THE “SUGAR BOWL” TRAIL IN FORT BEND COUNTY:
ARCOLA, MISSOURI CITY, STAFFORD, AND SUGAR LAND
INTRODUCTION
The human tongue can identify four different tastes: bitter, salty, sour, and sweet. However, only the sweet taste is associated with pleasure across almost all cultures and cuisines. If we love sweet foods, our primary source of sweetness comes from refined sugar, and in warmer climates the primary source of sugar is sugarcane. Sugarcane is native to southeast Asia. It spread around the eastern Pacific and Indian oceans about 3500 years ago. Sugar continued to spread across Persia and the early Islamic worlds, reaching the Mediterranean area in about the 13 th century.
Christopher Columbus brought sugarcane plants with him on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493, and by 1550 there were over 3000 small sugar mills operating in the Caribbean and South America. French Jesuit priests planted the first sugarcane in Louisiana in 1751 and in 1795 Etienne de Boré processed the first granulated sugar in Louisiana. This resulted in an explosion of sugarcane plantations along the Mississippi river. By the time that Moses Austin proposed bringing Anglo-American settlers into the Spanish territory of Texas in 1820, sugar was an important commodity in world trade. As a result, Moses Austin proposed that the Anglo-American settlers would grow sugarcane as well as other crops, like cotton, that could be traded between Spain and the United States. It was the prospect of this trade that convinced the Spanish to approve the land grant.
Before he could act on his plan to colonize Texas, Moses Austin died. Prior to his death he expressed his desire that his son, Stephen F. Austin take over his project to colonize Texas. To complicate matters even more, after Moses Austin’s death, Spanish rule was overthrown in Mexico and the newly independent country of Mexico was established. Stephen F. Austin had to be approved by the newly formed Mexican government to take over the land grant concession his father had been awarded. Additionally, Stephen F. Austin believed that an enslaved labor force was necessary to convince southern farmers to colonize Texas; however, Mexico had begun restricting slavery throughout Mexico. Consequently, he negotiated with the Mexican government, obtained an exception in Texas to the new restrictions on slavery that existed elsewhere in Mexico, and his position as an empressario was reaffirmed by the new Mexican government.
One of the first things Stephen F. Austin did was to identify the area of land to which his colonists would immigrate. He chose the rich coastal plains river bottom land between the Lavaca and San Jacinto rivers, which he believed would be perfect for the cultivation of cotton and sugar. He encouraged people to come to his colony based upon the availability of cheap, fertile land and its ability to be worked using the forced labor of enslaved people, which had been outlawed elsewhere in Mexico.
Austin’s first colonists arrived at the mouth of the Brazos River in December of 1821. Ninety miles inland, in a bend in the Brazos River, they built a two room cabin which came to be known as “fort bend”. 53 of the original land grants sold by Stephen F. Austin were in what is present day Fort Bend County.
Sugar was one of the first crops introduced to commercial cultivation in Fort Bend County in the 1820’s. By the 1850’s sugarcane was an important staple of Texas agriculture. Fort Bend, Brazoria, Matagorda, and Wharton Counties were known as “the Sugar Bowl” of Texas.
The cultivation of sugarcane and the processing of refined sugar required four things in the 19 th and early 20 th centuries:
- a large labor force to do the backbreaking work of harvesting sugarcane and process the juice,
- a ready supply of capital to buy the land to grow sugarcane,
- the availability of equipment to cultivate and process the sugarcane juice,
- transport it to a refinery or mill, and process it into refined sugar, and
- the avoidance of weather conditions.
Enslaved men and women were first introduced to the brutal work conditions in the fields of the “Sugar Bowl” in the 1800’s, and the work resumed, post-emancipation by men forced to work in the fields under the state-sanctioned convict leasing program until the early 1900’s. Wealthy businessmen, bankers, and industrialists provided a supply of capital that rose and fell with the price of sugar on the world market, leading to boom-and-bust cycles in the “Sugar Bowl”. However, it was the inability to control the weather, and the occasional freezes, floods, and hurricanes to which the “Sugar Bowl” was prone, which destroyed entire sugarcane crops and ultimately led to the abandonment of sugarcane cultivation in the “Sugar Bowl” by the 1920’s.
