Bay City, TX

Bay City is a city located in Harris County, Texas. The population was 36,898 as of the 2010 census. Bay City is part of the Houston metropolitan area. Bay City is home to the Baytown Mall and the Baytown Convention Center.

Bay City has a long history dating back to 1836 when it was founded by John Kirby Smith and named Kirbyville after his father-in-law, Judge James Kirby Smith. In 1847, Kirbyville became part of Harrisburg Township and in 1853 it was renamed Baytown after George Sibley's bayou that ran through town. The first post office opened in 1853 with James Lusk as postmaster.

In 1870, a railroad line was built through town and soon businesses began to spring up to serve the new settlers. By 1880, there were already over 100 businesses in Baytown including a cotton gin, two general stores, three blacksmiths, two churches (one Methodist and one Baptist), two schools (one graded school and one common school), four saloons/taverns/hotels (the Grand Hotel being the most popular), three banks (two national banks and one local bank), four warehouses/distribution centers for goods coming into town from surrounding farms and ranches, as well as several manufacturing plants including a wagon factory operated by Jno Crouch & Co., which produced both wagons and sleighs; a saddlery shop operated by Wm Hargrave; an iron works run by A B Cook & Co.; a foundry operated by Jno Pritchett & Sons; as well as several other small businesses such as barbershops, tailors shops etc...

The population of Baytown grew rapidly due to its strategic location on major transportation routes - railroads running north-south through town along Buffalo Bayou while US Highway 59 ran east-west across town - making it an ideal place for merchants looking to open up shop near major highways or rail lines. This growth continued until World War II when many young men left town to fight in Europe while others joined the military stationed here at home.

In 1950, Interstate 10 was completed cutting off much of downtown from residential areas on either side of I-10 making it necessary for many businesses located downtown to relocate outwards onto Main Street or Highway 6 which had been designated as "The Boulevard" during this time period due to its wide array of retail stores that could be found along its length including department stores like Sears & Roebuck (now Macy's) plus movie theaters like Loew's State Theatre (now AMC Theatres) among others...

As suburbanization began taking hold in America during the late 1960s and 1970s many families started moving away from cities towards more affordable suburbs but this wasn't always easy given that most jobs at that time were still located within city limits where access to good public transportation was available...

However things started changing rapidly during the 1980s with the advent of technology which allowed companies located all over America to be accessed via computer networks instead of having employees travel long distances each day just to report for work...

This change led not onlyto increased job opportunities but also increased traffic congestion within city limits since more people were now living within walking distance of their place of employment instead of having to commute long distances each day...

As you can imagine then given all these factors combined - increased job opportunities coupled with increasing traffic congestion - business owners have had trouble keeping up with demand resulting in high vacancy rates throughout most parts of downtown... however this seems setto change somewhat thanks largelyto gentrification efforts being undertaken by various business owners who are now working together towards revitalizing old buildings into trendy restaurants bars etc... so while there still remains some challenges ahead for downtown merchants - namely high vacancy rates - things are definitely looking brighter than they have been in quite some time!