Sugar Land

Sugar Land was built around the sugar industry on land granted to Samuel M. Williams in 1828. Williams’ brother, Nathaniel, purchased the land in 1838 and with a third brother, Matthew, operated the Oakland Plantation growing cotton, corn and sugarcane. In 1853, Benjamin Terry and William J. Kyle purchased the plantation. Terry is known for organizing Terry’s Texas Rangers during the Civil War and for naming the town. Upon the deaths of Terry and Kyle, Col. E.H. Cunningham bought the 12,500-acre plantation soon after the Civil War and developed Sugar Land around the sugar refining plant. In the early 1900s, the refinery was sold and named Imperial Sugar. Sugarcane is now imported. Sugar Land was primarily a company town until it was incorporated in 1959. Today, Sugar Land has a diversified economy base.