The purpose of this tour is to introduce you to some of the places, people, and stories involved in the sugar industry from the 1820’s through today and the role sugar production played in the establishment and development of the communities of Arcola, Missouri City, Stafford, and Sugar Land.
THE DEWHOUSE
The Dew House is one of the most intriguing and historic houses in Fort Bend County. Currently located in Kitty Hollow Park, it was moved from its original location along Highway 6 near the intersection of Oilfield Road in 2006 in order to save it from demolition. When it was built around 1900 the Dew House was reportedly one of the tallest structures on the Texas prairie. It is the oldest Missouri City structure. However, the story of the Dew House and the family that built it begins a little earlier.
In 1894, Dr. Hugh Saunders Dew of Lavaca County arrived in Fort Bend County with at least two of his brothers, Henry Wise Dew and George Lewis Dew. The next year they purchased about 1400 acres, then known as Belvidere Plantation, in the DeWalt area just south of Missouri City, from their maternal uncle, Hugh Saunders. The Dew brothers constructed the Dew House between 1899 and 1900. It was an L-shaped wood framed two-story farmhouse with chimneys on either side and covered porches on the first and second story across the front. In 1930, the house was renovated inside and out into a stately home in the Victorian and Greek Revival styles. Alterations included columns across the front, enclosing the upstairs porch and the addition of two rooms on the first floor, including a paneled bar with a brass rail and a slot machine.
Hugh, Henry and George formed the Dew Brothers Company at DeWalt and raised sugarcane, cotton, corn, and cattle. They soon erected their own sugar mill and cotton gin. In 1912, the Imperial Sugar Company laid tracks for the Sugar Land Railroad between Arcola and Sugar Land that ran through DeWalt. The Dew House, sugar mill and cotton gin sat close to the tracks, which allowed the Dew brothers to send their sugarcane to the Imperial Sugar Company refinery in Sugar Land. This turned out to be a profitable arrangement for both parties for a number of years.
Dr. Dew gave up his medical practice in 1902 and joined his brothers full-time in their various businesses across their now 500 acres. The Dew Brothers Company soon expanded beyond DeWalt. Their businesses included the Dew Brothers Syrup Company, Dew Brothers Rice Company, the Brazos Valley Farming Company and the Dew Brothers Mercantile that served the residents of DeWalt. Dew Brothers minted the coins that their workers used to purchase items in the Mercantile. They also became involved in the oil business after oil was discovered on their Blue Ridge property in 1919. Even though they abandoned sugarcane as unprofitable by 1922, the Dew Brothers’ other business interests continued to grow. By 1930, they had business holdings in seven Texas counties.
Dew family members were among the founding members of both DeWalt and Missouri City. They served as Justices of the Peace, Postmasters, school board members and were widely recognized for their business success. At his death in 1931, Dr. Hugh Saunders Dew was a well-known cattle rancher and his brothers carried on the tradition. In 1932, Dew Brothers sent a herd of cattle to the first Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo. Henry Wise Dew was vice president of the Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo in the 1930s and 1940s. Brother Frank Youngkin Dew was a director in the 1930s and actually helped underwrite Rodeo expenses in 1938. George Lewis Dew was a founding director of the Fort Bend County Fair and was called by one of his relatives “the brains of the Dew operation, who built the Dew empire”.
George Dew never married and continued to live at Dew House after Hugh and Henry moved away. Brother Frank and Stepmother Alice Miller Dew resided there for a few years. Sisters Ruth Dew Lalley and Jesse Dew Agnew also moved in. Ruth and Jesse remained for several years after George’s death and continued to oversee the DeWalt operations. Ruth Dew Lalley eventually sold a portion of Dew land that became the Quail Valley subdivision.
The Dew House was renowned for its parties. George Dew, with the assistance of his sisters Ruth and Jesse, entertained often. The food, prepared by local staff and served on silver platters and fine china, was reported to be the best in the area. Many Houston business leaders came to DeWalt in their buggies, and later their cars, to be wined and dined at the Dew House. George, Jesse and Ruth’s competitive bridge games included County notables like the Moores from Richmond and the Eldridges from Sugar Land. They also hosted Christmas parties with gifts for local children. Extended family returned to what they called “the Big House” for their significant events. Most celebrations included ringing the large bell in the barn.
