Saba Colonization Company and receiver of stock for the Brazos and Galveston Railroad. He acquired leagues of land at Hall's Bayou in Brazoria County and in Galveston and Bastrop counties, and raised sugar, cotton, corn, and cattle. By 1833 his daughter, wife, and son-in-law had all died. Though he held slaves for a time, Brigham later signed petitions for free Blacks. As one of those instrumental in establishing a Masonic lodge at Brazoria, he served as junior warden there and was also a charter member of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas, organized at Houston on December 20, 1837. Brigham was elected Brazoria alcalde in 1835. He served as one of four representatives from Brazoria to the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos and was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. He remained at the convention until at least March 16, 1836. David G. Burnet appointed him auditor of the Republic of Texas , and President Sam Houston named him treasurer on December 20, 1836. He was the first to hold the latter office and was reappointed by Mirabeau B. Lamar in January 1839. On February 16, 1839, Brigham became a Houston alderman while serving as national treasurer. He left the treasury on April 12, 1840; later that year he was charged with using state funds for private purposes but was cleared. Houston reappointed him treasurer on December 31, 1841, and in 1842 Brigham became mayor of Austin. After the death of his first wife he married Mrs. Ann Johnson Mather, on July 8, 1839. He died on July 3, 1844, at Washington, Texas, where he is buried. A monument was erected by the state of Texas at the burial site in 1936, and Brigham's remains were removed to a site in Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site sometime later.

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The Hon. Nathan H. Haller

1840

Born into slavery in Charleston, South Carolina on July 8, 1840, Nathan H. Haller was a Texas political leader, serving in the 23rd and 24th Texas Legislatures in the House of Representatives. Haller was brought to Walker County by his enslaver. After Emancipation, Haller operated a local farm and became active in Republican politics and served as county commissioner. Haller married Paralee Jordan of Huntsville, and the couple had two children: Jackson and James. After Paralee died, he married Annie Butcher, and they had three children: Joseph, Munroe and Jemmima. 
 By 1892, Haller moved his family to a farm in Brazoria County, remaining active in local politics. Voters elected him to the 23rd Texas Legislature, representing Brazoria and Matagorda Counties in the 40th district. Haller served as Brazoria County’s first black legislator. Two years later, he was reelected to the same seat after the House Committee on Privileges and Elections ruled in Haller’s favor in a contested election. Haller was appointed to the Roads, Bridges and Ferries; Labor; and Penitentiaries Committees. In 1893, Haller authored House Bill 469, seeking to establish a branch of the University of Texas for black students. 
 After his second term, he moved to Houston’s Third Ward. He was working as a wagon driver in 1910. He died on February 27, 1917, and was buried in Houston’s College Park Cemetery with surviving family members residing in Angleton and Houston. Haller and colleague R.L. Smith were the last African Americans elected to the Texas Legislature until 1966.


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Brazoria County Courthouse

1897

Angleton's first permanent courthouse was built in 1897, a year after the city was chosen Brazoria County seat. Constructed from plans originally drawn for the Matagorda County courthouse, the structure was enlarged and extensively remodeled in 1927. After the building suffered some structural damage in a 1932 storm, the county erected a new courthouse but maintained offices here until the 1970s. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983

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Angleton Independent School District

1892

On September 5, 1892, two Angleton residents donated one of the original town blocks near this site to the city for school purposes. Citizens contributed two hundred dollars for a frame building to house the first classes for Angleton students and serve as a meeting house for lectures, programs and services. Enrollment increased quickly, and the community made additions to the structure as needed. In 1897 Angleton was incorporated as a school district. A new brick building erected that year was destroyed in the 1900 storm but was soon replaced. The people of Angleton took pride in their school system and its support. The city touted its academic program to attract new residents. Citizens continued to demonstrate their dedication to the district by voting to enlarge the district from 12 to 25 square miles and approving the construction of another, larger brick facility after the second brick building was destroyed in a 1909 storm. The new structure was called "Albert Sidney Johnston School" for one of the county's famous former citizens. The community continued to grow, and within a few years a new high school was erected. In 1931 the school district served eleven grades instead of ten, and in about 1940 the district extended its program to twelve grades. Separate schools for African American and Hispanic students were established until widespread integration was achieved in the 1960s. The town annexed more rural land, resulting in a still-higher enrollment and more crowding in the schools. The Angleton School District continued to grow, and by the end of the twentieth century encompassed 396 square miles. (2000)

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Things to Do in Angleton

nature 12.4 mi away
Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge

More than 40,000 acres of coastal marsh and prairie on the Central Flyway — one of the top birding spots in the U.S., with 320+ recorded species. Drive the…

Sports in Angleton

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 5A · Softball · 2019

Angleton Wildcats — 2019 UIL 5A Softball State Champions

Most recent: 2019 5A

Angleton High School, nestled in the heart of Angleton, Texas, has a proud history in Class 5A softball. The Wildcats have consistently demonstrated strong play on the diamond, reflecting the competitive spirit found throughout Texas high school athletics. Their program continues to be a point of local pride, drawing support from the community.

The Angleton Wildcats reached the pinnacle of Texas high school softball, securing a UIL State Championship in 2019. This achievement highlights a period of excellence for the program, marking them as one of the top teams in Class 5A during that season. The success of the team provides a memorable chapter in Angleton's sports history.

State titles
2019
Most recent
2019
Class
5A
The moment

Angleton High School claimed the Class 5A UIL State Championship title in 2019.

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

Everything Near Angleton

340 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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