City Tour of Rosenberg


1800's Rosenberg is within the limits of the Mexican land grant to Stephen F. Austin, and was an unnamed shipping point on the Brazos River in the 1830s. By 1865, Houston was the leading railroad center in Texas, and most of Galveston's (a city approximately 60 miles from Rosenberg) business went through that city. However, train traffic in and out of Galveston was sometimes blocked to quarantine goods suspected of spreading yellow fever. Henry von Rosenberg migrated from Switzerland to the United States in 1843. His early ancestors were from Bohemia. He was born June 22, 1824 and died May 12, 1893. He was a very wealthy man dealing in railroading, banking and wharfs. Mr. Rosenberg was the first president of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad. He settled in Galveston, Texas. He was a very generous man and, since he had no children, he left his wealth to many charitable organizations. Additional information on Henry Von Rosenberg can be obtained from the Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas, 77550, as the library was named after Mr. Rosenberg.

In 1873, a Galveston group led by Henry von Rosenberg, the Sealy brothers and others, made plans to build the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad in order to circumvent the Houston route. It was intended that the railroad extend all the way to Temple, Texas. The law required all railroads to come "within a mile of the courthouse" of the county involved, the G.C. & S.F. planned to pay the new railroad a cash bonus or to grant a right-of-way, for they already had the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio lines. The G.C. & S.F. line, therefore, turned south around Richmond, crossing the existing G.H. & S.A. at Rosenberg Junction (named after Mr. Rosenberg) in 1880. A depot was built and the junction soon grew into a town with many businesses, including Mrs. Ebell's Hotel & Boarding House. Most people, though, lived in tents.

In 1881, Count Joseph Telfener, an Italian, moved to Rosenberg to begin work on the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway, leading to Victoria. It was soon known as the "Macaroni Line" because of the Italians who laid the tracks. In 1884, the Wells Fargo Company opened an office, and railroad shipments were expanded to include everything from crates of chickens to huge amounts of gold bullion and silver, all guarded by Mr. Taylor Ray, the freight agent. In 1882, the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railroad, began the "Macaroni Line" making Rosenberg the junction of the Santa Fe, Southern Pacific & Southern Pacific's Victoria Division Railroads. The town boomed, with nearby ranches and plantations sending cattle and cotton for shipments daily. The first Mayor did not complete his term because he moved from Rosenberg and R.T. Mulcahy filled his unexpired term. Mayor Mulcahy was elected twice afterwards and also served as alderman. Mayor Mulcahy was called the "Father of Rosenberg". A historical marker located on the north side of Fort Bend Federal Savings & Loan Association documents this fact. He located in Rosenberg in 1883 and gave ground and built one of the first homes. He gave land for the first school and was instrumental in building the first school which was paid for by private subscriptions which he solicited and gave the first donation.

In 1889, Mr. Mulcahy and others subscribed $126 to build the first school. Mr. Mulcahy contributed $50, but then eight of the nine children to be enrolled would be his own. He was on the school board for 20 years and the first school board president. He was very interested in seeing that children of the pioneer families received a good education. Mayor Mulcahy was later elected as Representative of Legislature for the 25th District. Mr. Mulcahy gave the first portion of the Woodmen of the World Cemetery. By the turn of the century, local land developers were sending promotional literature to the northern and midwestern states, explaining that "the famous Brazos Valley...has the most fertile land in America," and showing pictures of green spaces, fruit orchards, wagons of cotton waiting to be ginned and Victorian homes, all intended to entice more settlers to the area. Soon there were people of German, Czech, Polish and Mexican ancestry. There was even a section called "Indiana Town", after the carpenters and craftsmen who came from Indiana with new construction techniques intended to withstand hurricane-force winds.

Early plats show the business section located north of the railroad, with stores centered about a public square. But the Brazos River, always subject to flooding, was only five blocks north of the railroad and, as the floods reoccurred, the town moved southward. 1900's In 1905, the Brazos Brick and Drain Tile Works was established by George W. Songer. Most of its production was shipped to Houston by rail, and was used to construct that city's "skyscrapers." By the first decade of the twentieth century, the commercial district centered about Main Street (now Third). The first two-story buildings were the J.H.P. Davis Bank (Reese Building), the Gray & Sons Building, the Cochran Brokers Building and Erp Building (Vogelsang Buildings). By 1912 there were 56 businesses, including banks, real estate firms, loan and land development companies, merchants, doctors and lawyers. In 1919 Mr. Dittman built the Liberty Theatre (Cole Theater) on Third between Avenue H and Avenue G, and hired Mart Cole, Sr. to operate it. By 1927, the Robinowitz brothers, who had come from Russia one by one and first operated a series of horse-drawn peddler's carts, had built themselves the city's first department store on the corner of Third and Avenue H. Law and order came in 1902, when the city incorporated and passed 70 articles entitled, "Criminal Offenses."

The Volunteer Fire Department dates back to 1914, when the city bought a two-wheel hand-drawn hose reel with 500 feet of hose---which had to be pulled by 10 or 12 men. In 1902, the first telephone was installed, probably in the Cumings Drug Store (Frank's Pharmacy). The Fort Bend Telephone Company was started in 1914. The Rosenberg Progress was established in 1893, and was purchased by George Lang in 1895 and called the Silver X-Ray. In 1901, George Vinson established The Rosenberg News, later to become the Rosenberg Herald, located on Second Street between Avenues G and H. This paper was published by various owners and eventually merged with the Herald Coaster in 1967. There were cotton gins in Rosenberg shortly after it became a town and by 1905, N.P. Teague's Mill and Elevator Company were operating north of the tracks on Third Street. By 1908, the Farmer's Gin was operating with a steam boiler to run the equipment. Oil and sulphur were discovered in the area in 1901.

Attention soon turned from cotton and ranching to oil and sulphur, where deposits were found at Boling, Damon's Mound, Big Creek, Long Point and Orchard. In 1930 Main Street (Third) was paved. The Wiedner Ford Company, the Hillyer Baker Chevrolet Company, Calloway Autos and the Lane Motor Company came to town, and Rude and Lane built the first drive-thru filling station at the corner of Avenue H and Second Street (Joe's Auto). By 1942, 15 miles of concrete sidewalks were laid. By 1940, Fred Blase's Drive-In and Leonard's Drive-In appeared, with waitresses on horseback at Leonard's. In the same year, pavement at the east side of town (which had lain useless for 10 years) was extended to Richmond. Business picked up, and Rosenberg soon became known as the "Hub of the Gulf Coast." In 1947, Senate candidate Lyndon B. Johnson landed, by helicopter, on the roof of Leonard Penkert's Store and Garage, and Mart Cole, Sr., Wendell Shannon, D.I. Lowem, Gus Kunkel, Walter Shult and Julius Junker established radio station KFRD. By 1951, John Wayne, Jeff Chandler, Keenan Wynn and Gayle Storm had appeared at the Cole Theatre to promote "Movie Time in Texas." In 1959 Fidel Castro passed through on a motorcade en route to a Hungerford ranch, where he was to receive a horse. By 1960, the city's population was 9,698 and by 1970, 12,098. By 1980, there were 17,995 people and new shopping centers were springing up all over the city. Rosenberg's present population is 26,442.


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