Fulshear

History

The history of Fulshear is closely intertwined with the historical events leading up to Texas Independence and eventual statehood within the United States of America. The small agricultural community traces its origins to the arrival of Churchill Fulshear, one of Stephen F. Austin's original Old Three Hundred. He moved from Tennessee to Texas in the summer of 1824 with his wife, Betsy Summers, daughter, Mary, and three sons, Benjamin, Graves, and [https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffu07 Churchill Fulshear, Jr]. As a man with considerable wealth and property, Churchill Fulshear Sr. obtained on July 16, 1824, a land grant from the Mexican government and Stephen F. Austin that allowed him and his family to settle in Austin's colony. He established a slave plantation that raised cotton, corn, rice, pecans and livestock. Churchill Fulshear Sr. died on January 18, 1831, with the plantation ownership passed onto his youngest son, Churchill Fulshear Jr., According to one account, the Texan army trying to prevent Santa Anna and the Mexican army from crossing the Brazos River camped on the Fulshear plantation. They retreated when they learned that:1,500 Mexican soldiers had crossed nearby at Thompson's Ferry, they, too, had to retreat. Randolph Foster was one of the Old 300 settlers whose plantation was in the John Foster grant that lay between what is now FM 359 and FM 723 just south of Fulshear. He was a member of Martin's Company and, from William Harris Wharton's account, we ascertain that the Company "camped on the night of the 11th at Churchill Fulshear's." Churchill Fulshear's plantation lay on the north side of the Brazos River in what is now Fulshear township. In the years after Texas Independence, Churchill Jr. expanded the plantation and commercial…

Geography

Fulshear is located in northwestern Fort Bend County at (29.6899563, -95.8996757), 60 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico. It is located at the intersection of FM 359 and FM 1093. Downtown Houston is to the east, and Wallis is to the west. Interstate 10 at Brookshire is to the north. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Fulshear has an extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) of . Sediments deposited over time by the Brazos River have created rich soil, enabling many native trees to grow in the area, including oak, cottonwood, ash, and pecan. The growing season is very long (296 days) thanks to the county's geographical proximity to the Gulf Coast, and temperatures are mild year-round. April, October and November are the most pleasant months in Fulshear; July and August are the least comfortable.

Race & ethnicity