| |
OTEY,
TEXAS"A Gated
Community"
Brazoria County, Texas Gulf Coast
FM 655
12 miles NW
of Angleton
Population:
318 |
History in a Pecan
Shell
Originally the site of Palo Alto, one of the largest antebellum
cotton plantations in Texas, it was just one of the holdings of the Mills Brothers
(Robert and David G.). Mills bankrupted during Reconstruction, the brothers lost
the land to creditors and in 1908 the state bought it and other plantations to
build the Ramsey Prison Farm.
In 1911 a post office was granted but the
origin of the name is a mystery. In 1914 the population was given as 700 and the
Ramsey Farm reported 624 inmates.
The population declined to a mere 150
in 1958 and mail was rerouted through the Rosharon post office in the 1970s.
Otey today is actually surrounded by the sprawling 15,040-acres of what is now
called the Ramsey Unit of the TDC and visitors have to pass through prison roadblocks
to enter the town. It sits at the end of the FM 655 cul-de-sac. |
| |
