This unique town was built and developed around the sugar industry, on land granted to Samuel M. Williams in 1828. Williams' brother, Nathaniel, purchased the land in 1838 and with a third brother, Mathew, operated Oakland plantation growing cotton, corn and sugarcane. In 1853, Benjamin Terry and William J. Kyle purchased the plantation. Terry is known for organizing Terry's Texas Rangers during the Civil War and for naming the town. Upon the deaths of Terry and Kyle, Colonel E. H. Cunningham bought the 12,500 acre plantation soon after the Civil War and developed the town around his sugar refining plant. In the early 1900's the refinery was sold and named Imperial Sugar. Around the turn of the century, most of the sugar cane crops were destroyed by a harsh winter. Now refineries import cane through the Port of Galveston. Sugar Land remained a company town until incorporated in 1959. Today Sugar Land has a diversified economic base. The city's growth parallels the huge growth of Houston and Harris County.