Jesse Dew Agnew lived alone in the Dew House at the time of her death in 1968. However, even that event is steeped in a bit of mystery. Jesse’s body was discovered on the ground under her second story bedroom window, which further promoted claims that Dew House was haunted. Dr. Dew’s mother-in-law died there decades earlier and family funerals were held in Dew House through the 1940s. After the death of Jesse Dew Agnew, her niece, Muffie Moroney and her family, moved into the Dew House for a few years. Ms. Moroney recalled mirrors mysteriously being removed from walls, doors suddenly closing, and audible footsteps in the halls when no one was present.
After the Moroney family moved out, the Dew House began to deteriorate. In 2005, Ms. Moroney worked with preservationists and community leaders to prevent demolition of the house. Eventually, the house was literally cut into two pieces, moved to their current location and reassembled to its original 900 footprint. Unfortunately, the bar and slot machine did not make the trip.
Today the refurbished Dew House is the DeWalt Heritage Center, a joint project of Fort Bend County and the Fort Bend History Association. It contains numerous photos and artifacts of the Dew family and early 20 th Century DeWalt. Artifacts include everything from period antiques to saddles to the original post office to the large bell. It is open for docent-led tours on the second Sunday of every month from 1:00 to 3:30 pm. Admission is free. It also hosts various County functions during the year.
For more information about the Dew House, the Dew family, and DeWalt see the following oral histories:
For additional information, as well as some photographs of the Dew family and the Dew House see:
FREEDOM TREE
No story about the sugar industry, or agriculture in general in Texas, would be complete without the recognition that prior to emancipation, agriculture was largely dependent upon the forced labor of enslaved people. Although emancipation may have ended slavery as a means of labor, even a century later the struggle for equal rights under the law has continued. Freedom Tree Park is an historic and beautiful reminder that freedom is sweeter than any sugar ever produced. Freedom Tree Park is located along Misty Hollow Drive between Glenn Lakes and Lake Olympia Boulevards. On the west side of Misty Hollow, one can enjoy a view of the Historic Freedom Tree and reflect on the meaning of freedom and the story of this local treasure.
History
Freedom Tree
In 1860, Edward Palmer purchased 640 acres from David Bright, one of Stephen F. Austin’s “Old Three Hundred” and created the Palmer Plantation. He was also elected Judge of the 7th Judicial District of Texas. Judge Palmer and his wife and children lived in a beautiful columned house on Prairie Street in Houston, but he would come to his plantation on the banks of Oyster Creek as often as his busy schedule as a prominent judge allowed. The property he purchased was swampy and undeveloped and had to be drained and cleared before it would be suitable for crops or cattle. Judge Palmer set about to clear and drain his land, but he left standing a magnificent live oak tree which even then was over 100 years old. On visits to the Plantation from his home in Houston, Judge Palmer and his wife were known to stop their buggy beneath that old oak tree to plan for a more leisurely future as a plantation owner, once he retired from the law.
Judge Palmer was farming sugar, cotton and corn as well as raising cattle on his new property when the Civil War broke out. He was an ardent secessionist and slave owner and he supported Texas’ secession from the Union and its joining the Confederacy. In January of 1862 at the age of 37, Judge Palmer died. He was followed in death by his wife 3 years later. The Palmer Plantation was left to their 14-year-old daughter, Bettie Palmer. However, throughout the Civil War the Palmer Plantation, continued to be worked, crops planted and harvested, and cattle raised largely through the efforts of its enslaved work force.
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863; however, for the enslaved people of Fort Bend County, to the extent that they were even aware of its issuance, Lincoln’s announcement freeing the enslaved people in Texas and the other states that had seceded from the Union had little practical effect during the pendency of the war. That changed when General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865 and issued General Order #3, announcing an end to slavery in Texas. General Granger’s proclamation formed the basis for “Juneteenth” festivities, the national holiday which celebrates the end of slavery. On an early summer day in 1865, the white overseer of the Palmer Plantation and Ed Gibbs, who had been a leader of the enslaved people that lived and worked on the Palmer Plantation, gathered all the people from the Plantation together under the branches of the old live oak tree to explain that they were free. The overseer announced that planting and cultivation would continue and that the formerly enslaved workers could leave if they wished but were welcome to stay on the Palmer land to live and work as sharecroppers if they chose to do so. Some of the newly emancipated people left; others, like Mr. Gibbs, stayed. That was how slavery ended for the enslaved people of the Palmer Plantation, beneath the spreading boughs of “The Freedom Tree” which continues to stand, in this park, to this day.
