CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Morgan's Point, Texas

city in Texas, United States

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ979612 ↗
Source-derived summary

Morgan's Point is located 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Houston in southeastern Harris County, Texas, United States, located on the shores of Galveston Bay at the inlet to the Houston Ship Channel, near La Porte and Baytown. As of the 2020 census, it has 273 residents, and is located within the La Porte Independent School District.

Morgan's Point National Historic District includes the "Carriage House" otherwise known as City Hall, and the Governor Ross S. Sterling mansion, directly across the street; as well as several other notable properties. It earned fame in Texas's early history for being the home of the legendary Emily West (Morgan), known as "The Yellow Rose of Texas". It later became a Houston-area resort community for the wealthy in the early 20th century.

History

The area was first settled in 1822 by Nicholas Rightor, a surveyor commissioned by Stephen F. Austin to explore and survey the areas between the Brazos and Lavaca rivers. He soon sold the property to Johnson Calhoun Hunter, and it subsequently was bought by Joseph C. Clopper, who used the property to grow orange and lemon trees. The property was finally sold to James Morgan in 1834, who established the short-lived colony of New Washington. Morgan had helped supply the Texian army during the Texas Revolution and was given the rank of colonel. The settlement was destroyed by the Mexican army during the Texas Revolution.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Morgan's Point, Texas” as city in Texas, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2020, 1822, 1834—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Morgan's, Point and Texas can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as city in Texas, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q979612. Authority coordinates are 29.676, -94.999. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1822 and 1834.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Morgan's Point, Texas”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Morgan's Point, Texas primary sources, Morgan's Point, Texas archive and Morgan's research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Morgan's Point, Texas”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Morgan's Point, Texas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.