Beasley
Beasley, Fort Bend County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded 1894 by Cecil A. Beasley (1862 - 1908), on the Texas & New Orleans Railroad. First called "Dyer" for Isabel Dyer (1871 - 1933), whom Beasley later married. Post office opened as "Beasley," May 13, 1898. The town boomed in 1910, as Stern & Stern Land Co. of Kansas City promoted land sales through a town lot auction. Many new settlers were German and Czech families from Washington County. Soon Beasley had 3 general stores, 2 cotton gins, a 3-story hotel, an ice-house, a public school, and 7 churches. Beasley was incorporated in 1970 and continues to serve as a marketing center for the area.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Beasley grew up along the Texas & New Orleans Railroad in the 1890s, first named for Isabel Dyer before taking its founder's name when the post office opened in 1898. A 1910 land-auction boom drew German and Czech families from Washington County, and the town quickly gained stores, cotton gins, a hotel, and churches. It incorporated in 1970 and still anchors the surrounding farm country.
Why it matters
Beasley shows how railroads and speculative land promotion conjured whole towns across turn-of-the-century Texas, peopled by the immigrant farm families who built the state's agricultural economy.
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Related people
- · Cecil A. Beasley
- · Isabel Dyer
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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