"Bay City," a name often misleading to strangers, is twenty-five miles from the beach and the Gulf of Mexico. It is so named because the town lies in the center of the vast area of prairie land which has been known as Bay Prairie since the days of Stephen F. Austin in the early 1820's.

J. A. Allhands book, Gringo Builders, published in 1931 tells the beginning of Bay City as follows:

You only have to go back to a summer day in 1894 to get the beginning of Bay City. Out of the raw material of rich Bay prairie, from whence Bay City receives its name, and the facile minds of G. M. Magill and N. M. Vogelsang, was this city born. In that day there was no settlement of any kind near, not even a shack, and it was rather unpropitious time, too, for that was a year of depression and unemployment when the country was tramped by idle mobs, a time when the famous Coxey Army of jobless men was marching across the country to Washington, D. C. Only a few months previous, commercial failures in the United States had been rampant, when over five hundred banks and loan companies went down in the crash, and receivership over-took some 150 railroads.

The broad prairie land was still untouched and unused except for cattle grazing. The farming area was· confined to Caney Bottoms, where an abundance of corn, cotton and cane were produced, and, until claimed by the flood waters of the Colorado, there had been some little settlement down the east bank of that stream . A tract of 640 acres, twenty miles from the coast and near the Colorado River was acquired, one-half of which was purchased from D. P. Moore for the sum of one dollar per acre, and, as a further consideration, some lot concessions in the town-to-be. In 1894 the Bay City Town Company was formed by the following men: G. M. Magill, N. M. Vogelsang, N. King and N. Swickheimer.

Many cities "just happen," but not so with Bay City. Cutting the tall grass and weeds, so a survey could be made and the lots properly staked , Magill & Vogelsang, resident managers, proceeded to layout a model townsite. Today its wide, regular streets, laid out before traffic control was even thought of, are paying big dividends on their foresightedness.

The unbridged Colorado was a formidable barrier except for Elliott Ferry, which for years had operated less than two miles from the present Bay City. In the days before, and since 1875, D. P. Moore and later his brother J. D. had run a crossroads general store one mile east of this ferry, and here also was conducted the post office of Elliott.

Realizing the powerful "pull" of the press, it was in the upper one-half story of this store building that the Bay City Breeze made its first appearance in the summer of 1894, with Vogelsang as publisher and Magill the editor. Those ambitious promoters not only desired to make this the metropolis of the county, but its county seat as well. Under their faithful and forceful leadership the Breeze fostered every endeavor for the good and upbuilding of the new town. Its press agents immediately seized upon the exploitation of Bay City as the proper location for the county capitol, and as an inducement for its removal from Matagorda they offered to erect a frame court house and donate it to the county. The days passed and before long, a petition having been presented Judge E. D. Rugely, Sr., a special election was duly ordered for September 18, 1894, for the purpose of voting on this removaL At that time the population of the entire county was about 3,000 persons, of which fully seventy-five percent were negroes.

Some historical controversies have been waged in Texas over just such proposed removals, but this one was the exception. Everything must have been ripe for a change. Matagorda, a settlement since 1829 (and perhaps near the site of La Salle's camp, who, missing the Mississippi, found Matagorda Bay), had been a town so long that it had developed the shaking palsy of old age. It sat back complacently and made little or no protest to the change with the result that the vote for its removal went over big. At that time this embryo town of Bay City consisted of only a single frame building, housing the newspaper and townsite office. It might be said the citizens had voted to remove the seat of the county's government to a stake on the prairie.

Estimating the frame court house to cost $3,000, this sum was paid to the county by the Townsite Company, and that nucleus, along with additional funds, enabled the county commissioners to erect a county structure. Pits were opened and the bricks were made and burned at the townsite's edge. When the new hall of justice was finally ready for occupancy, its memorable opening was celebrated by a grand baiL At the start, however, Bay City had no place to house its great prize and the first building to occupy the court square was a box house, which had been used as a grand jury room at Matagorda. This tiny structure, made of one by twelve lumber, was hauled across the country to the new townsite and placed on the northwest corner of its square. This stuffy little building first served as a county clerk's office. At an early date Judge T. J. Hamilton erected a two-story building across from the northwest corner of the square, on lots now occupied by Badouh's big store. This structure was used as a temporary court house and became the focus of the community's religious life, as a union church and Sunday school held forth there.

