Beasley

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Beasley, Texas. Now settle in, because this one's got a little romance tucked inside the geography. Back in 1894, a man named Cecil A.

Beasley, born in 1862, set out to found a town on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad in Fort Bend County. And when he first put a name to the place, he didn't call it Beasley. No.

He called it Dyer, after a woman named Isabel Dyer, born in 1871. Now, why would a man name a brand new Texas town after a particular woman? The marker will tell you: Cecil Beasley later married her.

So there's your romantic aside for the afternoon. The town wore Isabel's name for a few years, but by May 13, 1898, when the post office opened, it was carrying the Beasley name for good. Then came 1910, and that's when things got loud.

The Stern and Stern Land Company out of Kansas City came rolling in, promoting land sales through a town lot auction. They knew how to draw a crowd, and draw one they did. Many of the new settlers were German and Czech families coming over from Washington County, and they brought with them the kind of industrious energy that builds a town fast.

And build they did. Before long, Beasley had three general stores, two cotton gins, a three-story hotel, an icehouse, a public school, and seven churches. Seven.

For a town that had just boomed, that's a community that knew what it valued. The years kept rolling, and in 1970, Beasley was incorporated, taking its place as a proper municipality and continuing to serve as a marketing center for the area around it. A railroad stop named after a woman, renamed for the man who loved her, and built up by families who'd traveled a long way to call it home.

Not a bad story for a stretch of Fort Bend County.

What the marker says

Founded 1894 by Cecil A. Beasley (1862 - 1908), on the Texas & New Orleans Railroad. First called "Dyer" for Isabel Dyer (1871 - 1933), whom Beasley later married. Post office opened as "Beasley," May 13, 1898. The town boomed in 1910, as Stern & Stern Land Co. of Kansas City promoted land sales through a town lot auction. Many new settlers were German and Czech families from Washington County. Soon Beasley had 3 general stores, 2 cotton gins, a 3-story hotel, an ice-house, a public school, and 7 churches. Beasley was incorporated in 1970 and continues to serve as a marketing center for the area.