Fulton is a town in Aransas County, Texas, United States. As of 2026, this South Texas coastal fishing community had a population of 1,655. The town is named for George Ware Fulton, a land developer in the area.
History
thumb|left|The home of George Ware Fulton, Sr., now a Texas State Historic Site and open to the public.
Fulton was founded in 1866, and named by George Ware Fulton, Sr., whose wife Harriet Smith Fulton inherited on the northern end of the Live Oak Peninsula, including the area where Mr. Fulton created the town he named for himself. Fulton had been a teacher in Indiana and decided to come to Texas by flatboat with 60 other men during the war for independence between Texas and Mexico. After the long trip to Texas, George Fulton found that the war was over but he joined the Army of the Republic of Texas for a few months. He worked for Henry Smith, the first Governor of Texas, and married Smith's daughter, Harriet. They raised a family and moved around the country as George found jobs supervising railroads and building bridges. When Harriet inherited 48,000 acres of the Texas coast, they moved back to live on the Live Oak Peninsula.
After ten years, the Fultons built a large house, now known as the Fulton Mansion, just south of the town. The Fulton's owned thousands of cattle wandering on their extensive lands, and formed a cattle company with others. Mr. Fulton built slaughterhouses and patented a chilled slaughterhouse, the first in the world. The town quickly became the site for many slaughterhouses as cattle from south Texas were driven to Fulton. The cattle slaughterhouses lasted until the 1880s when railroads reached the area and provided ways to ship live cattle to population centers such as Chicago.
In 1930, some evidence of a prehistoric settlement was found in the Fulton area, possibly Karankawan.
On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Fulton at category 4 intensity. It caused significant damage to the town such as destruction to the Fulton Mansions chimney and roof causing water damage on the inside as well. As of the town itself, hotels, homes, and structures were destroyed later causing a 3-5 year recovery from all the debris in the small town of Southeast Texas.
Geography
Fulton is located on the western shore of Aransas Bay. It is bordered to the south by the city of Rockport, the county seat. Texas State Highway 35 passes through the center of the town, leading north across the inlet of Copano Bay. Corpus Christi is to the southwest, and Port Lavaca is to the northeast.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 42.77%, is water.
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Fulton has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.
Demographics
2020 census
{| class="wikitable"
|+Fulton racial composition<br /> (NH = Non-Hispanic)
!Race
!Number
!Percentage
|-
|White (NH)
|1,095
|71.9%
|-
|Black or African American (NH)
|10
|0.66%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native (NH)
|12
|0.79%
|-
|Asian (NH)
|98
|6.43%
|-
|Some Other Race (NH)
|11
|0.72%
|-
|Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH)
|71
|4.66%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino
|226
|14.84%
|-
|Total
|1,523
|
|}
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,523 people, 542 households, and 370 families residing in the town.
2000 census
As of the census
Education
All of Fulton is served by the Aransas County Independent School District.
Pupils are served by the Little Bay Primary School (Rockport, Pre-K–K), Live Oak 1–3 Learning Center (Rockport), Fulton 4–5 Learning Center (Fulton), Rockport-Fulton Middle School (Rockport), and Rockport-Fulton High School (Rockport).
The town is also served by the Aransas County Public Library, located in Rockport.
References
External links
- Town of Fulton official website