Cane Island

Katy, first known as Cane Island, is on Interstate Highway 10 and U.S. Highway 90 at the intersection of Harris, Waller, and Fort Bend counties, twenty-five miles west of downtown Houston. The name Katy may have been taken from the name Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad or from the name of the saloonkeeper's wife. Before 1890 the depot was operated by the Hennesey family on the Texas Western Railroad, a mile south of the platted town site. Peter Black and the families of former slaves Tom Robinson and Milto McGinnis were also in the area. In 1894 the Pitts family moved north of town, and in 1895 M. A. Beckendorff, a surveyor for Waller County, moved to Pitts Road. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas had built through the site of Katy by the end of 1893, but no station was located there at that time. J. E. Cabaniss, the first railroad agent in Katy, took up his duties there in 1895. The depot was finished in 1898, enlarged in 1919, then sold to the city of Katy in 1977. In 1990 the depot was a museum operated by the Katy Historical Society.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.