Listen Live
My Baltimore Spirit Listen Live
Spirit 1400 Featured Video
CLOSE

Houston (HoustonChronicle)– An area in Texas City that 143 years ago was settled by former slaves now is on the list as one of the recognized historical places in the nation.

The 1867 Settlement, located in what is now West Texas City, earned the listing on the National Register of Historic Places in May, but descendants of the first settlers are preparing to celebrate next summer when the city marks its 100th birthday.

The settlement was founded in large part by black cowboys, who were part of the Chisom Trail cattle drives, on 320 acres that was divided into three-acre tracts for recently freed slaves who could supply “testimonies of good standing and industrious habit,” according to the settlement’s history documents prepared by the Galveston County Historical Commission. For more than a 100 years, it thrived as a self-sufficient African-American community and included general stores and churches, as well as small farms and houses of the settlers.

Read more at HoustonChronicle

Share this post on Facebook! CLICK HERE: http://widgets.fbshare.me/files/fbshare.js