Baytown & Surrounding Areas Local History: Local History Research

Located at 220 West Defee. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm, admission is free.

This webpage collects resources about Baytown history that are available at Sterling Municipal Library. Includes scanned documents from their Vertical File and scanned high school yearbooks.

An online digital archive of documents, images, sound recordings, etc., relating to Texas history.

Held and maintained by the University of Texas, this set of archives includes over 5,000 documents relating to Texas from 1717 up to 1836, while the area was under Spanish and then Mexican governance. This includes the area that is now Baytown. While the original documents are mostly in Spanish, many of them have been translated into English and are available through the website.

This regional history depository is operated under the auspices of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. It includes materials from Chambers County in its holdings.

This resource tells you which libraries own items related to Baytown and Chambers County history. It does NOT provide direct access to documents. You will have to go to the digital collections website of each library (digitized items), or to the library itself (physical items) to access the materials.

Non-profit organization concerned with the preservation of Baytown historical buildings, artifacts and documents.

Lee College holds 3 main sets of oral histories relating to Baytown's history, including the early days of the city and interviews with area veterans. Accessed through the Portal to Texas History.

This online slideshow about Baytown's early history was prepared Sterling Municipal Library.

Find the Baytown City Charter and current Code of Ordinances here.

This page from the City of Baytown website provides an overview of the city's history.

Article on the history of the Baytown area, by Buck A. Young.

Article written by Houston Chronicle reporter Craig Hlavaty.

Allows users to search for historical markers, cemeteries, courthouses and landmarks in the Baytown area. Provides locations and the texts of the markers.

Use this website to find information about individuals buried in Baytown. Verify information found on this website, as it is uploaded by volunteers.

Census records about individuals are sealed for 72 years from the time of the census. This page from the National Archives Dept. links to several sites that provide transcribed census data of individuals.