In 1824, a group of Americans came to
Texas to live on land that was granted to Stephen F. Austin
by the Mexican government. These people were later known as
the "Old Three Hundred." Among them were Churchill Fulshear,
his wife, Betsy, his daughter, Mary, three sons, Benjamin,
Graves and Churchill Jr., and one servant. The family
settled on a site of land in present northern Fort Bend
County. Their plantation was used as headquarters for part
of the Texas Army during the Texas Revolution. Santa Anna's
army is believed to have crossed the Brazos River near the
Fulshear Plantation on April 14, 1836 on the way to San
Jacinto.
In 1830, Churchill Jr. married Minerva Cartwright
and they had five children. By 1850,
he had become the owner
of a
large plantation by inheritance and purchase from the heirs
of his father, sister and brothers who had all died. At one
time he was said to be one of the largest landowners in
Texas. He raised cotton, corn, livestock and other crops.
Around 1850, Fulshear's slaves were
put to work making bricks for a house. Many of these
bricks had the imprint of an oak leaf on them. The
house, known as Lake Hill,
was built on one of the
highest points of his land. The mansion had three
stories and a ground floor basement where the
kitchen was located.
Churchill Fulshear Jr. was
interested in horses and horseracing. His stables
were also on the ground floor of his home. The
famous racehorse Get-A-Way, known as "Old Get"
by
the local people, was bred by Fulshear and competed
on numerous tracks throughout the United States and
Europe. Between 1850 and 1870, Fulshear operated a
racecourse on his plantation that was called
Churchill Downs. It is believed that it was located
on land that is now in the northern part of the City
of Fulshear. Old timers have said that Fulshear
often returned from the racetrack with his buggy
loaded with sacks of gold coins.
In 1888, Churchill Fulshear Jr. gave
the right-of-way for the San Antonio and Aransas
Pass Railroad to pass through his land after it had
been refused a right-of-way through Pittsville, a
community once between present day Fulshear and
Brookshire. This led to the downfall of Pittsville.
In 1890, the Town of Fulshear was
laid out and named for Churchill Fulshear Jr. Many
families from the surrounding farms began to move to
the new town. Fulshear became a thriving center of
commerce for the people living in and around the
area. The peak of population for Fulshear was
between 1900 and 1920. During this time there were
general stores, a depot, a grist mill, cotton gin,
blacksmith shop, ice house, barber shop, livery
stable, post office, hotel and boarding house, drug
store, doctor's office, undertaker's supply store,
three churches, two schools, millinery shop and a
local telephone system in Fulshear. The main streets
were always crowded on Saturdays. Sometimes too
crowded to walk when the hands from the surrounding
farms were paid and came to town. There was often
violence in the streets with many shootings. Women
and children did not go to town on those days,
because of the results of the sales at the local
saloons. It has been said there were as many as six
to seventeen saloons in Fulshear at one time.
Cattle, cotton, sugar cane, corn, rice and pecans
have been the main crops in the area.
In 1910, a fire started in a saloon and burned an
entire block of businesses
including the doctor's office,
drug store, coffin house, post office, barbershop, grocery
and dry goods store. By 1911, the stores were rebuilt and Fulshear had a skyline. Brick buildings, some two stories,
lined the streets at the corner of Railroad and Main
Streets. Over the years, these were vacated and most were
torn down. One Fulshear Plaza was the last to remain of that
busy corner.
Names familiar in the
community were Wilson, Walker, Huggins, Harris, Briscoe,
Wade, Avis, Miller, James, Dozier, Manaker, Field, Camp,
McJunkin, Mayes, Solomon, Branch, Banks, Randle, Sims,
Green, Hoffman, Belew, Nesbitt, Fleming, Quinn, Boone,
Grady, Dixon, Sutherland, Mayblum, Anderson, Hicks, Gates,
Meyers, Sass, Hughes, Henderson, Clark, Davis, Frazier,
Robinson, Brown, Hall, McGar, and Simonton. Descendents of
many of these families continue to reside in Fulshear.
Churchill Fulshear Jr. died in
1892. No other descendents lived in the town named
after him. The large brick mansion was torn down in
the early 1930's. Today, only a small family burial
ground remains of the Fulshear family's vast
holdings.
World War I, the Depression and a
changed lifestyle caused people to leave Fulshear
and by 1940 the population had decreased to two
hundred and eighty-seven with only five businesses.
The community of Fulshear did their share toward the
war effort in World War II. Not only did men and
women from Fulshear contribute to the armed forces
and the war industries, but an airplane lookout
station was also manned daily on the roof of one of
the brick buildings.
With
the trend to get away from city life, Fulshear's population
began to grow again. The 1977 census numbered over four
hundred when Fulshear incorporated as the Village of
Fulshear.