Mining Metal Out of the Gulf of Mexico RoadyGoat

Just south of here, Dow Chemical pulled off something that still sounds like alchemy: it mined a metal straight out of seawater. Founder Herbert Dow had dreamed since the 1920s of using the ocean as a mine, and on January 21, 1941, his son Willard's engineers made it real at the new Freeport plant. The chemistry is elegant. Crews burned oyster shells dredged from Galveston Bay to make lime, mixed that into pumped-in seawater, and the magnesium dissolved in the ocean precipitated out as solid magnesium hydroxide. Filtered and converted to molten magnesium chloride, it was then split by electrolysis, electric current tearing the compound apart, into pure magnesium metal. The timing was everything. Magnesium is light and burns hot, and wartime aircraft needed as much as 2,000 pounds per plane. By 1942 the Freeport process was supplying roughly 84 percent of all U.S. magnesium. The American Chemical Society honored the achievement as a National Historic Chemical Landmark in 2025. Every airplane that flew on seawater metal started right here. (Source: American Chemical Society; Handbook of Texas.)

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Before Corpus, Selena Sang in Lake Jackson RoadyGoat

Long before she became the Queen of Tejano music, Selena Quintanilla was a Lake Jackson kid. She was born April 16, 1971, to the Quintanilla family, who had settled in this Dow company town. In 1980 her father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., a former musician himself, opened a Tex-Mex restaurant here called Papa Gayo's, and that little dining room became Selena's first real stage. She sang while her older brother A.B. played bass and sister Suzette played drums, the family band taking shape over enchilada plates. It did not last. The 1980s oil glut gutted the Gulf Coast economy, the restaurant failed in 1981, the family declared bankruptcy, and they were forced out of their home. The Quintanillas moved to Corpus Christi, where Abraham reassembled the kids as Selena y Los Dinos and built the act that would make his daughter a superstar. The hardship that drove them out of Lake Jackson is exactly what set the legend in motion. The town she was born in was where the music first started. (Source: Selena biography; Handbook of Texas.)

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The Dentist Who Built the First Plastic Airplane RoadyGoat

One of aviation's quiet revolutions was dreamed up by a Lake Jackson dentist. Leo Windecker ran a dental practice here in the 1950s, and many of his patients were Dow Chemical scientists working on fiberglass-reinforced plastics down at the labs. After a flight in a flimsy-feeling aluminum Cessna, Windecker had a thought no one had pulled off: why not build an airplane out of plastic? With his wife, Dr. Fairfax Windecker, and Dow's chemists, he developed a patented molded fiberglass material called Fibaloy, twice as strong as aluminum and, oddly, stronger with age. Dow backed the work with hundreds of thousands of dollars. The result, the single-engine Windecker Eagle, won FAA certification in December 1969 as the first all-composite airplane ever approved to fly. Then the story got stranger: because fiberglass barely reflects radar, the U.S. Air Force took an Eagle, redesignated it the YE-5, and tested it at White Sands as an early stealth study, finding the airframe genuinely hard to detect. A dentist's hobby helped seed the technology behind modern stealth aircraft. (Source: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; Invention & Technology.)

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Quintanilla Perez, Selena [Selena]