So, what does this tree mean to us today? As Edward C. Hutchens, a relative of the Palmers, wrote many years after emancipation in his book, The Freedom Tree: A Chapter From The Saga of Texas: Standing on the edge of the bottomland and fronting the prairie to the east, this great and rugged old oak has seen more than a century go by…Beneath its boughs the slaves were freed on the Fort Bend County lands of the Palmer Plantation and another step was taken in the endless quest for freedom. As it has been the center of the heartbeat of the lands upon which it stands, so it has been a part of the people whose lives it has touched. Beneath it children played, and grew up and grew old and saw their children and grandchildren take their place. It has lent its sturdy grace to the passing of time and its strength to the flow of change, and if its branches weep mossy tears, its great limbs reach firmly outward and upward. It is, hopefully, not so much a symbol of the past, as a reflection of the future.
Freedom Tree Park is located at 4303 Freedom Tree Dr. in Missouri City, Texas. It is open from 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
STAFFORD’S POINT
William Stafford emigrated from Louisiana to Texas in 1822 as one of Stephen F. Austin's original "old 300". He established his plantation, called Stafford’s Point, on the land he was awarded by Austin in what is now Fort Bend County. In the census of 1826 Stafford was identified as a farmer. He is credited with having planted and harvested the first sugar in Fort Bend County. In 1834 he built the first permanent sugar mill in Texas. However, according to one of his neighbors, Stafford's sugar was not the refined sweetener we know today. As recounted by Mrs. Dilue Harris, a neighbor at the time:
"The sugar was as black as tar. It had to be carried in a bucket. Father went to Mr. Stafford's to see a sick negro, and mother gave him a bag to get sugar. He was going in his every-day clothes, but mother would have him put on his best suit, and when he got back he was holding the bag at arm's length, his clothing covered with molasses. Mother hung up the bag with a bucket underneath, and we then had sugar and molasses." Stafford had to flee Texas in 1835 after he killed a man named Moore. Because his wife feared that the Mexican government would outlaw slavery, she spent much of the next 2 years moving back and forth between Stafford's Point and Louisiana. On April 5, 1836, while the family was away, a detachment of the Mexican army, under the command of Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, stopped at Stafford's Point to rest. Before resuming their march towards Harrisburg and their subsequent defeat at the battle of San Jacinto, the Mexican force destroyed the plantation house and several of the outbuildings. In 1838 Stafford was granted executive clemency for the death of Moore and returned to Stafford's Point, where he continued to live until his death in 1840.
Freedom Tree Plaque
In 1853 the tracks of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, & Colorado Railroad, the first railroad in Texas, extended from Harrisburg to Stafford's Point. Its original purpose was to move sugar and cotton crops from the plantations along the Brazos bottom lands to the port at Harrisburg. Stafford's Point had its own post office from 1854 to 1869. It became known for a short period in 1869 as Staffordville", but later that year its post office was renamed "Stafford" and continued to be operated until 1918. The post office reopened in 1929.
By 1884 Stafford had 2 general stores, a grocer, and 50 residents. By 1896 its population had grown to 300 and included a doctor, 2 grocers, a lawyer, and also included a corn mill and gin, a hotel, and a saloon. The population of Stafford went through various changes, but by 1946 it had a population of 400. It incorporated as a city in 1956.
For more information see the following oral histories:
SUGAR LAND, THE IMPERIAL SUGAR COMPANY, AND THE SUGAR LAND HERITAGE MUSEUM
The Beginning
When he began making land grants to Texian settlers Stephen F. Austin reserved 5 leagues of land in the area that is now Sugar Land for himself. As empressario (the term Mexico applied to agents officially certified to recruit and settle immigrants in designated areas of Texas), Austin was entitled to land as compensation for his work.
Old Sugar Land Streets
Samuel M. Williams, member of a prosperous Baltimore merchant family, was Austin's chief administrative deputy. Real money was scarce in colonial Texas, so Austin compensated Williams by deeding him the league that eventually became the core of old Sugar Land. Today's Voss Road marked its approximate northern boundary. The Brazos River beyond University Boulevard was its southern boundary. Its total size was 4,428 acres of prime, fertile land.
