Here in Sugar Land, we love our pets! Despite—or more likely because of—its rapid growth, one fact of life lingers in Sugar Land from its small-town days on the fringe of Texas’ Buffalo Bayou: alligators.
Alligator sightings are a regular occurrence in Sugar Land, a city of 118,600 people. It’s about 45 miles west of Galveston Bay and about 25 miles southwest of Houston. The Brazos River and Oyster Creek run through the city, which is also home to artificial lakes and waterways.
So while city government lists “fun facts” about alligators on its website, it also advises residents to keep their dogs on leashes and away from water at dawn and dusk because they’re the size of alligators’ natural prey.
It might be the grimmest part of life in Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston that regularly makes lists of Texas’ fastest-growing and wealthiest cities. Its population has grown by more than 50 percent since the 2010 census, and its average annual household income of nearly $109,000 is almost twice the national average.
It didn’t start out that way. European settlers in the 1820s and grew cotton, corn and sugar cane. Samuel May Williams, who conducted business for Stephen F. Austin, received land in the area in 1828. His brothers started Oakland Plantation and built a sugar mill.
After the Civil War and emancipation, subsequent owners used convicts to work their land. The plantation was known as Sugar Land by then but nicknamed “Hell Hole on the Brazos” because of the heat, humidity, mosquitoes and horrible conditions. Texas ended leasing convict labor in 1912.
By then, the Imperial Sugar Co., was born and Sugar Land became a company town. Imperial Sugar still has headquarters in Sugar Land, and the crown from its logo is in Sugar Land’s city seal. Sugar hasn’t been grown in locally for almost a century, though.
The city has a humid-subtropical climate. Average highs from April through October top 80 degrees, and they’re above 90 from June through September. Sugar Land gets 50 inches of rain annually, which is more than the U.S. average, but the city also gets a few more sunny days, too.
Today’s biggest employers include Fluor Enterprises, a multinational engineering firm; Schlumberger Ltd., an oilfield services provider; and Nalco Champion, a chemical company serving the oil industry.
Its attractions include four destination shopping venues and the Smart Financial Centre, a 6,400-seat arena that draws national entertainment acts.