Old Ocean, Texas | |
|---|---|
  Old Ocean Location within the state of Texas  Old Ocean Old Ocean (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 29°4′47″N 95°44′58″W / 29.07972°N 95.74944°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Brazoria |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 150 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP codes | 77463 |
Old Ocean is an unincorporated community in Brazoria County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 915 in 2000. It is located within the Greater Houston metropolitan area.
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An Office in the Ocean VNR - Texas Parks and Wildlife [Official]
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Texas Southern Ocean of Soul Former Dancers on the Tom Joyner Morning Show in Houston 2014
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How Much Plastic is in the Ocean?
Transcription
[splashing water] [narrator] A few miles off the Texas Gulf Coast, a research expedition is about to begin. [Brooke laughs] [narrator] Brooke Shipley-Lozano is Chief Scientist of the Artificial Reef program for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. [mask breath] [narrator] Chris Ledford is the diving safety officer. They're part of a team spending the next four days on board the M/V Fling. [splash] [narrator] The Gulf of Mexico has very few naturally occurring reefs. [splash] [breathing underwater] [narrator] So artificial ones like oil platforms, reef balls, and decommissioned ships... give barnacles, coral, and other invertebrate sea-life the hard surfaces they need to survive. [Brooke] The monitoring program is essential to the entire artificial reef program because if we don't monitor the reef structures, then how will we know whether the fish are there. Whether it's a good structure. [narrator] Both Brooke and Chris help manage an artificial reef program that covers 4000 acres across nearly 70 sites. [Brooke] What I'm working on is the database that contains all of the data that we have collected from 1993 through 2011. [Brooke] One of the things that I'm hoping to do eventually is be able to take all of that and run a spatial implication model using fuzzy logic, which is what my Ph.D. was, to then determine if we're putting reefs too closely together. [Chris Ledford] I love just playing around down there, which is kind of hard to do when I'm on a work dive, but we always make some time for that. [Brooke] I probably feel closer to, you know, the God and all the spiritual aspects when I'm at sea in the water than I do even in a church. It's just you and God's creations and perfection. [narrator] For Texas Parks and Wildlife, this is Abe Moore.
Geography
Old Ocean is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 524 and Texas State Highway 35, 5 mi (8.0 km) northwest of Sweeny. It is also located 7 mi (11 km) west of West Columbia and 22 mi (35 km) west of Angleton.[1]
Demographics
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 150 people in the community.
History
Old Ocean was originally known as Chance's Prairie, after the land grant made to Joseph H. Polley and Samuel Chance on July 27, 1824. William B. Sweeny, one of the founders of Chance's Prairie and for which the local town of Sweeny was named, bought 2,319 acres (9.38 km2) from Polley and Chance for $1,950. He had arrived in the county in 1832. His family and their 250 slaves arrived here and settled on a league of land donated by Charles Breen, on the southern boundary of this grant. John Sweeny, Sr.'s six children eventually owned more local plantations after he died in 1854. Eventually, more people settled here, and the town reportedly had a population of 18 in 1880. James Abercrombie discovered oil nearby in 1934, and a government oil refinery was constructed to make high-octane gas. It was closed near the end of World War II. The oilfield was called Old Ocean, and by 1936 the town eventually took that name. A post office with the name Old Ocean was established in 1945 and was located inside a commissary on Sweeny's plantation. The 1936 county highway map showed Bethlehem church, several other buildings, and several scattered houses in the area. Its population was 800 in 1945 and had four businesses two years later. Its population grew to over a thousand residents and had nine businesses in 1964, losing 100 residents and only one business in 1972. Its population was recorded as 915 from the 1970s through 2000. It had two churches in 1974. Its business directory included 19 businesses in 1982, eight a decade later, and 21 in 2000.[3]
Some settlers of the community included Mills M. Battle, M. Berry, Thomas H. Borden, Charles Breen, Benjamin C. Franklin, Freeman George, Henry W. Johnson, Oliver Jones, Imla Keep, David McCormick, Zeno Philips, Thomas Walker, John Williams, and Robert Harris Williams. Before the American Civil War, Sampson Brown was brought here as a slave from Maryland by Joseph McCormick in 1837. He then became a teacher and a preacher in Milam and Fort Bend counties after he was emancipated. Prince Monroe managed McCormick's plantation for more than 20 years.[3]
Present-day Old Ocean
Little remains of Old Ocean besides the post office. The Baptist church and other buildings were demolished. The town is currently being redeveloped into an industrial facility and both State Highway 35 and FM 524 have been bypassed around the townsite.
Although Old Ocean is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP Code 77463.[4]
Education
Around 1906, Old Ocean had four schools for Black students that had a combined total of 199 students enrolled and four teachers employed. There was only one school in 1936.[3] Today, Old Ocean is served by the Sweeny Independent School District.
References
- ^ "Old Ocean, Texas". Texas Escapes Online Magazine. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
- ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ a b c Old Ocean, TX from the Handbook of Texas Online
- ^ Zip Code Lookup
Municipalities and communities of Brazoria County, Texas, United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
This page was last edited on 29 December 2023, at 07:19