The Williams Brothers
Samuel Williams lived and worked in Galveston after the revolution and had little interest in his league in Fort Bend County. He sold it in 1838 to his younger brothers, Nathaniel and Matthew Williams. Matthew took control of day-to-day operations and developed the acreage into a typical plantation of that era. They named it “Oakland”. Enslaved labor grew crops like corn, cotton, and sugarcane. The Williams brothers went a step further and built a sugar mill in 1843 on the spot where the Imperial Sugar refinery stood years later. They pressed the juice from the sugarcane, filtered and boiled the juice into crystalized raw sugar. The resulting product was a sweetener similar to dark brown sugar mixed with molasses. The Oakland Plantation flourished until Matthew died and Nathaniel was called back to Baltimore to run other family enterprises.
Aerial View 1940
The Kyle-Terry Partnership
William J. Kyle and Benjamin F. Terry began acquiring parcels of the Oakland Plantation in 1852 using funds they had amassed by constructing railbeds for the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado (BBB&C) Railroad (today's Union Pacific line that runs through Fort Bend County). By 853, they had acquired the entire S. M. Williams league, plus parcels of surrounding leagues. Kyle and Terry retained the name “Oakland” for their plantation, but named the central community (their homes, farm and ranch structures, the sugar mill, and nearby quarters for enslaved workers) 'Sugar Land.' They donated land to the BBB&C Railroad, so it's path curved northward to Sugar Land as it extended from Stafford to Richmond in 1853. This ensured convenient commercial transportation for Sugar Land into modern times. Kyle and Terry expanded and updated the Williams brothers' old sugar mill as their enterprise prospered.
Kyle and Terry were staunch secessionists. Terry raised a cavalry regiment and led them to Kentucky to fight for the Confederacy. He was killed in December 1861. Kyle was well-beyond combat age and died of natural causes at home in 1864. The Civil War ruined the families and their plantation, which became derelict.
Picking Up The Post-War Pieces
In 1868, a Texas merchant named Littleberry Ambrose Ellis began buying land in central Fort Bend County at rock-bottom prices. These parcels were generally located between today's Grand Parkway and the Sugar Land Regional Airport. By the late 1870s, Ellis had acquired a large portion of the old Alexander Hodge league (today's Telfair) and joined it with his other holdings to create a large plantation he named Sartartia after his eldest daughter. (Sartartia is a Choctaw word meaning 'pumpkin patch.')
At roughly the same time, a wealthy San Antonio cattleman named Edward H. Cunningham began acquiring parts of the Oakland Plantation from numerous heirs of the Kyle and Terry families. By 1882, Cunningham had acquired all the Oakland Plantation (including Sugar Land and the sugar mill) and added land from surrounding estates. Ellis and Cunningham formed a partnership and in 1883 they built an additional sugar mill, which they called Imperial. It was located behind the present day ChampionX Chemical Technologies. At roughly the same time, Ellis and Cunningham contracted with the State of Texas to operate a privatized prison farm for the Texas prison system. They were paid to operate the prison farm and were allowed to lease convicts as a supply of labor to other enterprises, as well as their own plantations. The system was extremely brutal and eventually prohibited by law in 1912. The Sugar Land 95 Exhibit & Cemetery, 12300 University Blvd. in Sugar Land, explores this topic in much greater detail.
In 1884, Ellis and Cunningham dissolved their partnership amicably. Ellis left his two sons, W. O. 'Will' Ellis and C. G. Ellis, to manage Sartartia, but the Ellis sons were very poor managers. Cunningham moved from San Antonio to Sugar Land and began a campaign of innovation that led to public acclaim as 'The Sugar King of Texas.' He recognized the business opportunity in refined sugar and built a modern refinery on the spot where the original Williams brothers' mill was located. However, bad luck, bad weather, and bad management doomed his plans too. Both Sartartia and the Cunningham Sugar Company were in severe financial straits in the early years of the 20th century and found their way into bankruptcy.
The Kempner-Eldridge Era Begins
Around 1904, I. H. Kempner, Sr. and William T. Eldridge, Sr. were separately looking for good investment opportunities along the Texas Gulf Coast. Mutual business acquaintances introduced Kempner and Eldridge and provided them positions on the receivership board established for Cunningham's bankrupt sugar company. In 1906, they formed Imperial Sugar Company and acquired the Cunningham Sugar Company and all its Sugar Land subsidiaries in 1908. The Cunningham property was in serious disrepair, even the relatively new refinery. Kempner and Eldridge believed Sugar Land could be turned around and converted into a successful business. They launched far-ranging programs to renovate the sugar operations and establish a livable town that would attract a stable and productive work force for year-round operations. Their skills and experience complemented each other: Kempner provided money and high-level direction and Eldridge provided hands-on management to ensure their goals were achieved.
