Brazoria County, Texas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Brazoria County
U.S. county
The Brazoria County Courthouse in Angleton
Seal
Location within the U.S. state of Texas
Texas's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Texas
Founded	1836
Named for	Brazos River
Seat	Angleton
Largest city	Pearland
Area
• Total	1,609 sq mi (4,170 km2)
• Land	1,358 sq mi (3,520 km2)
• Water	251 sq mi (650 km2)  16%%
Population  (2020)
• Total	372,031
• Density	272.9/sq mi (105.4/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional districts	9th, 14th, 22nd

Brazoria County (/brəˈzɔːriə/ BRƏ-zor-EE-ə) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 372,031. The county seat is Angleton.

Brazoria County is included in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. It is located in the Gulf Coast region of Texas.

Regionally, parts of the county are within the extreme southernmost fringe of the regions locally known as Southeast Texas. Brazoria County is among a number of counties that are part of the region known as the Texas Coastal Bend. Its county seat is Angleton, and its largest city is Pearland. Brazoria County, like Brazos County farther upriver, takes its name from the Brazos River. It served as the first settlement area for Anglo-Texas, when the Old Three Hundred emigrated from the United States in 1821. The county also includes what was once Columbia and Velasco, Texas, early capital cities of the Republic of Texas. The highest point in Brazoria County is Shelton's Shack, located near the Dow Chemical Plant B Truck Control Center, measuring 342 ft above sea level.

History

Brazoria County takes its name from the Brazos River, which flows through it. Anglo-Texas began in Brazoria County when the first of Stephen F. Austin's authorized 300 American settlers arrived at the mouth of the Brazos in 1821. Many of the events leading to the Texas Revolution developed in Brazoria County. In 1832, Brazoria was organized as a separate municipal district by the Mexican government, so became one of Texas original counties at independence in 1836.

An early resident of Brazoria County, Joel Walter Robison, fought in the Texas Revolution and later represented Fayette County in the Texas House of Representatives.

Stephen F. Austin's original burial place is located at a church cemetery, Gulf Prairie Cemetery, in the town of Jones Creek, on what was his brother-in-law's Peach Point Plantation. His remains were exhumed in 1910 and brought to be reinterred at the state capital in Austin. The town of West Columbia served as the first capital of Texas, dating back to prerevolutionary days.

Group of men at work in Brazoria County, 1939

The Hastings Oil Field was discovered by the Stanolind Oil and Gas Company in 1934. Production was from a depth of 5,990 feet (1,830 m), associated with a salt dome structure. Total production by 1954 was about 242 million barrels.

Lake Jackson is a community developed beginning in the early 1940s to provide housing to workers at a new Dow Chemical Company plant in nearby Freeport. The county has elements of both rural and suburban communities, as it is part of greater Houston.

Back view of agricultural trucks, 1939

On June 2, 2016, the flooding of the Brazos River required evacuations for portions of Brazoria County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,609 square miles (4,170 km²), of which 1,358 square miles (3,520 km²) are land and 251 square miles (650 km²) (16%) are covered by water.

Adjacent counties

• Harris County (north)
• Galveston County (northeast)
• Gulf of Mexico (southeast)
• Matagorda County (southwest)
• Wharton County (west)
• Fort Bend County (northwest)

National protected areas

• Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge
• San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Communities

Cities

Towns

• Holiday Lakes
• Quintana

Villages

• Bailey's Prairie
• Bonney
• Hillcrest
• Jones Creek

Census-designated places

• Damon
• East Columbia
• Rosharon
• Ryan Acres
• Wild Peach Village

Unincorporated communities

Ghost towns

• Hasima
• Hastings
• Lake Barbara
• Mims
• Oakland
• Perry's Landing
• Velasco

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, 241,767 people, 81,954 households, and 63,104 families resided in the county. The population density was 174 people per square mile (67 people/km²). The 90,628 housing units averaged 65 units per square mile (25 units/km²). According to the 2010 United States census, 313,166 people were living in the county; by 2020, its population grew to 372,031.

