Kendleton
Kendleton, Fort Bend County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The site on which Kendleton now stands was originally a Mexican land grant to settler Elizabeth Powell, whose house was an early-day stage stop. During the Texas Revolution, in 1836, Santa Anna's Mexican Army camped near here. Later the settlements of Oak Hill and Humbolt existed briefly. Kendleton began during Civil War reconstruction when Wm. E. Kendall sold land, for as little as 50 cents an acre, to assist freed Negroes in starting their own farms. The rural village was named in his honor when the railroad came through, 1884.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This Fort Bend County ground carries layers of Texas history: a Mexican land grant to settler Elizabeth Powell, whose home served as a frontier stage stop, and a spot where Santa Anna's army camped during the 1836 Texas Revolution. The community that endures here, though, was born of Reconstruction, when William E. Kendall sold parcels for as little as fifty cents an acre to help formerly enslaved people establish their own farms. When the railroad arrived in 1884, the freedmen's village took Kendall's name.
Why it matters
Kendleton is one of Texas's historic freedom colonies—communities founded by freedpeople after emancipation—and a rare place where the promise of land ownership after slavery took lasting root.
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Related people
- · Elizabeth Powell
- · William E. Kendall
Related events
- · Texas Revolution
- · Reconstruction
Themes & tags
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