Sugar Land, The Company Town
Milton R. Wood was a hold-over from the Cunningham Sugar Company. Chemist, engineer, sugar technologist, and a local Renaissance man, Wood guided the rehabilitation of the sugar operations. Eldridge hired William Brooks from the Texas prison system to oversee the expansive farming and ranching subsidiaries acquired from Cunningham. Gus Ulrich, a native of Schulenburg, completed the team. Ulrich was a 26-year old supervisor who had proven his managerial skills when the Kempner-Eldridge partnership renovated the old Sartartia plantation. His task was modernizing the abysmal living conditions in Sugar Land, including building new housing, grading streets, and planting trees and shrubs. The grand plan included churches, a hospital, schools, community facilities, and other amenities needed to attract and retain a stable work force. Kempner and Eldridge used state-wide media to recruit skilled workers, unskilled laborers, and tenant farmers of various backgrounds to work for them.
Downtown
The Sugar Land Independent School District was chartered in 1917. The new school opened in 1918. A hospital was opened in 1923. Sugar Land Industries was chartered in 1919 to run the non-sugar subsidiaries located in Sugar Land: farming and ranching operations, retail stores, a printing company, an acid plant, and even a Sealy Mattress Company franchise. Sugar Land was ready for the boom times of the 1920s.
Sugar Land was progressive within the limits of its times. It was a segregated community with separate and unequal housing for minorities and restrictions in hiring policies. On the other hand, it offered medical care for all employees and educational facilities for all children, even children of migrant workers who did not settle permanently. Although far from perfect, Sugar Land offered a remarkable level of security that appealed to residents of different races, ethnicities, and social status.
The Great Depression hit Sugar Land hard. Kempner and Eldridge did their best to moderate its effects. They reduced working hours across the entire work force to avoid laying anyone off. They gave employees credit on rents and store purchases. Eventually, they applied for federal assistance from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to stay afloat. They weathered the storm and paid back their loans in full and on time. William T. Eldridge, Sr.'s death in 1932 resulted in years of litigation and an eventual settlement leaving the Kempner family in full control of Sugar Land.
When the US entered World War 2, the federal government limited the number of sugar refiners, requiring non-qualifying companies to produce other products for the war effort. Imperial was initially left off the list of approved refiners, but the Kempners persuaded the government to allow Imperial to continue refining sugar. This proved to be a significant advantage for the company because it solidified Imperial's hold on the sugar market in Texas and neighboring states (excluding Louisiana).
After Eldridge's death, I. H. 'Herbert' Kempner, Jr. was groomed to assume the leadership of the Imperial sugar Company. With his father's (and family's) approval, he created a sweeping plan to move Imperial and Sugar Land into the post-war age. Top priority was renovation and expansion of the Imperial refinery, which had become run down due to deferred maintenance during the Depression and WWII. Herbert hired W. H. Louviere, Sr. to spearhead that effort.
Equally important, the plan called for a divestment of Sugar Land's non-Imperial assets, which meant winding down the company town and preparing it for municipal status. The first step, beginning in the early 1950s, was the creation of the Belknap Realty Company to sell land to outsiders for construction of private residences. Later in the decade, Imperial and Sugar Land Industries began selling housing to employees on terms remarkably advantageous to them. In the mid-1960s, the Kempners sold commercial enterprises (retail stores and restaurants), giving long-time managers the first right to purchase. The overall objective of this divestment was to leave the Kempner family with Imperial as the sole focal point of their business interest. The company town had become a relic of the past in a modern world.
Herbert's plan included a new hospital opened in 1957 and overtures to neighboring districts willing to consolidate and build new schools. In 1959 Missouri City Independent School District voted to consolidate with Sugar Land ISD to create Fort Bend ISD. In the fall, citizens of Sugar Land voted in favor of incorporation. In December, Sugar Land held its first election as a general law municipality and inaugurated its first elected officials shortly afterward.
