Kendleton

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it its due. Way back before there was a town here, before there was even a name for this stretch of Fort Bend County, the land belonged to a Mexican land grant, deeded to a settler named Elizabeth Powell. Her house stood out here on the Texas prairie, and it served as an early-day stage stop.

Travelers coming through had reason to be grateful for it. Then came 1836, and the Texas Revolution, and Santa Anna's Mexican Army camped near this very site. History rolled right across this ground.

After the revolution, a couple of small settlements tried to take root here, Oak Hill and Humbolt, though neither one lasted long enough to leave much of a mark. They came, they existed briefly, and they were gone. But the land stayed.

And then came the moment that really shaped this place. During Civil War Reconstruction, a man named Wm. E.

Kendall began selling land here to freed Negroes so they could start their own farms. Now here's the number that ought to stop you cold: as little as fifty cents an acre. He sold it to assist people who were just finding their footing as free men and women, building something from the ground up on their own terms.

That is the founding act of this community. The rural village that grew from those farms was named in Kendall's honor when the railroad came through in 1884. Kendleton.

The name carried the story forward, and now you know why it matters.

What the marker says

The site on which Kendleton now stands was originally a Mexican land grant to settler Elizabeth Powell, whose house was an early-day stage stop. During the Texas Revolution, in 1836, Santa Anna's Mexican Army camped near here. Later the settlements of Oak Hill and Humbolt existed briefly. Kendleton began during Civil War reconstruction when Wm. E. Kendall sold land, for as little as 50 cents an acre, to assist freed Negroes in starting their own farms. The rural village was named in his honor when the railroad came through, 1884.