DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of the official marker for Pearland and the Santa Fe Railroad, standing right here in Brazoria County. Now before there was a Pearland, there was just a siding switch. The Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad punched a line through this part of Texas in 1883 — Houston to Alvin — and somewhere along the way they dropped a little stop called Mark Belt right about here.
Not exactly a name that rolls off the tongue and sticks in history. But give it a few years. Things were about to change.
In 1893, a man by the name of William Zychlinski came along and bought himself two thousand, five hundred and sixty acres of this Brazoria County earth. The very next year he subdivided it, platted it, and tucked inside that whole arrangement was a 273-acre townsite. A man named S.
M. Christensen — president of the Southern Homestead Company — contracted to develop it. And Christensen, well, he had a plan to bring settlers in.
He planted pear trees. And other fruit trees. All across the townsite.
Whether that was poetry or just good salesmanship, the marker doesn't say, but the name Pearland was now on the map. By 1900 the Santa Fe Railroad had built a proper depot nearby, and that depot became the heartbeat of the young town. Settlers came to meet visitors there.
They picked up their mail. They hauled in their supplies. And they shipped out — cotton, hay, cattle, fruit, vegetables — all of it rolling away to market on iron rails.
But 1900 was a year that gave with one hand and took with the other. That devastating storm — the very same year the depot opened — hit this region and threw Pearland's development into a long, hard pause. It would take about a decade for the town to find its stride again.
Around 1910, the Allison-Richey Suburban Gardens Company came in swinging, promoting the area as an agricultural wonderland. They made sure everyone knew about that railroad access. And it worked.
Pearland surged. Oil production, cattle ranching, hay, rice, and fig farming — all of it kept the town growing, kept goods moving down those tracks. But railroads don't last forever as the center of a community's life.
By 1972, the depot closed. Mark Belt to Pearland, nearly ninety years of rail service, and the doors shut quiet. Here's the part worth sitting with, though.
The depot wasn't torn down. It was donated to the city. Moved to where it stands today through the efforts of a whole lot of citizens and organizations who figured some things are worth saving.
A siding switch in 1883. A pear orchard. A depot.
A storm. A surge. That's the story this ground remembers.
What the marker says
The Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad built a siding switch called "Mark Belt" near here in 1883 as part of its Houston to Alvin branch rail line. In 1893 William Zychlinski purchased 2560 acres in this area which he subdivided and platted in 1894. Included in Zychlinski's subdivision was the 273-acre townsite of Pearland. S. M. Christensen, president of the Southern Homestead Company, contracted to develop the townsite. As part of a plan to attract settlers to the townsite Christensen planted numerous pear and other fruit trees. In 1900 the Santa Fe Railroad built a depot nearby which soon became a gathering place for settlers to meet visitors and pick up mail and supplies. Locally produced cotton, hay, cattle, fruit and vegetables were shipped to market by railroad from the depot. Pearland's development, delayed by the devastating storm of 1900, surged about 1910 as the Allison-Richey Suburban Gardens Co. successfully promoted the area as an agricultural wonderland with vital railroad access. Oil production, cattle ranching, and hay, rice, and fig farming sustained Pearland's growth. The railroad's importance diminished and in 1972 the depot closed. It was donated to the city and moved here through the efforts of many citizens and organizations. (1994)