Brownwood: the Baytown neighborhood that sank, flooded, and became the Nature Center

Brownwood did not disappear because of one bad day. The land had been sinking for years, so each major storm reached a neighborhood that sat lower than before. The Nature Center is the same piece of ground, with the old street traces still inside it.

The short version

• Brownwood was laid out in the 1940s and 1950s on a peninsula of about 450 acres between Burnet, Crystal and Scott bays, with lots for about 400 homes and water on three sides. The city now lists the Nature Center peninsula at 500 acres; the two numbers are the sources' own, one for the old subdivision and one for the park today.
• The land sank roughly 9 to 10 feet in the 20th century. Pumping groundwater for industry let the clay under the Houston area compact, and Brownwood sat on some of the worst of it.
• Hurricane Carla in 1961 put tides into homes that had never flooded. Hurricane Alicia in 1983 finished it: a 10.6-foot surge at Baytown, and about 300 families could not return.
• The federal government bought the lots; the city, over many residents' objections, took the land and made it a nature center in the mid-1990s.
• Today: the Baytown Nature Center, 6213 Bayway Drive, about seven miles of trails, 317 bird species recorded, four fishing piers, two pavilions, two overlooks and the Crystal Bay Butterfly Garden.

A neighborhood on the water

In the years after the war, Baytown's refinery and plants were booming and Brownwood was where you wanted to live. Streets were cut through the brush on a peninsula with Scott Bay on one side and Crystal and Burnet bays on the others, and houses went up facing the water. The Houston History Magazine calls it one of Baytown's most desirable neighborhoods. Roads and lots for 400 homes were platted on about 450 acres.

The ground gave way

The problem was under the lawns. Houston's industry drew enormous amounts of water from the ground, and as the water left, the clay layers compacted and the surface dropped. The effect was first noticed in the early 1900s near the Goose Creek oil field, right here in Baytown. By the 1970s the Gulf Coast had sunk 10 to 15 feet in places, and Brownwood had dropped roughly 9 to 10 feet, depending on the source you read. The Texas Legislature created the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District in May 1975, the first body of its kind in the country, to limit groundwater pumping; between 1977 and 1997 the aquifer's water level fell more than 100 feet before the switch to surface water took hold. For Brownwood it was too late. Every foot the land sank was a foot closer to the bay.

Carla, then Alicia

Hurricane Carla in 1961 brought high tides into Brownwood homes that had never flooded, and residents confronted the word subsidence for the first time. For twenty years the neighborhood held on through nuisance floods. Then Hurricane Alicia made landfall on August 18, 1983. The Weather Service measured the surge at Baytown at 10.6 feet above mean sea level. About 300 families could not go back. The Baytown Sun has called Alicia the storm that left a deeper imprint on Baytown than any before or since, and Brownwood is the reason.

The buyout

After Alicia the federal government bought out the residents' interests, and the subdivision was condemned. Homes were bought and bulldozed within a couple of years. Many residents did not want to leave, and the city's decision to take the land and turn it into a nature center was made over their objections. The exact year the center opened is given differently by different sources, 1994 or 1995; the mid-1990s is safe.

What is there now

The Baytown Nature Center sits on the whole 500-acre peninsula at 6213 Bayway Drive, surrounded by Burnet, Crystal and Scott bays. The city counts about seven miles of hiking trails, 317 species of resident and migrating birds, four fishing piers, two pavilions, two overlooks, picnic shelters and the Crystal Bay Butterfly Garden near the entrance. Hurricane Ike in 2008 badly damaged it; it was rebuilt. Here and there the old streets and driveway aprons still show through the grass.

Hours, admission and park rules are posted by the city's parks department; the Nature Center page on baytown.org links to them. There is an entry fee. Check the current amount and hours there before you drive out, since they can change. Bring water and bug spray, and walk the paths at the edge of the bay in the morning if you can, when the birds are moving and the heat has not set in.

Why it matters for your street

Brownwood is the plainest lesson Baytown has about living on the bay: the land can move, the water will come, and a flood map drawn in one decade can be wrong in the next. The Front Desk street card will tell you your FEMA flood zone; the Nature Center will show you what a zone looks like when the bay wins.

