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KATY,
TEXASAt the juncture
of Harris, Waller, and Fort Bend county lines
Texas Gulf Coast
Interstate
10 and Highway 90
25 miles W of Houston
Population 11775(2000) 8,005 (1990) Visiting
Katy? Book Your Hotel Here & Save > Katy
Hotels |
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One of Katy's several grain elevators
TE Photo, 2003 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Named after the Katy (Missouri, Kansas and Texas)
Railroad, or according to other sources, the wife of a local saloonkeeper,
the town had first been called Cane Island.
Before 1890 the local
depot was operated by the Texas Western Railroad, a narrow-gauge line running
west to Pattison, Texas. The depot was a mile south of the platted town site of
Katy.
The Katy Railroad built through in 1893, but it wasn't until
1895 when the first railroad agent took up duties. The depot was finished three
years later. The Texas Western was abandoned. |
| | Another
of Katy's several grain elevators
TE Photo, 2003 |
Katy had
five one-room schools encircling the town until 1919 when the Katy ISD was formed.
The Katy post office opened in 1896 and rice farming was introduced in 1901.
It quickly replaced peanuts and corn and slowly replaced cotton.
The farming community supported several businesses: a drug store opened in
1904 when the town had 119 people. Katy soon had hotels, saloons, lumberyards,
a meat market, two livery stables and a rice and peanut warehouse.
A
gas field was drilled in 1934 leading to a doubling of Katy's population. From
1925 to 1942 the population was reported at 400, rising to 800 in 1943.
Visiting Katy? Book Your Hotel Here & Save >
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