Texas City is located on the Texas Gulf Coast, in Galveston County. It lies on the southwestern shore of Galveston Bay, just off the Gulf of Mexico. The city is positioned about 14 miles north of the city of Galveston and 40 miles south of Houston. The area was first settled by cattle ranchers, fruit growers and fishermen in the 1830's and was incorporated as a city in 1911. The city founders saw the location's potential as a shipping port and made efforts to develop Texas City as a shipping hub for crops and goods both by rail and by sea. Dredging began in the 1890's, and the city became a deep-water port with rail service running down to the docks that line the southeastern edge of town, where the city meets Galveston Bay.
