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On Farm Roads 1495 and 723 at the mouth of the Brazos River you’ll find Quintana, TX. The town of Surfside is located right across the Brazos River Harbor channel from Quintana in Brazoria County.
The town takes its name from a Mexican general named Andres Quintana and was home to a Mexican army fort. It is believed the area was settled directly after Mexican independence and it became a seaport for Stephen Austin’s new colony.
Literature about the community during the 1830’s was widely varied. Some reports called Quintana as a “delightful place to live,” and other reports said it was a place of “shanties and a mixed population of Yankees, Mexicans and Indians.” Yet more reports said that you could find a hotel, a pavilion, dance halls and several pool halls.
A post office was built in 1853 and closed four years later. It was opened again in 1891 and ran until 1915. After the Civil War, Quintana became a favorite vacation spot for plantation owners and many large homes were built on the beachfront. A road that had been covered with silt was discovered in 1913, and then disappeared again when another flood came through the area.
The population of Quintana suffered after the hurricane of 1900 decimated the area. Many towns were completely wiped off the coasts of Galveston and Texas and several families moved away. Later floods succeeded in reducing the population even more.
The industries over the years in Quintana have been as varied as the early reports of the town. A cattle hide and tallow factory briefly opened, followed by a pickled beef factory, a cottonseed oil factory and an elevator that was used to load coal onto ships in the harbor.
There are many historical sites and places of interest in Quintana. A dam had been built during the Civil War to keep the federal gunboats out of the river. Several jetties were later started by the Kanter family in the area and they used a revolutionary technique to construct them. Mattresses made of brush cut in the area were used as a foundation for concrete blocks that were made of beach sand and Portland cement. However, the family never finished the venture and a new company was brought in to complete the job.
After the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway was completed, the town declined further when the shipping industry largely left the area. However, it is still popular with tourists, and many people visit the Brazoria County Park in the town. By 1990, only 53 residents called Quintana their year-round home.
If you’re looking for a quiet community that is close to Houston, Quintana is a great place to rent an apartment and live in a very historical and interesting location.
If you are interested in an apartment in Houston, feel free to contact us.