1971

Singer Selena Quintanilla Perez, known simply as Selena, the daughter of Abraham and Marcella (Perez) Quintanilla, Jr., was born on April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson, Texas. She married Christopher Perez, guitarist and member of the band Selena y Los Dinos (slang for "the Boys") on April 2, 1992. They had no children. Selena attended Oran M. Roberts Elementary School in Lake Jackson and West Oso Junior High in Corpus Christi, where she completed the eighth grade. In 1989 she finished high school through the American School, a correspondence school for artists, and enrolled at Pacific Western University in business administration correspondence courses. Her career began when she was eight. From 1957 to 1971 her father played with Los Dinos, a Tejano band. He taught his children to sing and play in the family band and taught Selena to sing in Spanish. They performed at the family restaurant, Pappagallo, and at weddings in Lake Jackson. After 1981 the band became a professional act. In 1982 the group moved to Corpus Christi and played in rural dance halls and urban nightclubs, where Tejano music flourishes. In her late teens Selena adopted fashions sported by Madonna. Preceded by Lydia Mendoza and Chelo Silva , Mexican-American star vocalists of the 1930s, and by pioneer orchestra singer Laura Canales in the 1970s, Selena became a star in Tejano music. She won the Tejano Music Award for Female Entertainer of the Year in 1987, and eight other Tejano awards followed. By the late 1980s Selena was known as "la Reina de la Onda Tejana" ("the Queen of Tejano music") and "una mujer del pueblo." Her popularity soared with annual awards from the Tejano Music Awards and a contract with EMI Latin Records in 1989. At the 1995 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the band attracted 61,041 people, more than Clint Black, George Strait, Vince Gill, or Reba McEntire. Selena y Los Dinos recorded with Tejano labels GP, Cara, Manny, and Freddie before 1989. Their albums include Alpha (1986), Dulce Amor (1988), Preciosa (1988), Selena y Los Dinos (1990), Ven Conmigo (1991), Entre a Mi Mundo (1992), Selena Live (1993), Amor Prohibido (1994), and Dreaming of You (1995). The band's popularity surged with Ven Conmigo . Entre a Mi Mundo made Selena the first Tejana to sell more than 300,000 albums. In 1993 she signed with SBK Records to produce an all-English album, but it was eventually replaced with the bilingual Dreaming of You . Despite her success in the Spanish-language market, mainstream society largely ignored Selena until around 1993. In 1994 Texas Monthly named her one of twenty influential Texans and the Los Angeles Times interviewed her. That same year, Selena Live won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album. Also in 1993 and 1995, Lo Nuestro Billboard gave the band awards in four categories. Selena y Los Dinos was a cross-over act in Tejano, romance, cumbia, tropical, pop, rap, and salsa in Spanish and English; Selena was not only bilingual but biethnic. Before her death, the band sold more than 1.5 million records. By the mid-1980s Selena had crossed into the national Latino and Latin-American market. A recording with the Puerto Rican band Barrio Boyzz furthered inroads into this area. Selena y Los Dinos began to acquire a following in Mexico (Matamoros) as early as 1986. Along with Emilio Navaira, Selena y Los Dinos attracted 98,000 fans in Monterrey, and thus popularized Tejano music in Mexico. In 1994 the band played in New York to a Mexican and Central American audience. The band was the first Tejano group to make Billboard's Latin Top 200 list of all-time best-selling records. Selena was also known to Latin-American television audiences. At the age of twelve or thirteen she was introduced on the Johnny Canales Show . She appeared on Sábado Gigante , Siempre en Domingo , El Show de Cristina , and the soap opera Dos Mujeres, Un Camino . She also made a cameo appearance in the 1995 film Don Juan DeMarco . Advertisements also made Selena popula

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Mammoth Lake

1822

Mammoth Lake, formerly a cavernous sand pit, has had a vital influence on the development of clute and the surrounding area. In prehistoric times, nomadic Native American tribes lived in this region, hunting abundant game that thrived near the area’s rivers. Anglo settlers came here in the early 1800s. A number of significant individuals once owned this land. Jared E. Groce, an Alabama plantation owner, purchased this property from the Mexican government in 1822. He gave the land to his daughter Sarah as a present when she married William H. Wharton, a lawyer who worked to establish the Republic of Texas and served as president of the convention of 1833. A number of other residents and businesses have also owned this property. Following the Civil War, this former cavern was valued for its deposits of sand. By the 1940s and 1950s, the community of clute experienced significant growth when industrial and chemical plants developed nearby. The sand, sandy clay and clay excavated from the pit were used to build foundations and roads, and to fill up low-lying lands. Vernor material and equipment (VME), which purchased the property in 1986, excavated approximately four million cubic yards of material between 1979 and 2006. In 2003, bones were uncovered during excavation of the site. VME invited a team of archeologists to conduct a dig; they found a partial skeleton from a mammoth which was approximately 14 feet high to its shoulders and up to 17 feet long. Also uncovered were pottery shards and a wooden bowl. In 2006, VME began work to convert the sand pit into a lake to be used for scuba diving.

