Galena Park

Galena Park is in a highly industrialized area near the Houston Ship Channel in eastern Harris County. The site was settled by Ezekiel Thomas , who received it as part of a grant from the Mexican government and moved there with his family in 1824. When Thomas died in 1835 the land was sold to Isaac Batterson, who built a small settlement on Buffalo Bayou and named it Clinton. During its early years Clinton was a farming and ranching community, but the development of the port of Houston after 1876 changed the character of the settlement. Clinton resident Charles Morgan qv , owner of the Morgan Steam Ship Company, dredged Buffalo Bayou and excavated a canal opposite Morgan's Point to open a channel for the port. He also built a cotton compress and constructed a railroad from the main line in Houston to a location opposite Buffalo and Sims bayous. Clinton continued to be the terminus for much of the bayou shipping until a turning basin was constructed in later years. By the early 1880s cotton warehouses and compresses were located along the bayou and railroad, and Clinton prospered in its new role as a railroad and shipping center.