Katy, Texas History | Railroads, Rice, Hurricanes & I-10
Long before Katy had streets, schools, or railroad tracks, the land was home to the Karankawa people, who lived, hunted, and traveled across the coastal plains of what is now Southeast Texas. The City of Katy sits on Karankawa tribal lands, and the first recorded European contact with the tribe occurred in 1528.
Over the next 250 years, Spanish and French explorers moved through the region seeking land, trade routes, and opportunity. Tensions grew, and by 1779, the Karankawa were at war with Spanish settlers. That conflict ended in 1790, and soon after, permanent settlement slowly began.
Cane Island Is Born
In the early 1800s, the area that would one day become Katy was known as Cane Island. The name came from a creek that flowed through the land—a branch of Buffalo Bayou—lined with tall cane that was not native to the region. Historians believe the cane may have been planted by either the Karankawa or Spanish explorers to help with fur trapping, a practice that continued into the 1820s…