Seabrook

Seabrook is on State Highway 146 twenty-five miles from Houston near the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center on the north side of Galveston Bay in Harris, Chambers, and Galveston counties. It was founded on the site of the Ritson Morris league, which became Elmwood Plantation, and was named for Seabrook Sydnor, son of John Sydnor of the Clear Creek Development Company, who with E. S. Nicholson platted and promoted the town in 1900. The settlement first housed summer residents who arrived on the Suburban, a commuter train that ran twice daily. The town had a post office by 1895. In 1990 an abandoned railroad station reflected the history of the town's location on a line of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 demolished the local school, but by 1905 it had been restored. That year its three teachers taught 100 students. The local schools became part of the Clear Creek Independent School District in 1947 and later joined the Clear Lake district. Seabrook School for Boys, founded in 1910, functioned intermittently and under different names before becoming Harris County Boys School in 1955 (see HARRIS COUNTY BOYS SCHOOL SITE). The population of Seabrook rose from 200 to 560 before the Great Depression, fell to 200 in 1936, and remained at 400 from 1940 until 1947, when the Albert and Ernest Fay shipyard, capable of handling up to 150 boats, brought workers to the area and growth resumed. Seabrook was incorporated on October 23, 1961. Despite considerable damage from Hurricane Carla, a bridge linking Seabrook and Kemah was completed in 1961, and by 1968 the population numbered 6,000. A youth center named for astronaut Edward H. White II, America's first space walker, opened in 1971. Residents complained of pollution problems and fish kills in local waters in 1972. The population reached a high of 8,242 in 1974, and businesses reached a maximum of 236 in 1989. In 1990 Seabrook had a population of 6,685 and 127 businesses. It is a resort, fishing camp, and shrimp-fishing town.

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.