Deer Park, Texas

Everything Deer Park is known for

2 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

Music in Deer Park

Songs About Deer Park

Deer Park (Live In Houston)
The Fall
81%
"Deer Park"
You’ve Got a Friend in Jimbo
Reverend Horton Heat
50%
"He'll lead you like a little lamb to Deer Park Texas Land"

Artists From Deer Park

B
Big John Mills
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Deer Park

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Deer Park.

Interstate 10 36 songs Interstate 45 8 songs US Route 90 9 songs U.S. Route 59 9 songs Trinity River 11 songs Brazos River 42 songs

History of Deer Park

The Battle That Forged Texas RoadyGoat

Just a few miles northeast of where you are now, the fate of Texas was decided in about 18 minutes. On April 21, 1836, General Sam Houston's Texan army launched a surprise attack on the camp of Mexican General Santa Anna. The site was a marshy piece of land near the confluence of the San Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou. The Texans, shouting 'Remember the Alamo!' and 'Remember Goliad!', overwhelmed the larger Mexican force. The victory was decisive. Santa Anna was captured the next day, and in exchange for his life, he signed treaties recognizing Texas's independence. As you pass near this area, you're on the edge of one of the most significant battlefields in American history. The San Jacinto Monument, taller than the Washington Monument, now stands there as a permanent marker of the spot where Texas was born.

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The Arrival of Shell Oil RoadyGoat

Imagine Deer Park before 1929: barely a town at all — four houses, a small school, an old hotel, and a few shacks strung along the railroad tracks, with well under a hundred people. That all changed when Shell Oil Company chose this spot for a massive new refinery. The decision was strategic. The recently dredged Houston Ship Channel provided access for deep-water tankers, and pipelines from the oil fields offered a steady supply of crude. The construction project was enormous, and the plant started up on August 13, 1929. The boom took a while to arrive: Deer Park counted only about a hundred residents in 1940, then incorporated in 1948 with help from a Shell donation and shot past 4,800 people by 1960. The quiet country crossroads gave way to a company town, its fortunes tied directly to the price of oil and the output of the refinery. The sprawling complex you see today is the direct result of that single corporate decision.

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Deer Park, TX RoadyGoat

Deer Park bills itself as the 'Birthplace of Texas' due to its proximity to the site of the Battle of San Jacinto. A replica of Dr. George Moffitt Patrick's cabin, where the initial surrender treaty was drafted, stands in front of the Theatre/Courts Building on Center Street. This landmark serves as a reminder of the city's historical significance in the formation of Texas.

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Battle of San Jacinto

1836

At mid-afternoon April 21, 1836, two miles to the north, General Sam Houston with about 1,000 Texans in 18 minutes annihilated the 1,400-man army of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President of Mexico. Screened by trees and rising ground, Houston's men formed with Edward Burleson's regiment at center, Sidney Sherman's on the left wing, artillery under George W. Hockley on Burleson's right, the infantry under Henry Millard on the right of the artillery. Under M. B. Lamar, a future president of Texas, the cavalry took the extreme right, to cut off possible flight of Mexican troops. Their 4-piece band playing a popular love song, "Will You Come to the Bower," the Texans attacked at a run, crying, "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! "Such was their fury that 630 of the enemy were killed, 730 captured. enemy lead shattered Gen. Houston's ankle, but he lost only 9 men killed or mortally wounded and 30 wounded less seriously. San Jacinto stands as one of the world's greatest victories It gave Texas independence, and with her annexation 9 years later brought into the Union all or parts of Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.

Historical Marker → · 3.0 mi away

San Jacinto, Battle of

1836

Near here on the afternoon of April 21, 1836, the army of the Republic of Texas, commanded by General Sam Houston was drawn up to attack an invading Mexican army commanded by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Historical Marker → · 3.9 mi away

