Founders of Alvin (1:35)

The founding of Alvin is connected with three names.  First is the Thomas family who arrived in the area in 1845 (rendition shown in the graphic). They settled and began ranching around what is now Mustang Road, just south of where the Community College is located. Descendants of this family still live in the Alvin area.  A relative, Alvin Morgan, from Louisiana, visited the Thomas family, and they convinced him to stay and go to work for the railroad. He did and began maintaining the cattle pens and pumping water for the troughs and passing trains. Originally the rail line curved and went south through Amsterdam.  The rail beds had been laid, but flooding convinced them to change the route and run the line through Alvin. Morgan opened a general store in an old railroad car and served as the first postmaster of Alvin. His house, built on the north side of the railroad tracks, was the first in Alvin (rendition in the graphic).  George Durant was probably the most responsible for the development of Alvin.  Before the Civil War he was the Brazoria county surveyor and received his pay in land instead of money, allowing him to acquire quite a bit of property. He left to serve in the Civil War. He married, returned to the area and laid out the town plat, sold property, and was instrumental in getting the railroad to build a spur to Houston with the switch at Mustang Slough (Alvin). The town name was called Morgan until it was discovered there already was a Morgan, Texas.  It was then changed to Alvin.