DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's quite a tale. A man named Simeon Henry West was born in Illinois in 1827, and by the time he set his sights on a little stretch of Texas coastal country, he had a vision. West arrived in this vicinity in 1892, and he wasn't just passing through.
He was hoping to turn the place — with its mild climate and its closeness to the waterways — into a proper farming and trading center. Before that year was even out, he'd purchased property, platted himself a town, and named it Deer Park, after a nearby private park that happened to be home to a good many deer. Now that's a man who doesn't waste time.
In 1893, West finished the Deer Park Hotel, and he started marketing his new development — primarily to Northerners. More than ninety settlers came south, drawn by the promise of fruit and tobacco farming and by the trade links West was building to the Houston and Northern Railway and to Houston's waterways. Things were looking genuinely promising.
And then came 1900. The hurricane. Nearly destroyed the town.
After the storm passed, every family except one turned around and went back North. Every family except one. You sit with that for a moment.
A few people drifted back to Deer Park in the years that followed. In 1905, the Edwin Rice Brown family leased the Deer Park Hotel as their family home — that same hotel that had been the focal point of all area social life. But the population stayed very small.
For a long stretch, Deer Park was a town that history seemed to have quietly set aside. Not until 1928, when Shell Chemical Company relocated here, did something shift. A new period of growth began.
The business district came back. Churches. Schools.
And in 1948, the citizens of Deer Park voted to incorporate. Simeon Henry West died in 1920, never knowing that part. But the town he platted in a single year — the town the storm nearly swallowed whole — it's still here.
What the marker says
Illinois native Simeon Henry West (1827-1920) settled in this vicinity in 1892 hoping to develop the area, with its mild climate and proximity to waterways, into a farming and trading center. By the year's end, he had purchased property and platted the town of Deer Park, naming it after a nearby private park inhabited by many deer. After completing the Deer Park Hotel in 1893, West marketed his development primarily to Northerners. More than ninety settlers moved here, attracted by the prospects for fruit and tobacco farming and the trade links to the Houston & Northern Railway and Houston's waterways that West was developing. The promising town was nearly destroyed in the hurricane of 1900, after which every family except one returned North. A few people moved to Deer Park in later years. In 1905, the Edwin Rice Brown family leased as their family home the Deer Park Hotel, the focal point of area social life. However, the town's population remained very small. Not until 1928, when Shell Chemical Company relocated here, did a new period of growth begin. Deer Park's business district, churches, and schools were reestablished, and in 1948 the citizens of Deer Park voted to incorporate.