1800's
Rosenberg is within the limits of the Mexican land grant
to Stephen F. Austin, and was an unnamed shipping point on
the Brazos River in the 1830s.
By 1865, Houston was the leading railroad center in
Texas, and most of Galveston's (a city approximately 60
miles from Rosenberg) business went through that city.
However, train traffic in and out of Galveston was sometimes
blocked to quarantine goods suspected of spreading yellow
fever.
Henry von Rosenberg migrated from Switzerland to the
United States in 1843. His early ancestors were from
Bohemia. He was born June 22, 1824 and died May 12, 1893. He
was a very wealthy man dealing in railroading, banking and
wharfs. Mr. Rosenberg was the first president of the Gulf,
Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad. He settled in Galveston,
Texas. He was a very generous man and, since he had no
children, he left his wealth to many charitable
organizations. Additional information on Henry Von Rosenberg
can be obtained from the Rosenberg Library, Galveston,
Texas, 77550, as the library was named after Mr. Rosenberg.
In 1873, a Galveston group led by Henry von Rosenberg,
the Sealy brothers and others, made plans to build the Gulf,
Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad in order to circumvent the
Houston route. It was intended that the railroad extend all
the way to Temple, Texas.
The law required all railroads to come "within a mile of
the courthouse" of the county involved, the G.C. & S.F.
planned to pay the new railroad a cash bonus or to grant a
right-of-way, for they already had the Galveston, Harrisburg
and San Antonio lines. The G.C. & S.F. line, therefore,
turned south around Richmond, crossing the existing G.H. &
S.A. at Rosenberg Junction (named after Mr. Rosenberg) in
1880. A depot was built and the junction soon grew into a
town with many businesses, including Mrs. Ebell's Hotel &
Boarding House. Most people, though, lived in tents.
In 1881, Count Joseph Telfener, an Italian, moved to
Rosenberg to begin work on the New York, Texas and Mexican
Railway, leading to Victoria. It was soon known as the
"Macaroni Line" because of the Italians who laid the tracks.
In 1884, the Wells Fargo Company opened an office, and
railroad shipments were expanded to include everything from
crates of chickens to huge amounts of gold bullion and
silver, all guarded by Mr. Taylor Ray, the freight agent. In
1882, the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railroad, began the
"Macaroni Line" making Rosenberg the junction of the Santa
Fe, Southern Pacific & Southern Pacific's Victoria Division
Railroads. The town boomed, with nearby ranches and
plantations sending cattle and cotton for shipments daily.
Our first Mayor did not complete his term because he
moved from Rosenberg and R.T. Mulcahy filled his unexpired
term. Mayor Mulcahy was elected twice afterwards and also
served as alderman. Mayor Mulcahy was called the "Father of
Rosenberg". A historical marker located on the north side of
Fort Bend Federal Savings & Loan Association documents this
fact. He located in Rosenberg in 1883 and gave ground and
built one of the first homes. He gave land for the first
school and was instrumental in building the first school
which was paid for by private subscriptions which he
solicited and gave the first donation. In 1889, Mr. Mulcahy
and others subscribed $126 to build the first school. Mr.
Mulcahy contributed $50, but then eight of the nine children
to be enrolled would be his own. He was on the school board
for 20 years and the first school board president. He was
very interested in seeing that children of the pioneer
families received a good education. Mayor Mulcahy was later
elected as Representative of Legislature for the 25th
District. Mr. Mulcahy gave the first portion of the Woodmen
of the World Cemetery.
By the turn of the century, local land developers were
sending promotional literature to the northern and
midwestern states, explaining that "the famous Brazos
Valley...has the most fertile land in America," and showing
pictures of green spaces, fruit orchards, wagons of cotton
waiting to be ginned and Victorian homes, all intended to
entice more settlers to the area. Soon there were people of
German, Czech, Polish and Mexican ancestry. There was even a
section called "Indiana Town", after the carpenters and
craftsmen who came from Indiana with new construction
techniques intended to withstand hurricane-force winds.