Related

• Storm surge and Baytown: 1900, 1961, 1983, 2008 and the maps now
• Baytown Nature Center (listing)

Sources

• Houston History Magazine, "Brownwood: From Neighborhood to Nature Center" (https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/2019/03/brownwood-from-neighborhood-to-nature-center/)
• Center for Land Use Interpretation, Brownwood Subdivision (https://clui.org/ludb/site/brownwood-subdivision)
• Texas Escapes, Wanda Orton, "Death of a Subdivision" (https://www.texasescapes.com/Wanda-Orton/Death-of-a-subdivision.htm)
• Baytown Sun, "How Hurricane Alicia reshaped bayside Baytown" (https://baytownsun.com/news/how-hurricane-alicia-reshaped-bayside-baytown/article_a885a256-0792-11e3-95cd-0019bb2963f4.html)
• Harris-Galveston Subsidence District, history (https://hgsubsidence.org/?p=134)
• National Weather Service, Hurricane Alicia surge survey (https://www.weather.gov/lch/1983Alicia-Surge)
• City of Baytown, Baytown Nature Center, About (https://baytown.org/907/About)

En español

Brownwood: el vecindario de Baytown que se hundió, se inundó y se volvió Centro de la Naturaleza

Si usted camina por los senderos del Centro de la Naturaleza de Baytown, cruzará viejas entradas de casas que no llevan a ninguna parte. Eran de Brownwood, antes una de las mejores direcciones de Baytown. El terreno se hundió, la bahía entró y en los años 80 el vecindario fue comprado y demolido. Hoy hay 500 acres de pantano, senderos y aves. Brownwood no desapareció por un solo mal día. El suelo llevaba años hundiéndose, y cada tormenta grande llegaba a un vecindario más bajo que antes.

Lo esencial

• Brownwood se trazó en los años 40 y 50 en una península de unos 450 acres entre las bahías Burnet, Crystal y Scott, con lotes para unas 400 casas y agua por tres lados. La ciudad indica hoy 500 acres para el Centro de la Naturaleza.
• El terreno se hundió entre 9 y 10 pies durante el siglo XX porque la industria extraía tanta agua subterránea que la arcilla se compactó. El primer efecto se notó a principios de 1900 cerca del campo petrolero de Goose Creek, en el mismo Baytown.
• El Distrito de Subsidencia Harris-Galveston se creó en mayo de 1975, el primero de su tipo en el país, para limitar el bombeo de agua. Entre 1977 y 1997 el nivel del acuífero bajó más de 100 pies.
• El huracán Carla, en 1961, metió la marea en casas que nunca se habían inundado. El huracán Alicia, el 18 de agosto de 1983, dejó una marejada de 10.6 pies en Baytown, según el Servicio Meteorológico. Unas 300 familias no pudieron volver.
• El gobierno federal compró los lotes, el vecindario fue declarado inhabitable y las casas se demolieron en un par de años. Muchos residentes no querían irse, y la ciudad tomó el terreno para hacer un centro de la naturaleza, que abrió a mediados de los años 90 (las fuentes dicen 1994 o 1995).

Lo que hay hoy

El Centro de la Naturaleza de Baytown está en 6213 Bayway Drive, en toda la península de 500 acres. Tiene unas siete millas de senderos, 317 especies de aves registradas, cuatro muelles de pesca, dos pabellones, dos miradores, áreas para picnic y el Jardín de Mariposas de Crystal Bay. El huracán Ike lo dañó mucho en 2008 y fue reconstruido. Todavía se ven las viejas calles y entradas de casas entre el pasto.

Hay una cuota de entrada. El horario, la cuota actual y las reglas del parque están en la página del Centro de la Naturaleza en baytown.org; consúltelos antes de ir. Lleve agua y repelente, y si puede, camine por la orilla de la bahía por la mañana, cuando las aves se mueven y todavía no hace tanto calor.

Por qué importa para su calle

Brownwood es la lección más clara que tiene Baytown sobre vivir junto a la bahía: la tierra se mueve, el agua llega, y un mapa de inundación hecho en una década puede estar mal en la siguiente. La tarjeta de calle del Front Desk le dice su zona de inundación de FEMA. El Centro de la Naturaleza le muestra cómo se ve una zona cuando gana la bahía.