Rosenberg

Rosenberg is on U.S. Highway 59 twenty-eight miles southwest of downtown Houston in central Fort Bend County. The area was originally settled by Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred around 1823. Richmond, the county seat, inadvertently gave birth to the city of Rosenberg by refusing right-of-way to the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. In 1880 the railroad built three miles to the west of the Richmond area and established a station at the crossroads of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe and the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio railroads. At Rosenberg Joseph Telfener, an Italian count, established the headquarters of the "Macaroni Line," the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway building toward Victoria. The Union Depot was built in 1889. The town was named in honor of Henry Rosenberg, a Swiss immigrant, who settled in Galveston and from 1874 to 1877 was president of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company. Soon after the coming of the Macaroni Line and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway in 1883, Santa Fe purchased 200 acres from the Henry Scott league and platted and squared them off around a city square between the river and railroads, at the site of the present Jackson Intermediate School on Third Street. The town at that time had a store, a saloon, and Mrs. Ebell's hotel, although most residents lived in tents. In 1881 a post office opened, and in 1894 a Wells Fargo shipping office came to town. A new resident, R. T. Mulcahy, raised funds to build the first school, the first of many community enterprises that earned Mulcahy the nickname "Father of Rosenberg." Between 1890 and 1900 the population increased to 1,000, with the coming of the Czechs, Germans, and Poles. The Rosenberg Progress was purchased by George B. Lang, who changed its name to the Silver X-Ray. Two black churches, Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist and St. Luke's Methodist, were started in 1882 and 1883 respectively, and are still active. The First Methodist Church was organized in 1895, and the First Baptist Church was started in 1896. By 1898 Rosenberg had incorporated its school district, and voters passed a bond to build a new school.

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.