J. D. Moore immediately moved the post office and a small stock of groceries from Elliott into a squatty one story shack on the site now occupied by the post office building. D. P. Moore moved his dry goods and clothing stock up from Matagorda. Old timers counting noses find D. P. Moore still in business (1931). He has served that section for something over half a century, and has been in business longer than any other merchant in Matagorda County.

Preceding J. D . Moore by a few days, W. E. Sayers, hauling his groceries, etc., in by wagon, was the first hopeful merchant to set up a crude mercantile establishment in the middle of the same block. It wasn't much of a store according to the standard of Bay City stores of today, but it was a start. Finally the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker were lured to the new town. This was during the Southwest's saloon days, when almost every town had one or more of them, hence very shortly one of these dispensaries of rosebud nose paint opened across the street from the townsite office, and this particular line continued to expand until Bay City had six booze joints for whites and one for negroes. But the old order passeth- all of those saloons faded from the pictures, when they were forever outlawed by the vote of 1904. Further recalling the hallowed days agone, Postmaster J. D. Moore received the mail from Wharton by hack when the upgraded road was passable, and by horseback when the hack could not make it. At first W. M. Holland, the mayor, and marshall W. A. Williams piloted the destinies of this new town. Five years had scarcely lapsed until, with neither rail nor water transportation, it found its sister city Van Vleck, with the aid of the railroad terminating there, slipping in at the back door and all but pillaging it of its much coveted county seat.

To give an idea of the actual growth of Bay City from a prairie to a small town, the Bay City Breeze described the following business establishments six months after the election in September of 1894.

Austin House Hotel, under the management of Mrs. William E. Austin, a two-story hotel in the shape of an L fronting 60 ft. on 7th street and 40 ft. on Avenue E, besides a kitchen.
Rowlett House, N. H. Rowlett, proprietor, two story 24 ft. x 60 ft.
Nuckols House, John Nuckols, proprietor, two story 24 ft x 60 ft.
J . M. Sims, livery stable 40 ft. x 60 ft. two story; one of the best stocked stables in the state, located on the north side of the square.
W. E. Sayers & Co., 24 ft. by 40 ft., two story; groceries and hardware on the west side of the square.
D. P. Moore, 24 ft. x 40 ft. , two story, dry goods and clothing, west side.
T. J . Hamilton, 24 ft. x 40 ft. two story, on north side, occupied by county as a temporary courthouse.
Ira G. Lord , one story 16ft. x 32ft. ice cream parlor, north side.
J as. W. Rugeley, 18 ft. x 40 ft. , dry goods and groceries, one story.
J . W. Gaines, 24 ft. x 32 ft. occupied by W. R. Franz, barber shop and saddle shop west side.
Henry Williams, 18 ft. x 36 ft., two story saloon
Gillett Serrill and Dunbar, 20 ft. x 36 ft., two story saloon west side.
W. A. Baker, 24 ft. x 70 ft. , groceries, also store room 14 ft. x 24 ft. west side.
Bay City Tower Company; 16 ft. x 36 ft. also Bay City Breeze.
Richardson, Shiles and Lee, 17 ft. x 24 ft. Land Company.
D. P. Moore, 20 ft. x 44 ft. occupied by J . D. Moore, groceries and post office, westside.
R. E. Mangum, 17 ft. x 36 ft. blacksmith shop

Homes built in Bay City by May of 1895 were:

N. M. Vogelsang, 9 room residence, a beautiful modern home, cost, $2,500, corner of Avenue G and Fourth Street.
Edgar Rugeley, two story residence of ten rooms, occupied as a private boarding house, Avenue F.
T. J. Hamilton, one four room cottage, one three room cottage, two 2 room cottages, one ice house; all rented .
W. E. Moore, one four room cottage.
Ira G. Lord, one three room cottage.
Charles Franz, one three room cottage.
R. N. Rogers, one two room cottage.
A. D. Hensley, Z. J. Walker, and J. A. Sullivan each had a small cottage.
T. Y. Spencer, one two room cottage.

The above does not include barns or any improvements except places of businesses and residences and other improvements under contemplation and contract.

Thus, the city grew up around a plan that centered around the courthouse and that plan exists today. The buildings and owners have changed but the city plan has not. The town today is a far cry from the tent city which was seen in 1894 out on the open prairie with a population of twenty-five. The first Bay City may have been lacking in modern luxuries and conveniences but certain principles existed in the minds of the founders, and there were certain luxuries even then that the citizens were unwilling to do without.

