Simonton

Simonton is at the intersection of Farm roads 1093 and 1489, on the Southern Pacific line fourteen miles northwest of Richmond in northwestern Fort Bend County. The first settlement at Simonton was in the early 1850s, when James Simonton and his family moved to Texas from North Carolina to establish a plantation on the Brazos River. After the Civil War the plantation was broken up and sold. The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway built through the community in 1888, and Simonton was granted a post office in 1894. In 1905 John Spencer, Albert A. Mullins, and Davis H. Mullins moved from Kansas to Simonton and purchased a large tract on which to grow potatoes. In 1910 the company of Spencer and Mullins Brothers conveyed property to the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway to establish a siding from which to ship potatoes throughout the United States. The Simonton area became one of the leading producers of potatoes in the country. By 1914 the community included two general stores, a cotton gin, and 50 residents. In 1925, when the community reported a population of 100, the Simonton school district served 181 White and 322 Black pupils. At that time the town had a cotton gin, three general stores, and five other businesses. The population of Simonton varied from 150 to 200 from 1940 to the 1970s, when it began to grow. A popular destination, an indoor rodeo arena called the Round Up, was constructed in 1963, and in 1979 China’s Deputy Premier Deng Xiaoping was entertained at the rodeo in Simonton during his United States visit. That same year the community incorporated as the City of Simonton. The population grew to 603 in 1980 and 718 in 2000. In 2010 the population was 814.