Frostown

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Frostown (Frost-Town), an early settlement in what is now the city of Houston, was named for the Frost family, who arrived in the 1830s. It was located on Buffalo Bayou in Harrisburg (now Harris) County eight miles upstream from Harrisburg and several blocks east of the conjunction of White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou, west of present U.S. Highway 59. In 1822 the area was settled by the Wilkins family, Dr. James A. E. Phelps and his wife, Rosalie A. Yerby, Stephen Holston, John Austin, and others. Austin received a two-league survey in 1824 from the Spanish government under the supervision of Stephen F. Austin. The 1826 census of Austin's colony taken by the Spanish government listed about twenty inhabitants, mainly farmers and stockraisers. Between the late 1820s and the 1840s, Germans began settling in the area, and the settlement was called simultaneously Germantown and Frostown.

Col. Jonathan B. (Benson) Frost of the Texas Cavalry arrived in the area with his slaves, his household, and his blacksmithing equipment after July 12, 1836. Soon he was joined by his brothers, Samuel Miles Frost (who also served three months in the Texas army) and James Coleman Frost (who requested lots to set up a sawmill). Later his mother, Rhoda Miles Frost, and his sister and brother-in-law, Mary Elizabeth (Frost) and John B. Dunn, arrived from Tennessee. In 1838 A. Girard, a retired Texas army officer, drew up a map of Houston and included the area of Frostown as a subdivision. In 1866 W. E. Wood, a civil engineer, drew up a new map of the city that showed Frostown and its cemetery and noted where families lived and locations of businesses and churches.

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Gladys E. Clark | © TSHA

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

Belongs to

Frostown is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

No

Place type

Frostown is classified as a Town

Associated Names

  • [Frost Town]
  • (Germantown)

Has Post Office

No

Is Incorporated

No