For instance, the founders of Bay City brought their newspaper along with them and made one of the first durable frame buildings in the town into a newspaper office. That newspaper was called the Bay City Breeze.

In 1899 William Dunovant planted the initial crop of 300 acres of rice at Eagle Lake in Colorado County; and little did he dream that his agricultural enterprise would form a new way of life for not only his county but also Matagorda County. His good fortune encouraged others, and soon the crop was so well established that it was necessary to organize a canal company known as the Matagorda County Rice and Irrigation Company. The first rice harvested was stored in the county clerk's office, then transported six miles to Van Vleck to the only railway station in the county, and then shipped by train to mills. Thus that county clerk's office became the first "rice warehouse."

The 1970's and the first part of the 1980's witnessed a population growth due to industries such as Celanese, South Texas Nuclear Project (STNP), Conoco, Dupont, and the like, coming to the county. The city limits expanded to take in approximately 6.06 square miles; a far cry from the one-mile square city staked out on the prairie in 1894!

The population figures through the years reveal a steady growth from decade to decade:

1895 - 25
1900 - 1,000
1910 - 3,156
1920 - 3,454
1930 - 4,070
1940 - 6,594
1950 - 9,427
1960 - 11 ,656
1970 - 11 ,733
1980 - 17,837
1983 - 21,750
1985 - 23 ,964

Throughout the history of Bay City from 1894 to 1986, a period of ninety-two years, the steady growth may be attributed to dedicated and interested citizens taking the leadership and meeting the challenges of their day and time. The histories of businesses; organizations; institutions such as schools, churches, and health care; and most important of all- the families, themselves, reveal the true heartbeat of this community of Bay City as all communities. Their stories parallel the history of not only Bay City but of Matagorda County.

Historic Matagorda County, Volume I, pp. 302-312, 1986
 

Early Business History of Bay City

In October, 1894, the site of Bay City, one mile square, was staked off in a cow pasture; or rather in two cow pastures. For the west half of the townsite was purchased from D. P. Moore and east half from Mensing Brothers of Galveston, and the barb wire fence which separated the Moore ranch from the Mensing pasture ran along Ave G, in front of where The Tribune building now stands. As the Mensing pasture was under lease and the lessees refused to give the townsite company possession till the expiration of their lease, this fence remained intact for nearly a year after the town started. Hence all improvements during the first year were made on the western half of the townsite.

At the time the county seat was voted from Matagorda to the new townsite, there was nothing here but the 2x4 stakes that marked the corners of the city blocks, each painted white and having the various lettering and figures in black.

In order to provide quarters for the county officers a two-room frame house was hauled up from Matagorda by a long string of ox teams. The sheriff and tax-collector, T. J. Hamilton, occupied one room and Geo. Aus tin, the district and county clerk, occupied the other, and the other county officers roosted with them till quarters could be provided for them. This building stood just north of the walk leading westward from the courthouse and near the line of Ave. F. It now forms a portion of the residence of Jno. T Bond, our portly deputy county clerk.

Sheriff Hamilton, who was succeeded a month after the removal Alphons I. Rugeley, and two years later became county judge, erected a frame business house on the corner now occupied by Badouh Brothers and still owned by Mrs. Hamilton, and this building was used for holding courts till the court house was completed nearly two years later.

At the time Bay City was born and for several years prior thereto, D. P. Moore owned a general store about a mile west of where the court house now stands. This store was conducted by Mr. Moore's nephew, Dan Moore, now county assessor. He was also postmaster, the post office kept in the store going by the name Elliott, the famous Elliott's Ferry on the Colorado river being nearby.

D. P. Moore, who owned this store and quite a ranch around it, stocked with cattle, resided in Matagorda where he was engaged in the dry-goods business and had been so engaged for some time.

Just as soon as the county seat was voted to the new location, both of the Moore stores the one near Elliott's Ferry and the one in Matagorda were moved to the new town and occupied the lots on the north end of the block west of the court house, where our sixty thousand dollar federal building is to be erected. Dan Moore continued to act as postmaster and handled groceries and hardware, while D. P. Moore stuck to dry goods with ranching as a side line.

