Charles Harvey Waddell

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Charles Harvey Waddell, right there in Fort Bend County. Now, some men come to Texas and just pass through. Charles Harvey Waddell came to Texas and got to work.

Born on January 18, 1888, up in Arkansas, he arrived in the Lone Star State with his family while he was still young. And it didn't take long for this place to get into his bones. By 1910, Waddell was in the automobile business.

Think about that for a moment. 1910. The automobile was still a novelty in a lot of places, and here was this Arkansas transplant deciding that was the future. Then, just four years later, in 1914, he formed the Fort Bend Telephone Company.

The man had a nose for what a community was going to need before the community quite knew it yet. But Waddell wasn't just a businessman. He stepped into public service too, serving as county tax collector from 1919 to 1922.

And if you think collecting taxes is a thankless job, well, he went right back to public life and from 1926 to 1930 represented both Waller and Fort Bend counties in the State Legislature. Two counties. One man.

And still that wasn't enough. His later years brought three local farmers' gins, real estate development, a lumber company, and a savings and loan institution. Each one of those a brick, you might say, in the foundation of Rosenberg.

Charles Harvey Waddell passed on January 28, 1950. But a man who builds telephone lines, opens gin houses, plants himself in two county legislatures, and keeps on building well into his later years, that man doesn't really leave a place. He just becomes part of it.

What the marker says

(January 18, 1888 - January 28, 1950) A native of Arkansas, Charles Harvey Waddell came to Texas with his family at an early age. He became an automobile dealer in 1910 and in 1914 formed the Fort Bend Telephone Company. He served as county tax collector from 1919 to 1922, and from 1926 to 1930 represented Waller and Fort Bend counties in the State Legislature. Through his later business interests, including three local farmers' gins, real estate development, a lumber company, and a savings and loan institution, Waddell contributed significantly to the growth and development of Rosenberg.