Former company towns across the US provide ample evidence that the transition to incorporation is often difficult. Success is not necessarily guaranteed. Sugar Land was the fortunate beneficiary of Kempner family support and a well-prepared pathway to the thriving city it is today.
Sugar Land Heritage Museum and Visitor Center
The Sugar Land Heritage Museum and Visitor Center, operated by the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation, is located in the old Imperial Sugar Mill located at 198 Kempner. It contains numerous exhibits providing “a focused view of Sugar Land history and its heritage” with displays of artifacts and temporary exhibits covering the early history and subsequent development of Sugar Land, the people that call Sugar Land home, the Imperial Sugar Company, and the railroads that helped to make Sugar Land successful. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The Sugar Land Heritage Foundation also offers walking tours of Old Sugar Land on the second Saturday of each month starting at the Museum at 0:00 AM. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 – 18. Children under 12 are free.
For more information see the following oral histories:
Leon Anheiser (sugar processing): https://historicalcommission.fortbendcountytx.gov/Oral-Histories/Leon-Anhaiser-Imperial-Tour-Interview.pdf
Rosie & Clarence McLemore: https://historicalcommission.fortbendcountytx.gov/Oral-Histories/Lois-Clarence-McLemore-Interview.pdf
For a short video documentary about the development of Sugar Land see the following: https://vimeo.com/79611975
BULLHEAD CONVICT LABOR CAMP CEMETARY – “Sugar Land 95”
THE INITIAL DISCOVERY
On February 19, 2018, a contractor working at the construction site of the FBISD’s James C. Reese Career and Technical Center uncovered the first of what appeared to be human remains. A forensic analysis followed, determining that they were human bone fragments. Under the guidance of the Texas Historical Commission, an archeological firm led the exhumation.
What was unearthed during the study was shocking; however, it was not entirely without prediction. A former Texas prison guard and historian, Reginald Moore, had spent years arguing that leased convict laborers that worked at plantations in the Sugar Land area were buried in unmarked graves Through archival research, exhumation, and intensive laboratory study, the cemetery was found to be associated with the 19 th century Bullhead Convict Labor Camp.
After months of excavating, archaeologists discovered the remains of 95 people, presumably 94 men and 1 woman. It was concluded that these individuals were part of a state-sanctioned convict leasing system, which operated in Texas after the abolition of slavery until the turn of the 20th century. In response to community input, the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees decided to re-inter the remains of those found in their original resting places located on the site of the James Reese Center.
The discovery of the Sugar Land95 has taken Fort Bend ISD on an unprecedented journey of twists and turns, all in the name of honoring those found and shedding light on the hidden history of the place we call home.
Discovery site
CONVICT LEASING: A NEW FORM OF SLAVERY
Prior to the American Civil War, the main economic driver in the former Confederate States was largescale agriculture, which was heavily dependent on forced labor in the form of chattel slavery. With the emancipation of slaves and the death of more than 250,000 men of all ages because of war, a serious deficit of farm labor devastated the economy of the southern states. At the end of the war, the southern states slid into an economic downturn due to this lack of labor.
Ratified in 1865, the 13 th Amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery in the United States. However, the wording of the amendment explicitly excepts criminal punishment from its prohibition against involuntary servitude.
In no time lawmakers across the old south began passing laws to continue their pre-war practice of using convict labor — a new form of slavery. Convict labor was used to rebuild the southern economy. Their free labor was instrumental to the success of many industries, as they were used to mine coal, build railroads, mill lumber, as well as farm on cotton and sugar plantations. Convict labor was even used to quarry the granite used to build the Texas State Capitol. The demand for convict labor grew as profits increased, thereby leading to the increased arrest of Black people. It was not uncommon for Black men to be arrested for minor crimes, given overinflated sentences, or even convicted based on false charges.
Vagrancy statutes — laws that penalized individuals who were unemployed or homeless — brought about the increased incarceration of newly freed Black people. These laws perpetuated the convict leasing system and set the stage for the discriminatory Jim Crow laws that governed America throughout the mid-20th century.
CONVICT LEASING IN TEXAS
The convict leasing system in Texas got it’s earliest start in 1867 but officially began with the issuance of private leases in 1871. This system would last until 1912. During the period of convict leasing, typically, Anglo convicts were sent to the wood-cutting camps of East Texas and Hispanic convicts were sent to work on the railroad. Black convicts were sent to cultivate crops — primarily cotton and sugarcane — often performing the same type of labor to which they were subjected as enslaved persons only six years prior.