About the time the Moore stores. were established, W. E. Sayors, now postmaster, erected a building about the middle of the west side of the square, where the open air picture show now holds forth and put in a stock of groceries having a young son associated with him in the business. Henry Serrill of Matagorda erected a frame structure on the south end of this same block and installed a saloon in it.

The townsite company erected a small one-story building on the corner now occupied by the Bay City Bank and Trust Company and occupied it as an office. The small printing plant which has been used to publish the Bay City Breeze in advocacy of the removal of the county seat was moved into this building from the loft or attic of D. P. Moore's cotton gin down by Elliott post office, G. M. Magill and N. M. Vogelsang, who were the establishers and promoters of the new town, were also the editors and publishers of the paper, the late L. J. Gartrell being their main type-setter.

Among other pioneer business men were Judge J. M. Sims, who built a large livery stable and two-story residence just west of where the Masonic building now stands, and R. H. Rowlett who erected a hotel on the corner now vacant across the street east of the Bay City Bank and Trust building. Mr. Rowlett sold this hotel a year or two later to C. L. J. Sisk who came here from north Alabama when the town was about a year old.

Alex Benge early established a saddlery and harness making shop in the middle of the north side of the square, coming here from the Texas Panhandle, and a few years later V. L. Le Tulle moved in from his Caney plantation and commenced his business corner in this same location, but the rapid expansion of his business soon necessitated the erection of the big building now occupied by his firm.

Thus on the west and north sides of the court house, square was concentrated all of the business of the town during its first few years of growth; the one fronting on the road leading to Matagorda on the south and to Wharton on the north, and the other fronting on the road leading to Caney on the east and to the ferry on the west. These were the main thoroughfares in those days. The farms were all in Caney Valley and along the Colorado river. Wharton was our most accessible railroad point, and all our lumber was hauled up from Matagorda. Our mail hack left for Wharton before daylight and returned after dark, every day, changing horses twice on the round trip. For five years this was kept up. Then the Southern Pacific reached Van Vleck, and a year later the Cane Belt (now the Santa Fe) built into Bay City, and our growth commenced in earnest.

For the Southern Pacific soon came across from Van Vleck and gave the new town "common point“ advantages,

During the years of our isolation from railroad convenience, the mud blockade sometimes compelled us to skimp on our victuals. It was a common occurrence for every store in town to run out of flour during a term of district court. This writer remembers one such occasion when John Matthews, the veteran merchant of Caney, who has been there since 1853, sent over a wagon load of flour. He had more capital than any of our merchants and carried a larger stock.

M. Ditch built a large house and established a dry-goods store in the early days about where the building of the Bay City Auto Co. now stands. His son, I. Ditch, was then in business in Richmond and also had a store at Schulenburg. Max Klein was the third dry-goods man to establish business in the new town. Bob Sisk opened the first racket store. W. E. Sayers carried a small stock of lumber where he now resides. Capt. C. Langham and B. J. Dantzler also put a stock of lumber on the middle lot of the east side of the square, the first improvement made on that side.

The first bank was established by the late Frank Hawkins, uncle of The Tribune Frank, with his brother-in- law, Henry Rugeley, in charge. This was the lineal progenitor of the Bay City Bank and Trust Co., and Mr. Rugeley has been connected with it ever since.

Capt. J. W. White established the first drug store, about the middle of the west side of the square and afterwards sold out to Dr. W. W. Bouldin, who was the first physician in the new town.

Wm. E. Austin, John W. Gaines, Judge W. C. Carpenter and T. J. Hamilton were the first lawyers in the new town, all coming at the very beginning, the three latter afterwards becoming partners under the firm name of Gaines, Hamilton & Carpenter.

The first rice was grown in 1900 and the Bay City Rice Mill was built the following year.

The first hotel was built by Conrad Franz and still stands, now being known as the Commercial Hotel, operated by Mrs. C. L. J. Sisk.

Nearly all the early business houses have been destroyed by the two fires which wiped out the north side of the court house square in 1904 and the west side in 1907. One of the oldest of these houses now standing is that occupied by Judge I. N. Barber's office, in which J. M. Moore and associates established the First National Bank in 1901.

The Tribune took over The Breeze in 1898, and since that time four or five rival papers have been established here, but each in its turn has, after a precarious existence, surrendered the field to The Tribune.

The business history of the city since the advent of the railroad is more or less familiar to most of our people.

Daily Tribune, March 12, 1913
 

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