Each year, the Sugar Land year, the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation features a treasured historic building or site in Sugar Land. This year we are proud to present FIRST COLONY as the 2017 Ornament. The FIRST COLONY community celebrates 40 years as a notable development in America’s real estate history. Sugar Land and Fort Bend County benefited from an entrepreneurial plan that looked to the future, speculated on growth and opportunity, demanded new heights to ideals that has resulted in a premier master planned community and business concept that remains in place today. These high-quality brass ornaments come individually packaged in a beautiful gift box which includes a printed information card about the ornament.
Ornaments will be on sale at the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation office at 198 Kempner Street in Sugar Land on Saturday December 2, December 9, and December 16 from 10 am to noon. Ornaments will also be on sale at the Fort Bend Chamber Holiday Luncheon on December 15th at Sweetwater Country Club. Ornaments are $25 each and all proceeds benefit the Sugar Land Heritage Foundation. You can contact us by email and we will make arrangements to get the ornaments to you. Contact us at slheritage@slheritage.org if you need to place an order.
First Colony’s roots originate with the first 300 settlers brought to Texas in the 1820’s by Stephen F. Austin, the “Father of Texas.” Later, business partners Issac H. Kempner, Sr. and W. T. Eldridge, Sr. acquired the land in 1908. It remained under the same stewardship for more than six decades. In 1973, a joint venture of Gerald D. Hines Interests of Houston, and Cousins Properties Incorporated of Atlanta, resulted in the purchase of the property, nearly 7,500 acres. A sale considered one of the largest in the State of Texas. A second parcel of land consisting of 1,800 acres was purchased and added to the First Colony’s plan from the notable Frost Ranch, an internationally known property recognized for its registered cattle and horses.
Gerald Hines’ company, Sugarland Properties, Inc. was the master planned developer of the community, upon which his vision was to not only live, but also to work. Live, Work, Shop and Play became the cornerstone on which the community was built.
Sugarland Properties, Inc. also developed Sugar Land Town Square. It has a great mix of office space, high rise residential condominiums, a hotel and conference center, retail stores for shopping, and restaurants, and Sugar Land City Hall. Standing in front of city hall is a 1.4 acre pedestrian plaza with a historic centerpiece…a fountain around a bronze sculpture created by local resident, Bob Pack. It shows Stephen F. Austin crossing the Brazos River with his pack horse. The structure also includes a historical narrative that tells of the discovery of Texas, its earliest settlers and the perils they faced.