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One-Eighth Mile South to Peach Point

1836

Home of Mrs. Emily M. Perry 1795-1851, only sister of Stephen F. Austin, who regarded the place as his home after the burning of San Felipe on March 29, 1836.

Historical Marker → · 4.5 mi away

Gulf Prairie Cemetery

1829

Pioneer cemetery. Originally part of Peach Point Plantation. Used by descendants of James Franklin Perry and wife, Emily Austin Bryan Perry, Stephen F. Austin's sister, and by the community since 1829. In 1836, Austin, the "Father of Texas," was buried here. His remains were reinterred in the state cemetery in the city of Austin in 1910. (1967)

Historical Marker → · 4.6 mi away

Muzzy, Mary Sue Blair Hairgrove

1967

Mary Sue Blair Hairgrove Muzzy, Texas state legislator, daughter of John E. Blair and Mable Sue (Gibbs) Blair, was born in Argyle, Texas, on October 1, 1922. The youngest of four children, she grew up on her family's farm near Justin, Texas. After graduating from Justin High School in 1940, Mary Sue Blair moved to Dallas to attend Draughan's Business College where she met her first husband James Albert "Jim" Hairgrove. The couple married in Rockwall, Texas, on October 7, 1941. Jim Hairgrove served in the U. S. Navy during World War II , and, after his return, the couple lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma, before moving to Rosenberg, Texas, where they managed the radio station KFRD. The couple had two children, Anita Hairgrove Schofe and Robert Dale Hairgrove; they raised their children in Lake Jackson where the family owned and operated two local radio stations, KBRZ and KLJT-FM. In January 1966 Jim Hairgrove, known for his civic engagement, announced his candidacy for a seat in the Texas House of Representative from the newly-created District 20F, which encompassed both Brazoria and Fort Bend counties. He defeated Sam Plummer of Angleton in the Democratic primary by a margin of 8,881 to 4,928, and faced no opponent in the general election. Jim Hairgrove's time in the legislature was cut short, however, when he died of a heart attack in his hotel room in Austin on April 12, 1967, just three months into the regular session of the Sixtieth Texas Legislature. Despite her lack of experience in state politics, Sue Hairgrove filed with the local Democratic party as a candidate for her husband's vacant seat on April 20, 1967. Hairgrove told the Brazosport Facts that she agreed with her husband's legislative objectives, and she believed this election was her chance to fulfill them, though she said her campaign would not be "political" in nature. Four other candidates ran in the election, but Hairgrove won decisively with more than 61 percent of the total vote. After a special election called by Governor John Connally , Hairgrove was elected and sworn in by the speaker of the House on June 2. She was the only female member of the House. During her brief service she supported a bill to increase the state sales tax in some cases from 2 to 3 percent and a bill to prohibit the carrying of weapons in any premises selling alcoholic beverages, both of which were signed into law. She did not introduce any legislation during the session, but she was appointed to the Committee to Notify the Senate that the House was Ready to Adjourn. With gratitude for her service, the House honored her in a resolution which expressed the members' "appreciation to the Honorable Sue Hairgrove for her outstanding service during the session and for the wit, charm, and courtesy with which she has conducted herself as the only woman member of the House." On February 6, 1968, the Brazosport Facts announced that Hairgrove would not seek a seat in the Sixty-first Texas Legislature. Hairgrove told the paper that continuing a career in politics would require a significant amount of learning, something that she could not currently take on in addition to taking care of her family and owning and operating two radio stations. She went on to serve as the director of hospital development at the Community Hospital of Brazosport, and she served on the Brazosport Chamber of Commerce board of directors where she was the only female member and vice president of public affairs. In recognition of her service and achievements, the Brazosport Chamber of Commerce selected Hairgrove as woman of the year for 1969. Hairgrove also worked as a consultant to organizations that include: the Texas Gulf Coast Parks and Historical Restoration, the Family Service Center, and the Dow and Lake Jackson Beautification committees. She was a member of the Bay Area Heart Association, even taking on the role of county chairman for their "1969" event, and she served on the Tuberculosis Advisory Board for Brazoria

