German, Austrian, and Czech immigrants settled small farms in Fort Bend County in the 1890s

After the Civil War, Fort Bend's large plantations broke into smaller farms. From 1890 to 1900, about 400 immigrants from Germany, Austria, and Bohemia came to the county. Many worked as small farmers or merchants.

These settlers helped build towns like Beasley and Needville. They joined a county already shaped by Anglo settlers, enslaved Black residents and their descendants, and earlier Indigenous people.

That history is still visible in southern Fort Bend's small towns. Beasley and Needville both grew from that rail-era farm settlement.