Gilley's

1970

Gilley's was a nightclub located in Pasadena, Texas, from 1970 to 1990. The club, owned by Sherwood Cryer, had been previously called Shelly's. Cryer decided to reopen it in 1970 under the name Gilley's, with budding musician Mickey Gilley as partner. Gilley, who grew up in Ferriday, Louisiana, with cousins Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart, wanted to call the club the "Den of Sin," but Sherwood insisted on naming it Gilley's, since Mickey Gilley himself was to be the headlining act. Gilley's launched Mickey Gilley's career, for the club was an instant success. It filled to capacity nightly soon after the opening. It had a shooting gallery, showers for truckers, a rodeo arena with mechanical bulls, pool tables, punching bags, and a dance floor big enough for thousands. It had a 6,000-person capacity and was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest honky-tonk. Gilley's was open seven days a week, from 10 A.M. to 2 A.M. Its motto was "We Doze but We Never Close." Dramatic economic growth occurred along the Texas Gulf Coast in the late 1970s, especially in Houston. Many residents of Pasadena worked in the Houston-area petrochemical plants, and they used Gilley's as a place to socialize. Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb , Emmylou Harris, and Roseanne Cash all played at Gilley's, along with many other famous country artists. Most performances were recorded live and archived, and the nightly shows were broadcast weekly on radio from 1977 to 1989. Live from Gilley's was carried nationally by more than 500 stations. Thanks to Armed Forces Radio, the show was also broadcast around the globe. In 1978 Aaron Latham published "The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy: America's Search for True Grit" in the September 12 issue of Esquire magazine. Cryer had urged Latham to write this article, based on Latham's experiences at Gilley's, in hopes that a movie would be made of the story. The movie Urban Cowboy began filming in 1979. Most of the movie was filmed inside Gilley's. It starred John Travolta and Debra Winger as the characters Bud and Sissy, who meet at Gilley's, marry, separate, and then reunite. Gator Conley, a regular at Gilley's, was considered the best dancer and mechanical bull rider; the director used him frequently throughout the movie. Conley stated, "A lot of people say the movie made Gilley's, but actually it was the other way around." Urban Cowboy , a box office hit, brought Gilley's into American pop culture and made the club one of Houston's main tourist draws. Even after the fad passed, Gilley's continued to draw crowds. The Academy of Country Music awarded Gilley's the title "best nightclub of the year" in 1984. Eventually Mickey Gilley became frustrated because he believed that Cryer failed to maintain the place and present quality acts. Cryer refused to make major renovations over the years, and fans were complaining of dirty restrooms and a bad parking lot, among other problems. Gilley, who thought this reflected poorly on his name, sued to gain control of the club in 1988, claiming that Cryer had been keeping profits. The jury awarded Gilley the club and forced Cryer to pay Gilley $17 million. Cryer had to give up much of his real estate to pay the debt. The club operated under Gilley briefly after the lawsuit, until the judge ordered it closed in 1989 due to loss of profits. Gilley rescued the tapes of the live shows before a suspicious fire burned the club down in 1990. The Pasadena school district has owned the lot since 1992. In the early 2000s the property was still mired in tax liens, unpaid taxes amounted to more than the property was worth, and PISD was searching for a buyer. In November 2005 all remaining structures, including the rodeo arena, were demolished to clear the site for the construction of a middle school. The restored Gilley's sign can be seen about a mile away at the Cowboy Ranch restaurant. Mickey Gilley opened Gilley's Dallas in 2003 to serve patrons in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metrop

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Gilley's - World's Largest Honky-Tonk

1971

Pasadena honky-tonk co-owned by Mickey Gilley, made internationally famous by the 1980 film Urban Cowboy. Billed as the world's largest honky-tonk. Destroyed by fire in 1990.

