QUINTANA TEXAS

Quintana, Texas

Photography by George Hosek

A small, family oriented island nestled in Brazoria County between Jones Creek and Freeport; Quintana welcomes visitors from all over Texas, the United States, and even from overseas.

Quintana's cozy little island is home to the Quintana County Park, two bird parks, and perhaps the cleanest public beach on the Texas Coast. In May, the local schools bring their classes out and learn about the dunes, wildlife and the beach. They do shell collecting, seaweed and clam education, digging for crabs, wildlife photography reptile education, and small track and behavior education, IT is a wonderful time for the kids and the employees at Town Hall and the Park as well.

Quintana Beach County Park
Quintana boasts to have the first County Park built in 1982 Brazoria County Parks Association. In June 2012, the park will celebrate its 30 year anniversary. The park sits on a 51- acre beachfront tract of land that is full of history, nature, and adventure.

Neotropical Bird Sanctuary
The bird sanctuary opened with the help of a grant through Partners in Flight and a purchase of land by the Town in 1994. Due to the growing popularity through the years, a group won a schlarship from the Great Texas Coastal Birding Classic, and more land was purchased to expand.

Since 1994, the park has more than doubled in size, added two ponds, park benches, and the Alongis Tower. During the spring and fall seasonal migrations, birds form all over can be found here.

Neo-tropical bird sanctuary at Quintana, Texas.

Quintana History
Quintana's history dates back to 1528 when Spanish survivors of the Navarez Expedition, a search party looking for Montezoma's gold were adrift and dying of thirst when they noticed a current of muddy water flowing from the Gulf. The water was drinkable - "fresh water from the sea" they said and followed the current to the mouth of the river.

Stephen F. Austin's colonist landed the Lively here in 1821. Austin was commissioned to lay the town out in 1833 and named it after General Adreas Quintana, deputy minister of Mexican Foreign and Internal Affaires, who was sympathetic to Austin's efforts to colonize the area. Quintana prospered with a dry goods warehouse, meat market, school, hotel, grocery store and post office.

World War II gun at Quintana Beach County Park.

It became a popular resort for plantation owners who built huge summer homes on the beach. Captain Seaburn, a German Immigrant born in 1815, settled in Quintana in 1840 and became a master carpenter and shipbuilder. He opened a shipyard that built large sailing vessels. Their home, built by Captain Seaburn, now rests as it's new location, preserved with the Quintana Beach County Park.

He died on the third day of the 1895 snowstorm, which deposited 18-20 inches on the sand and salt grass. His wife, Josephine died in Quintana in 1909 and their three sons, Henery Peter, William Henry and Ernest are buried here as well. The Seaburn name faded in 1934 when the last man of the family, Ernest, died unmarred and without sons to carry on the family name. The Civil War brought about a decrease in the population and a confederate fort guarded the mouth of the Brazos river. During the last decade of the nineteenth century the population increased dramatically as a result of work on the harbor and jetties and other improvements related to a deep-water port.

In 1891 residents voted thirty-seven to nineteen to incorporate the town and authorize the election of a mayor, a marshal and five aldermen as officers of the city. During WWII, the gun mounds at the base of the shipping canal, which are now within the County Park, were erected to protect Dow's Magnesium plant. Guns were placed atop the mounds to protect defense plant from aircraft, warships and submarines. With the jetties intact, it was possible to maintain dredged water depths, opening the way for modern shipping.

The discovery of sulfur nearby paved the way for the first of the local chemical industries. But flooding of the river could no longer be tolerated and in 1929 The Corps of Engineers dug a new channel to the Gulf and the old river was sealed three miles above the mouth. At about the same time the Intra-coastal Waterway was completed, turning Quintana into a man-made island. Today, the island is home to 100 permanent residents.

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