In 1824, a group of Americans came to Texas to live on land that was granted to Stephen F. Austin by the Mexican government. These people were later known as the "Old Three Hundred." Among them were Churchill Fulshear, his wife, Betsy, his daughter, Mary, three sons, Benjamin, Graves and Churchill Jr., and one servant. The family settled on a site of land in present northern Fort Bend County. Their plantation was used as headquarters for part of the Texas Army during the Texas Revolution. Santa Anna's army is believed to have crossed the Brazos River near the Fulshear Plantation on April 14, 1836 on the way to San Jacinto.

In 1830, Churchill Jr. married Minerva Cartwright and they had five children. By 1850, he had become the owner of a large plantation by inheritance and purchase from the heirs of his father, sister and brothers who had all died. At one time he was said to be one of the largest landowners in Texas. He raised cotton, corn, livestock and other crops.

Around 1850, Fulshear's slaves were put to work making bricks for a house. Many of these bricks had the imprint of an oak leaf on them. The house, known as Lake Hill, was built on one of the highest points of his land. The mansion had three stories and a ground floor basement where the kitchen was located.

Churchill Fulshear Jr. was interested in horses and horseracing. His stables were also on the ground floor of his home. The famous racehorse Get-A-Way, known as "Old Get" by the local people, was bred by Fulshear and competed on numerous tracks throughout the United States and Europe. Between 1850 and 1870, Fulshear operated a racecourse on his plantation that was called Churchill Downs. It is believed that it was located on land that is now in the northern part of the City of Fulshear. Old timers have said that Fulshear often returned from the racetrack with his buggy loaded with sacks of gold coins.

In 1888, Churchill Fulshear Jr. gave the right-of-way for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad to pass through his land after it had been refused a right-of-way through Pittsville, a community once between present day Fulshear and Brookshire. This led to the downfall of Pittsville.

In 1890, the Town of Fulshear was laid out and named for Churchill Fulshear Jr. Many families from the surrounding farms began to move to the new town. Fulshear became a thriving center of commerce for the people living in and around the area. The peak of population for Fulshear was between 1900 and 1920. During this time there were general stores, a depot, a grist mill, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, ice house, barber shop, livery stable, post office, hotel and boarding house, drug store, doctor's office, undertaker's supply store, three churches, two schools, millinery shop and a local telephone system in Fulshear. The main streets were always crowded on Saturdays. Sometimes too crowded to walk when the hands from the surrounding farms were paid and came to town. There was often violence in the streets with many shootings. Women and children did not go to town on those days, because of the results of the sales at the local saloons. It has been said there were as many as six to seventeen saloons in Fulshear at one time. Cattle, cotton, sugar cane, corn, rice and pecans have been the main crops in the area.

In 1910, a fire started in a saloon and burned an entire block of businesses including the doctor's office, drug store, coffin house, post office, barbershop, grocery and dry goods store. By 1911, the stores were rebuilt and Fulshear had a skyline. Brick buildings, some two stories, lined the streets at the corner of Railroad and Main Streets. Over the years, these were vacated and most were torn down. One Fulshear Plaza was the last to remain of that busy corner.

Names familiar in the community were Wilson, Walker, Huggins, Harris, Briscoe, Wade, Avis, Miller, James, Dozier, Manaker, Field, Camp, McJunkin, Mayes, Solomon, Branch, Banks, Randle, Sims, Green, Hoffman, Belew, Nesbitt, Fleming, Quinn, Boone, Grady, Dixon, Sutherland, Mayblum, Anderson, Hicks, Gates, Meyers, Sass, Hughes, Henderson, Clark, Davis, Frazier, Robinson, Brown, Hall, McGar, and Simonton. Descendents of many of these families continue to reside in Fulshear.

Churchill Fulshear Jr. died in 1892. No other descendents lived in the town named after him. The large brick mansion was torn down in the early 1930's. Today, only a small family burial ground remains of the Fulshear family's vast holdings.

World War I, the Depression and a changed lifestyle caused people to leave Fulshear and by 1940 the population had decreased to two hundred and eighty-seven with only five businesses. The community of Fulshear did their share toward the war effort in World War II. Not only did men and women from Fulshear contribute to the armed forces and the war industries, but an airplane lookout station was also manned daily on the roof of one of the brick buildings.

With the trend to get away from city life, Fulshear's population began to grow again. The 1977 census numbered over four hundred when Fulshear incorporated as the Village of Fulshear.
 

< Back