Chenango is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Brazoria County Brazoria County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 372,031. The county seat is Angleton. Brazoria County is included in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan statis ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. It is a part of the

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

metropolitan area.

History

The older town of

Chenango, New York Chenango is a town in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 10,983 at the 2020 census. The town is in the eastern part of the county, northeast of Binghamton. History The area was first settled ''circa'' 1787, and t ...

, is the namesake for this community. It was centered on Chenango Plantation, a 1,300-acre plantation carved out of the William Harris Survey during the 19th century. S. Richardson and Joshua Abbott added about 3,000 acres to the plantation. In 1835 (circa) Benjamin Fort Smith bought a portion of the 3,000 acres, along with

Monroe Edwards Monroe Edwards (1808 – January 27, 1847) was an American slave trader, forger, and criminal who was the subject of a well-publicized trial and conviction in 1842. Originally from Kentucky, Edwards moved to New Orleans then settled in Texa ...

and Christopher Dart, who converted the cotton production of the plantation to

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

. Monroe Edwards and Christopher Dart also used the plantation for slave smuggling to

from

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. It was known as "Parker's Point" in the 1840s when James Love and Albert T. Burnley became partners in the plantation. An officer of the Eighth Texas Cavalry

Terry's Texas Rangers The 8th Texas Cavalry Regiment, (1861–1865), popularly known as Terry's Texas Rangers, was a light cavalry regiment of Texas volunteers for the Confederate States Army assembled by Colonel Benjamin Franklin Terry in August 1861. Though lesser kn ...

, Captain Sharpe, owned the plantation later. A post office was opened in Chenango in 1869 and closed in 1871, reopened in 1877, and closed after 1930. There were 40 residents in 1884, which became a station on the railroad. Its population went down by 10 residents but had two general stores in operation. It also had a

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

in 1914. It had 100 residents and four businesses in 1929. Two businesses closed and lost half of its population a decade later. It had 20 registered voters that next year. There was only one business in 1947. After 1950, though some oil production began and Chenango Plantation raised cattle and grew feed, the census no longer listed it.

Geography

Chenango is located in Brazoria County at the intersection of State Highway 521 and the International & Great Northern Railroad, seven miles north of Angleton.

Education

In 1906, Chenango had a white school with two teachers and twenty pupils. It also had a black school with 180 pupils and five teachers. By 1947, the white children attended school in the

Angleton Independent School District Angleton ISD is a public school district in Angleton, Texas (USA), operating 5 levels of education. Established in 1897, AISD encompasses in Brazoria County, serving Angleton as well as the Village of Bonney, the Sandy Point census-designat ...

while the black children continued to attend school in Chenango. Today, the community continues to be served by the Angleton ISD. Children in the area attend Rancho Isabella Elementary School, Angleton Junior High School, and

Angleton High School Angleton High School is a public high school located just outside the city of Angleton, Texas, United States in unincorporated Brazoria County. It is classified as a 5A school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). It is a part of the A ...

in Angleton.

Notable Person

Clarence Sasser Clarence Eugene Sasser (born September 12, 1947) is a former United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Vietnam War. Early life and Vietnam W ...

, Medal of Honor recipient

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Brazoria County, Texas Populated places established in 1869 Unincorporated communities in Texas 1869 establishments in Texas