DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells this story, and I'm just the one lucky enough to pass it along. Now settle in, because this one goes back further than most. July 16, 1824.
Mexico grants a piece of land in what would become Fort Bend County to a man named Churchill Fulshear — one of the original Old Three Hundred, those early settlers who came into Texas under Stephen F. Austin, the father of Texas himself. That's the ground floor of this whole story right there.
Now Churchill Fulshear left more than his name on the land. His son, Churchill Fulshear Jr., took up the fight for Texas independence and came back a veteran. Then, in the 1850s, he built himself a four-story brick mansion.
Four stories. Out here on the Texas frontier, that's not a house — that's a statement. And if the mansion wasn't enough, Churchill Jr. also bred and raced horses at a place called Churchill Downs, sitting about two miles north, over near Pittsville.
But here's where the story gets its real shine. Churchill Jr. had a pupil by the name of John Huggins. And John Huggins — trained right here on this Texas soil — went on to win world fame by training the first American horse ever to win the English Derby.
The first. You let that sit for a moment. A boy schooled in a pasture near Pittsville, Texas, and his horse standing in the winner's circle in England.
The town itself didn't get platted until 1890, when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad came through and drew the lines. It grew fast from there — a genuine trade center, with many facilities serving the people of the region. And by 1894, the Reverend J.
H. Holt was standing at the pulpit of the local Methodist church as its very first pastor. That church, the marker tells us, is still standing.
From a land grant in 1824 to a Derby winner across the Atlantic, Fulshear has always punched a little above its weight. Some towns just have that in them from the start.
What the marker says
On July 16, 1824, land grant of Mexico to Churchill Fulshear, one of the "Old 300" settlers of Stephen F. Austin, father of Texas. Churchill Fulshear, Jr., veteran of Texas War for Independence, built 4-story brick mansion in 1850s, bred and raced horses at Churchill Downs (at Pittsville, 2 mi. N). His pupil, John Huggins, won world fame by training first American horse to win the English Derby. Town platted here 1890 by San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad, soon was trade center, with many facilities. The Rev. J. H. Holt was first (1894) pastor of the still existant Methodist church.