LABOR CAMPS IN SUGAR LAND, TX
The peak of the convict leasing system occurred under the operation of two partners, Edward H. Cunningham and Littleberry A. Ellis. From 1878 – 1883 these men made a fortune in lease payments, much of which they put into the acquisition of more land, including much of Fort Bend County. Cunningham, a resident of Bexar County, began acquiring land in Fort Bend County, Texas that would eventually total 12,500 acres. Ellis, previously owing land in Brazoria County, purchased active labor camps and agricultural fields in Fort Bend County. Eventually, Ellis owned 5300 acres, which he named Sartartia Plantation after his daughter. Using the labor of convicts, Cunningham and Ellis were able to create one of the largest sugar plantations in the country following the Civil War.
Together, by 1880, Ellis’ Sartartia Plantation and Cunningham’s Sugar Land Plantation utilized 365 convicts, while leasing out hundreds more to local plantations in need of low-cost labor. Although they were only about 30 percent of the Texas population, Black people made up 50 to 0 percent of the prison population during the convict leasing period from 1871 to 1911.
The prison camps established by these men did not cease operation when their lease of Huntsville Penitentiary ended in 1883. Prison labor continued on newly minted state prison farms including the Harlem State Farm, the Central State Farm, and the Imperial State Farm, to name a few. Today, relics of this horrific system still can be seen today throughout Fort Bend County – including that of the newly discovered Bullhead Camp Labor Force Cemetery.
BULLHEAD CAMP & CEMETERY
The Bullhead Camp and Bullhead Convict Labor Camp Cemetery were situated on the land once known as Sartartia Plantation, which was owned and operated by L.A. Ellis and his family. Named after its position along the Bullhead Bayou Creek, the labor force that lived and worked at this site operated under six different names.
Between 1880 and 1910, the inmate population at the Bullhead Camp ranged between 57 and 387. Results of analysis has determined the 95 individuals found at the Bullhead Camp Cemetery were of African American descent.
Based on extensive research and analysis the following conclusions can be drawn. The median age of death among the identified convicts was 24. The youngest fatality was William Nash at 16, serving four years for theft. He died of “brain congestion,” possibly from a traumatic brain injury. The most common causes of death were congestion of the brain/bowels/organs, gunshot following attempted escape, pneumonia and sun stroke. This likely indicated very poor living and working conditions on the labor camp. The median sentence length was five years. Yet, more than half of these Bullhead convicts died within a year of their arrival at the camp; 78% died within two years. The brutal conditions reflected by these statistics earned the fields around Sugar Land the nickname “Hell Hole on the Brazos” among the prisoners assigned to those places.
FINAL REPORT OF FINDINGS
After 2 and a half long years, of excavation, analysis, and in-depth research, the official report of findings was finalized and published in August 2020. The full report “Back to Bondage: Forced Labor in Post Reconstruction Era Texas”, provides a comprehensive account of the history of convict leasing, the operation of the Bullhead Camp Labor Camp under the ownership of Cunningham and Ellis, as well a complete roster of individuals determined to have labored and died while serving in the labor force. In addition to the historical context, the report also provides extensive research and findings related to the conditions of the remains, providing insight into the lives of these men and what they endured as convict laborers, and how they ultimately perished in the hands of the convict lease system.
To access the full report and an executive summary to the report, please visit www.fortbendisd.com/sugarland95
THE SUGAR LAND 95
The work to properly memorialize the Sugar Land 95 is underway. There is still much to be done in order to honor their lives and legacies, and to educate our community about their contributions to the history of our county, state, and nation.
In 2022, FBISD opened the Sugar Land 95 Exhibit within the James Reese Career and Technical Center, located at 12300 University Blvd., Sugar Land, Texas.
The exhibit will serve as a permanent memorial to continue educating students and the community about the Bullhead Camp discovery at the site. Exhibit tours are available at selected time each week and by appointment. For more information, please visit www.fortbendisd.com/sl95exhibit .
Also in 2022, the cemetery received historic cemetery designation by the Texas Historical Commission as well as an awarded “Under Told Histories in Texas” historical marker. The historical marker will be a special feature in the future outdoor learning area and memorial cemetery.
