Texas Governor Greg Abbott is in Lake Jackson today to provide an update on the deadly amoeba Naeglera Fowleri, which has been found in the city's water supply for the second time in less than two weeks. Abbott issued a disaster declaration for Brazoria County after the Texas Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPS) warned residents of LakeJackson that amosbiosis had found its way into their water supply.
Lake Jackson immediately closed the splash pad on September 8 and found a private laboratory to test a 5-gallon water sample for amoeba. The McIntyre family informed investigators, and water samples taken from the Splash Pad on Lake Jackson and the Brazoria County water supply came back positive for amosbiosis.
Currently, a Drinking Water Regulation applies, but it will be repealed as soon as the TCEQ considers it safe for the public to drink. In one case, the Texas National Guard distributed free bottled water to affected residents per household for one day. Pearland City Water Department employees have been at Lake Jackson all day to help the city flush out its entire system, and affected school sites have stocked up on water for their students and staff.
Abner Jackson's plantation house, built by the Dow Chemical Company at the original site, is used as a recreational facility. Dow planned the development of the community in 1941 with the help of the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas Department of Natural Resources.
Business grew slowly at first, but steadily grew in the 1960s and 1970s, and the completion of the South Freeway accelerated the area's growth. In 1976, a regional shopping center opened within the city limits, attracted by its proximity to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Texas A & M University.
The number of businesses doubled in the 1970s, when Lake Jackson had a population of about 2,000 and an annual income of $1.5 million. By 1980, Hispanics made up about 10 percent of the population, and eighteen churches were operating in and around the congregation. Lake Jackson is home to more than 1,500 people with an average age of 35.
Twenty percent of households are individuals and 23.4 percent are non-families, but there are 42.6 percent with children under 18, 64.7 percent of them are cohabiting couples, 7.3 percent have a single person 65 years or older, 8.5 percent have a housekeeper without a husband, 6.2 percent live in a single-family home, 4.8 percent in an apartment or housing estate, 2.1 percent with a family of four or more children, 3.0 percent without children, 1.9 percent with two or fewer children. The median income for households in the city is $60,901, and the median income for families is $69,053, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. More than half of Lake Jackson's residents (49 percent) live below the poverty line, including more than a third of those with incomes of less than $20,000 a year, or about $14,500.
When the plantations fell into disrepair, the area became a black community that still had a single school with a teacher in 1937. The first school, which opened in 1943, offered classes up to eighth grade, but the racial makeup of the city was much more diverse than in other parts of Lake Jackson, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Soon, however, the buildings, huts, sugar houses and dwellings were converted to bricks produced on the plantations. As the city grew and the good sugar-making machinery was procured, the builders had to become more creative. Sugar houses were built of bricks, but the brick was plastered with cement one centimetre thick to make the building look like it was made of solid rock. They wanted to preserve as many trees as possible, a principle that is still being practised in the development of new subdivisions. Jalapeno, tangerine, mango and habanero were among the plants that were used and, as cities grew, they also had the ability to absorb other fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, tomatoes and peppers.
Lake Jackson is located in the south of the central district of Brazoria and borders the towns of Clute and Richwood. Today, less honored than in the beginning, the route through the city, meant by "driving," is a route outside the city. Texas State Highway 332 extends to the terminus in the city, and the highway that passes through LakeJackson is an exception to this naming.
The municipality was founded in 1943 and founded in April 1944. In July 1945 it was given a post office, which at that time became part of the expanding industrial area of Brazosport.
The sugar mill on the Lake Jackson Plantation was modernized in the late 1940s and early 1950s to include a sugar mill and an oil refinery.