Manvel

Manvel is at the intersection of State highways 6 and 288 and Farm Road 1128, in northern Brazoria County. It was originally named Pomona; however, because there was already a town in West Texas called Pomona or Pamona, the name was changed to Manvel, after a man who became president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The first group of settlers in the region was the family of W. R. Booth. They settled on Chocolate Bayou in July 1857. In 1877 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway built through the area on its way from Galveston to Arcola. A townsite was formed in 1890 at the railroad crossing, and businesses began to be established there. In 1892 the community had a post office and by 1895 a population of 350, a grocer, a general store, a real estate agent, a physician, and two telegraph and express agents. Snow in 1895, a tornado in 1899, and a storm in 1900 destroyed local orchards and crops. Read more at TSHA