Morales, Felix Hessbrook

1950

Felix H. Morales, entrepreneur, radio personality, and civic leader, was born in New Braunfels, Texas, on May 27, 1907. He was one of ten children of Felix and Hillary (Hessbrook) Morales. He attended racially segregated schools during most of his childhood. After his father died, Morales contributed to the family's income by working as a shoeshine boy, selling newspapers, and later doing construction work at the dam at Gingham Mills. When he was still in his teens, he moved to San Antonio, where he delivered newspapers for the San Antonio Light , worked at his brother Andrew's funeral home, and managed his own six-cab taxi business. On March 12, 1928, he married Angeline Vera in San Antonio. They had one son. In 1931 Morales sold the taxi business, moved to Houston, and with a $150 loan from his brother opened his first funeral home, at 2701 Navigation Street in the Second Ward. The first years were difficult because of the Great Depression , during which the Morales Funeral Home donated services to many poor families. Unable to purchase the equipment he needed, Morales built caskets himself, and Angie spent hours sewing clothes for the deceased. During these years she also served as an interpreter in court cases. After the depression, the funeral home was moved to new, expanded facilities at 2901 Canal Street. In 1940 the family also purchased ten acres of land off Aldine Road for a cemetery. Both Felix and Angie returned to school and graduated from the Landig School of Mortuary Science, in 1936 and 1942 respectively, and received their state licenses as embalmers. Now financially secure, Felix moved toward owning a radio station. He had previously produced his own show at a station in San Antonio. Before investing in a station in Houston, he studied the market, purchased time from radio station KXYZ, sold it to advertisers, and produced a Spanish-language radio program. At first the program aired for only one hour a week, at 11:00 P.M. each Saturday night; but over a period of years it became a nightly program of news, interviews, and both live and recorded music. Often, when musical groups failed to arrive for their scheduled performances, Felix picked up a guitar and played himself. The FCC, however, soon ruled that radio stations could not sublet time to outside purchasers, and so in 1942 Morales applied for a permit to operate his own station. Due to World War II , the application was delayed until 1946, and the permit was not granted until four years later. The station, KLVL-AM in Pasadena, officially went on the air on May 5, 1950, to celebrate both Cinco de Mayo ( see FIESTAS PATRIAS ) and Angie's birthday. During the first few years, the station operated only during the day, but the permit was eventually extended to authorize a seven-day, twenty-four-hour operation. Radio Station KLVL, "La Voz Latina," became the first Spanish-language radio station to cover news for the Gulf Coast area and soon established a reputation for community service. Apart from various news, education, and music programs, KLVL produced such programs as Yo necesito trabajo ("I need a job"), during which unemployed persons called in and received job referrals. Angie Morales also produced a program entitled Que Dios se lo pague ("May God reward you") in which she asked her listeners to assist needy cases in the community. In 1954, KLVL collected more than $10,000 and eight carloads of food and clothing to help victims of the lower Rio Grande valley flood, prompting one man, Juan Francisco Hernández, to write a corrido ( see CORRIDOS ) in honor of the Morales family and KLVL. Because of its commitment to service in the community, the station was dubbed "la madre de los Mexicanos." Catering to Houston's large Hispanic community, KLVL broadcast news and music from all over the Americas. Immensely popular were the daily radionovelas , or soap operas, as well as the dramatizations of historical events. The station also sponsored top stage shows fr

