Baytown, TX news and local guide

Today's Baytown was once three towns. The first was Goose Creek, named for the bayou where Canada geese wintered, whose school district dates to before 1850. After the Goose Creek Oil Field was discovered, the rival boomtowns of Pelly, in the late 1910s, and East Baytown, in the early 1920s, grew up nearby; the "East" was later dropped because the town was actually west of Goose Creek. In 1916 the Humble Oil and Refining Company, founded by future governor Ross S. Sterling and his associates, built the first offshore drilling operation in Texas, and the second in the country, to develop the field, and the company later built the Baytown Refinery, which became one of Exxon's largest refineries in the world. The oil boom drew many newcomers. Talk of merging the three towns began after World War I, but Baytown long opposed it. In 1947 the three finally agreed to consolidate under the name Baytown, and the new city was officially founded on January 24, 1948. ExxonMobil remains a major employer, running more than ten plants in the area. Sources Wikipedia: Baytown, Texas