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Brannen, Bess Courtney

1945

Bess Courtney Brannen, educator and community leader, was born on February 18, 1905, at Trevat in Trinity County, Texas. Her father, Joseph Patrick Courtney, was born in Galveston to Miles Courtney, an Irish immigrant, and Martha Wood on January 26, 1877. The immigrant's son married into one of the oldest families in Texas. His bride and Bess's mother, Jennie Moren, was the great granddaughter of Martin Parmer (also spelled Palmer), a contemporary of Stephen F. Austin and a friend of Sam Houston . Parmer served as one of the authors and signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence . Bess's father worked for lumber companies in East Texas and went from stacking lumber to managing some of the largest stores in the area, then to purchasing agent for those stores in such cities as St. Louis and Chicago. Some of the companies were Lynch Davidson Lumber Company, William Cameron and Company at Carmona and Saron, Trinity County Lumber Company at Groveton, and Texas Long Leaf Lumber Company at New Willard. Bess, the youngest, and her siblings, Maurice Miles and Aileen, attended Alexander Collegiate Institute and College (later Lon Morris Academy and Lon Morris College ), a Methodist preparatory school and junior college in Jacksonville, Texas. She took courses in art, music, and drama, in addition to the core subjects, and finished her schooling there in the spring of 1924. Bess Courtney married Carl Andrew Brannen , a World War I veteran of Saron, Texas, on September 7, 1924. The couple had their first son, Carl Andrew "Andy" Brannen, Jr., on August 26, 1925, at Saron. Their second son, Joseph Patrick Brannen, was born on December 27, 1927, at New Willard, Texas. Bess and Andrew returned to Saron to help with aging family members and began their teaching careers at nearby Saglen, where Bess taught four years. They also continued their education . At Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College (later Stephen F. Austin State University ) Bess took courses in news writing, public speaking, and education, and Andrew received his B.S. in history in 1932. Their daughter, Willie Frances, was born on August 14, 1935, in Trinity, Texas. In 1934 Andrew became the county school superintendent of Trinity County, and Bess taught at Pennington for four years while continuing her education. Wherever she taught she produced programs in which the students performed. Bess finished her bachelor of science degree in education with a minor in fine arts, English, and social studies from Sam Houston State Teachers College (later Sam Houston State University ) on August 19, 1940. Soon after the United States declared war in December 1941, Andrew resigned as county superintendent and joined the U. S. Marine Corps in 1942. He finished his master's degree in history at Sam Houston State Teachers College in August 1942 before he left for USMC Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Virginia. Upon completion, he was assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station Eagle Mountain Lake, which was located northwest of Fort Worth. Bess moved with the two youngest children to Decatur, where she taught school and attended Decatur Baptist College (later Dallas Baptist University ). The oldest child, Andy, at the age of fourteen, had entered Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College (later Texas A&M University ) in the summer of 1940. In 1943 Bess and the family moved to Laguna Beach, California, where her husband, then a captain, was transferred to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro. Bess worked as a clerk at the local dry goods store as she did not have California teaching certification. Following in her father's footsteps, she soon became a buyer for the store. She also indulged in her love of art. During the family's brief stay in California, the Brannens' second oldest son, Joseph Patrick, finished high school, and their oldest son joined the U. S. Navy V-12 aviation cadet program and attended flight school and college at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. In 1944 Bess

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Lake Jackson, Texas

Music in Lake Jackson

Songs About Lake Jackson

Artists From Lake Jackson

Rivers & Roads in Song near Lake Jackson

History of Lake Jackson

Mining Metal Out of the Gulf of Mexico RoadyGoat

Before Corpus, Selena Sang in Lake Jackson RoadyGoat

The Dentist Who Built the First Plastic Airplane RoadyGoat

Quintanilla Perez, Selena [Selena]

Mammoth Lake

One-Eighth Mile South to Peach Point

Gulf Prairie Cemetery

Muzzy, Mary Sue Blair Hairgrove

Brannen, Bess Courtney

Things to Do in Lake Jackson

Everything Near Lake Jackson