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Gilley, Mickey Leroy

1970

Mickey Leroy Gilley, country musician and namesake of Gilley's nightclub in Pasadena, Texas, was born on March 9, 1936, in Natchez, Mississippi. He was the youngest of four children of Arthur Philmore Gilley and Irene Frances (Lewis) Gilley. He grew up in Ferriday, Louisiana, and spent much of his childhood with first cousin and future famous musician Jerry Lee Lewis and a first cousin once removed, the future evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. Gilley learned to play piano at an early age, and, as a youngster, also secretly listened to the blues music that emanated from nightclubs in the area. He attended Ferriday High School but did not graduate. On February 14, 1953, Mickey Gilley married Geraldine Garrett in Louisiana. They later had three children but divorced in 1961. Soon after their marriage, the couple moved to Houston where Gilley secured a job working for his father-in-law in the construction industry. Inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis's growing success, in 1957 Gilley cut his first record, "Ooh We Baby," which began a succession of single releases on various labels. He also traveled and played clubs when he was not working in his job. He was listed as a musician, for example, in the 1959 city directory of Lake Charles, Louisiana. On December 27, 1962, he married Vivian Lorene McDonald in Fort Bend County, Texas. They had a son. Gilley released his first album, Lonely Wine (described as a combination of rock-and-roll , rhythm-and-blues, and country ), in 1964. Residing in Harris County, he became a regular performer at the Nesadel Club in Pasadena, a community near Houston. In the early 1970s he opened a show for Conway Twitty, who then secured a booking agent for him. While Gilley cultivated a successful singing career, he is perhaps best remembered for being the namesake of Gilley's nightclub in Pasadena. He and business partner Sherwood Cryer opened the club in 1970 at 4500 Spencer Highway, and the venue gave Gilley a place to record and play his music. He released the album Mickey at Gilley's in 1971. Billed as "the world's largest honky tonk," the nightclub drew other major country stars to perform, including Waylon Jennings , Loretta Lynn, and Willie Nelson. In 1974 Gilley released "Room Full of Roses," which became his first Number 1 country single, and he issued an album by the same name. He won that year's Most Promising Male Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music. Billboard named him the Top New Country Artist for 1975. A string of hit songs followed, including "City Lights," "Window Up Above," and "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time," which won the Academy of Country Music's Song of the Year in 1976. He also won Album of the Year for Gilley's Smoking as well as honors for Entertainer of the Year, Top Male Vocalist of the Year, and Single Record of the Year for "Bring It on Home to Me." While Gilley's was popular in the Houston area, the nightclub became famous nationally thanks to a 1978 Esquire magazine article, "The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy," written by Aaron Latham. The article was the basis for a film, Urban Cowboy (1980), starring John Travolta and Debra Winger. Gilley played himself in the movie and appeared on the film's highly successful soundtrack. His cover of "Stand by Me," became another Number 1 country hit, went platinum, and also had crossover appeal, reaching Number 22 on Billboard's Hot 100. "I thank John Travolta every night before bed for keeping my career alive," Gilley said in 2002. "It's impossible to tell you how grateful I am for my involvement with Urban Cowboy . That film had a huge impact on my career, and still does." Gilley and Cryer eventually had a falling out. Gilley believed Cryer did not keep up the nightclub (such as the bathrooms) and present quality acts, among other issues. In 1988 Gilley sued to gain control of the nightclub. The jury awarded Gilley the nightclub and forced Cryer to pay Gilley $17 million. Gilley ran the nightclub for a short time, but a fire de

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Things to Do in Deer Park

historical 8.8 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…
historical 9.3 mi away
NASA Johnson Space Center

Houston we have a problem. Where Mission Control guided Apollo 11 to the moon.
food 13.7 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.…
historical 5.3 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 5.3 mi away
San Jacinto Monument

Taller than the Washington Monument. Where Texas won independence in 18 minutes.
historical 5.5 mi away
Battleship Texas

The last surviving WWI-era dreadnought. Fought at D-Day and Iwo Jima.
food 12.5 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.
quirky 16.4 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 Deer Park

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 6A · Baseball · 2017

Deer Park — 2017 UIL 6A Baseball State Champions

Most recent: 2017 6A

Deer Park High School, a familiar presence in Texas 6A baseball, has established a notable record. The Deer have secured one state championship, a significant achievement in the highly competitive University Interscholastic League. This accomplishment reflects the consistent effort and dedication within the program, bringing pride to the community nestled in the Houston metropolitan area.

The baseball program operates within a strong tradition of high school sports in Texas. While specific professional or major-college alumni are not listed, the focus remains on the team's collective success and the consistent quality of play demonstrated on the field. The community of Deer Park continues to support its student-athletes, celebrating their contributions to the school's athletic story.

State titles
2017
Most recent
2017
Class
6A
The moment

The Deer Park High School baseball team captured the 6A state title in 2017.

Sources: UIL State Championship Archives · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)
🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 6A · Softball · 2021

Deer Park — 2021 UIL 6A Softball State Champions

Most recent: 2021 6A

The Deer Park High School softball program, competing in Class 6A, has established itself as a formidable presence in Texas high school sports. The team proudly secured a UIL State Championship in 2021, a significant achievement for the community and the school.

Located in Deer Park, Texas, the high school's athletic programs are a source of local pride. The softball team's success, particularly their 6A state title, highlights the dedication and hard work fostered within the program, reflecting the competitive spirit of the region.

State titles
2021
Most recent
2021
Class
6A
The moment

The Deer Park High School softball team celebrated a UIL 6A State Championship in 2021.

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

Everything Near Deer Park

2043 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Explore Deer Park on the Map
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