History
Hitchcock FactsThe City of Hitchcock is located in Galveston County, strategically positioned between the cities of Houston and Galveston. Residents of Hitchcock enjoy living with a small-town atmosphere but with access to world class amenities. Galveston is a short 10 minutes by auto, while Houston the most populous city in the United States is less than a 20-minute drive.
For business partners, Hitchcock offers prime locations along both Hwy 6 and FM 2004 with easy access to the Port of Galveston, Port of Houston and Industrial complexes in Texas City and Lake Jackson. Hitchcock has available commercial property and an International Free Trade Zone.Hitchcock offers great coastal breezes and abundant housing opportunities. Residents have access to some of the nation’s best medical facilities, travel destinations and entertainment options.
History of HitchcockThe area which is now the City of Hitchcock was settled around 1846. On May 31, 1848, Jonas Butler acquired a league of land on Highland Bayou and built a house, part of which still stood in the 1940's. Butler was followed by a group of French settlers, who established homes on the bayou. The community was originally known as Highland for its location on the bayou’s high banks. Travelers used the bayou to reach Galveston until the 1870's, when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway built through the settlement.
The town was renamed around 1873, when Emily Hitchcock, widow of Galveston civic leader Lent AM. Hitchcock, offered a 450-foot-wide tract from Cow Gully east to the section house for a town site if the railroad would name the community for her husband.
Hitchcock was created as a station of the railroad between Galveston and Houston in 1873 and around the turn of the century became a vegetable shipping center. Local farmers shipped cattle and vegetables. A post office was established in 1884 under the name Hitchcock’s, later shortened to Hitchcock. Thomas King platted the town site around 1891, and by 1892 the community reported a population of 275, two grocers, and several fruit growers and commission merchants. Farmers later marketed their vegetables through a cooperative association.
A local public school opened in 1894, and by 1907 the town had two schools. In 1914 Hitchcock had a bank, a hotel, a blacksmith, three general stores, and a population of 550. The town began to decline with the end of local truck farming after 1920. Most local packing houses closed, many residents moved to find work in Texas City, and by 1925 Hitchcock’s population had fallen to 350.
The settlement’s economy crashed in the 1930's after insect plagues in the surrounding areas, and the area stayed impoverished until the establishment of the Camp Wallace anti-aircraft training base and the Hitchcock Naval Air Station at the beginning of World War II.
In the 1940's the Hitchcock population level remained steady because of local oil and gas development, the establishment of Camp Wallace, and Navy construction of a local blimp base for surveillance of enemy submarines HITCHCOCK NAVAL AIR STATION. The camp and base were used as discharge centers after the war, and some of those who passed through became residents.During the postwar boom, Hitchcock developed a Chamber of Commerce, sewers, improved roads, natural gas service, a phone system, and multiple churches. In 1948 Hitchcock was made an Independent School District. The community benefited from proximity to petrochemical industry centers at Texas City, Chocolate Bayou, and Freeport. Hitchcock’s population jumped to 1,105 after 1954 and increased after 1960, when the town incorporated. In 1968 Hitchcock’s population reached a high of 6,954, served by thirty-six businesses.
Hitchcock grew from 5,565 residents and twenty-five businesses in 1972 to 6,405 residents and sixty-seven businesses by 1988. In 2000 Hitchcock reported 214 businesses and a population of 6,386.Call the Hitchcock EDC for more information on relocating your business to the best location on the Gulf Coast.
Email : HEDC@CityofHitchcock.org / or call 409-502-7331
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