Richmond

In 1822, a group of Americans immigrating to Stephen F. Austin's colony stopped at a bend in the Brazos River and built a fort. Originally called Fort Bend and Fort Settlement, Richmond was incorporated in May 1837. A prosperous river port, Richmond became a boomtown with the completion of the first railroad in Texas in 1855. One of the most notorious episodes in Richmond's history was the Jay Bird—Woodpecker War in 1888—1889, which led to a gun battle on the streets between the two politic...