Bell Prairie was located in an area west of the Tri-City Beach Road, between it and Tabbs Bay, and was the home
of Smith's cousin, Henry Flavel Gillette.  Research - Trevia W Beverly

The name Baytown was chosen by Ross S. Sterling and his associates, because of the number of bays that surrounded
the area they were developing as a refinery.  The name Baytown was first applied to the community around 1859 however
and saw its first settlers in the 1820's.  In 1880, there was a small settlement on Scott's bay named Bay Town.

Construction of Baytown's first refinery was started in 1919 and began production in 1920.  It was started by
Ross S. Sterling and was called Humble Oil & Refining Company.

The Tri-Cities existed for more than 25 years before they were consolidated as the city of Baytown.
The date was January 24, 1948.

Goose Creek Independent School District was state-chartered in 1921 and included all three communities.

An effort to consolidate the Tri-Cities in 1929 into one city failed, due to petty differences.

  In 1920 the Baytown area had a population of hundreds, but by 1927, it numbered in the thousands.

When Baytown became the consolidated name of the Tri-cities, it was chosen because of the Humble Refinery and because of the history of the settlement Bay Town.  Baytown's business district was the Market Street area.

Other names considered for the new city were: Gander City, Lee City, Bay View, Port Humble, San Jacinto, Sterling City, Point Sterling, Sterling Bay. No one, not even Mr. Pelly, wanted Pelly.

The San Jacinto Memorial hospital on Decker Drive was built and paid for by Humble Refinery as a gift to the city of Baytown in 1948.

Baytown's first city park was Rosaland Park (later changed to Roseland), named after Mrs. Rosa Kilgore, who donated the land. The Park is built on the former homestead of her pioneer parents. Baytown's first public pool was also at Roseland Park.

The Baytown-La Porte Tunnel was originally named the Spillman Island Tunnel and was a replacement for the Hog Island-Morgan's Point Ferry.

Much of the information on this page comes from the excellent book 'Baytown Vignettes' by John Britt and Muriel Tyssen, or 'The History of Baytown'  available at Sterling Municipal Library and the Baytown Historical Museum located at 220 W. Defee.