Of the 81,955 households in 2000, 40.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.20% were married couples living together, 10.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.00% were not families. About 19.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82, and the average family size was 3.23.

In the county, the age distribution as 28.60% under 18, 8.60% from 18 to 24, 32.40% from 25 to 44, 21.50% from 45 to 64, and 8.80% who were 65 or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 107 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.4 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $48,632, and for a family was $55,282. Males had a median income of $42,193 versus $27,728 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,021. About 8.1% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.6% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over.

Race and ethnicity

In the late 1800s the county was majority black as many were former slaves who had worked on plantations in the county. In 1882 it had 8,219 black people and 3,642 white people. However, after Jim Crow laws were cemented, many African-Americans moved to Houston and the county became majority white. By 2022, due to the growth of ethnic minorities in Pearland, non-Hispanic white people were now a plurality and not a majority in the county as a whole.

Note: the U.S. Census Bureau treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.

In 2000, the racial makeup of the county was 77.09% White, 8.50% Black or African American, 0.53% Native American, 2.00% Asian, 9.66% from other races, and 2.22% from two or more races. About 22.78% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. About 12.1% were of German, 11.2% American, and 7.2% English ancestry according to 2000's census; about 79.0% spoke only English at home, while 18.1% spoke Spanish. By 2010, 70.1% were White, 12.1% African American, 5.5% Asian, 0.6% Native American, 9.2% of some other race, and 2.6% of more than one race; about 27.7% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

Education

A variety of school districts serve Brazoria County students. They include:

• Alvin ISD
• Angleton ISD
• Brazosport ISD
• Columbia-Brazoria ISD
• Danbury ISD
• Damon ISD
• Friendswood ISD
• Pearland ISD
• Sweeny ISD

Alvin Community College and Brazosport College serve as higher education facilities. Alvin CC serves areas in Alvin, Danbury, and Pearland ISDs as well as portions of the Angleton ISD that Alvin CC had annexed prior to September 1, 1995. Brazosport College serves the remainder of Angleton ISD and the Brazosport, Columbia-Brazoria, Damon, and Sweeny ISD areas.

The Brazoria County Library System has branches in Alvin, Angleton, Brazoria, Clute, Danbury, Freeport, Lake Jackson, Manvel, Pearland, Sweeny and West Columbia, and runs the Brazoria County Historical Museum.

Transportation

Major highways

• State Highway 6
• State Highway 35
• State Highway 36

• State Highway 288
• State Highway 332

Airports

The Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport, in central unincorporated Brazoria County, is the county's sole publicly owned airport.

The following airports, located in the county, are privately owned and for public use:

• Flyin' B Airport in western unincorporated Brazoria County
• Skyway Manor Airport in Pearland
• Pearland Regional Airport in eastern unincorporated Brazoria County south of the Pearland city limits

The closest airport with regularly scheduled commercial service is Houston's William P. Hobby Airport, located in southern Houston in adjacent Harris County. The Houston Airport System has stated that Brazoria County is within the primary service area of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, an international airport in Houston in Harris County.

Toll roads

The Brazoria County Toll Road Authority operates toll lanes on TX 288 inside Brazoria County. They connect to the SH 288 Express Toll Lanes in Harris County operated by the Texas Department of Transportation.

History

BCTRA came into existence in December 2003 when it saw that the Houston area needed more roadways and wanted to have a say so about any roads that come into Brazoria County.

Roadway system

The only toll road BCTRA has in operation at this time is the Brazoria County Expressway. Located within the media of SH 288, the expressway begins at County Road 58 in Manvel and is maintained by BCTRA for five miles up to the Harris County line at Clear Creek. The 288 Toll Lanes continue into Harris County (maintained by TxDOT) for ten miles up to I-69/US 59 in Houston. Construction began on the Brazoria County Expressway in late 2016 and was completed on November 16, 2020. Tolls are collected electronically and an EZ Tag, TxTag or TollTag is required for passage.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Brazoria para niños