Early plats show the business section located north of
the railroad, with stores centered about a public square.
But the Brazos River, always subject to flooding, was only
five blocks north of the railroad and, as the floods
reoccurred, the town moved southward.
1900's
In 1905, the Brazos Brick and Drain Tile Works was
established by George W. Songer. Most of its production was
shipped to Houston by rail, and was used to construct that
city's "skyscrapers."
By the first decade of the twentieth century, the
commercial district centered about Main Street (now Third).
The first two-story buildings were the J.H.P. Davis Bank
(Reese Building), the Gray & Sons Building, the Cochran
Brokers Building and Erp Building (Vogelsang Buildings).
By 1912 there were 56 businesses, including banks, real
estate firms, loan and land development companies,
merchants, doctors and lawyers. In 1919 Mr. Dittman built
the Liberty Theatre (Cole Theater) on Third between Avenue H
and Avenue G, and hired Mart Cole, Sr. to operate it. By
1927, the Robinowitz brothers, who had come from Russia one
by one and first operated a series of horse-drawn peddler's
carts, had built themselves the city's first department
store on the corner of Third and Avenue H.
Law and order came in 1902, when the city incorporated
and passed 70 articles entitled, "Criminal Offenses." The
Volunteer Fire Department dates back to 1914, when the city
bought a two-wheel hand-drawn hose reel with 500 feet of
hose---which had to be pulled by 10 or 12 men.
In 1902, the first telephone was installed, probably in
the Cumings Drug Store (Frank's Pharmacy). The Fort Bend
Telephone Company was started in 1914. The Rosenberg
Progress was established in 1893, and was purchased by
George Lang in 1895 and called the Silver X-Ray. In 1901,
George Vinson established The Rosenberg News, later to
become the Rosenberg Herald, located on Second Street
between Avenues G and H. This paper was published by various
owners and eventually merged with the Herald Coaster in
1967.
There were cotton gins in Rosenberg shortly after it
became a town and by 1905, N.P. Teague's Mill and Elevator
Company were operating north of the tracks on Third Street.
By 1908, the Farmer's Gin was operating with a steam boiler
to run the equipment. Oil and sulphur were discovered in the
area in 1901. Attention soon turned from cotton and ranching
to oil and sulphur, where deposits were found at Boling,
Damon's Mound, Big Creek, Long Point and Orchard.
In 1930 Main Street (Third) was paved. The Wiedner Ford
Company, the Hillyer Baker Chevrolet Company, Calloway Autos
and the Lane Motor Company came to town, and Rude and Lane
built the first drive-thru filling station at the corner of
Avenue H and Second Street (Joe's Auto). By 1942, 15 miles
of concrete sidewalks were laid.
By 1940, Fred Blase's Drive-In and Leonard's Drive-In
appeared, with waitresses on horseback at Leonard's. In the
same year, pavement at the east side of town (which had lain
useless for 10 years) was extended to Richmond. Business
picked up, and Rosenberg soon became known as the "Hub of
the Gulf Coast."
In 1947, Senate candidate Lyndon B. Johnson landed, by
helicopter, on the roof of Leonard Penkert's Store and
Garage, and Mart Cole, Sr., Wendell Shannon, D.I. Lowem, Gus
Kunkel, Walter Shult and Julius Junker established radio
station KFRD. By 1951, John Wayne, Jeff Chandler, Keenan
Wynn and Gayle Storm had appeared at the Cole Theatre to
promote "Movie Time in Texas." In 1959 Fidel Castro passed
through on a motorcade en route to a Hungerford ranch, where
he was to receive a horse. By 1960, the city's population
was 9,698 and by 1970, 12,098. By 1980, there were 17,995
people and new shopping centers were springing up all over
the city. Rosenberg's present population is 30,322.