Clute, Texas

Clute is a city in Brazoria County, Texas, United States, within the Houston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,604. The city gained some fame with the discovery of a fossilized mammoth named Asiel.

Clute's history began at the junction of the old Calvit and Eagle Island Plantations. Alexander Calvit, one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, obtained title to the land in 1824. Eagle Island Plantation belonged to Jared Groce, the richest man in Austin's Colony. Calvit's plantation later became the Herndon sugar plantation, owned by John H. Herndon, who married Calvit's only daughter.

After the American Civil War, Joseph Pegan, Soloman (or Solomon) J. Clute, and several relatives including George and John Clute, founded a community near the plantation site. In 1881, the name Clute was adopted when both plantations were bought by Solomon J. Clute. George was described as, "a little Yankee from New York with a long, white beard." The other founders of Clute have also been described as northerners. The Clutes acquired additional land from Herndon, who put it up for auction in the 1870s. A deed dated March 17, 1886, transferred ownership from Soloman J. Clute to George Clute for property known as Clute's Place. Soloman Clute administered the community until 1888 or 1889, when it was sold. The Eagle Island Plantation of William H. Wharton occupied the site of present Restwood Memorial Park.

In 1933, Clute had only two businesses and a population of ten. By 1937 the town had a school for white children with two teachers and two schools for black children with one teacher each. In the early 1940s, Clute began to prosper with the advent of Dow Chemical and several large construction companies moving into Southern Brazoria County. A post office was established by 1943, and a new grade school was built in the 1950s.

In 1950, Clute had a population of 700 and thirty-six businesses; in 1954 the residents numbered 3,200 and the businesses forty-five. Clute was incorporated in May 1952 under the name Clute City, with a commission form of government; in 1955 the town changed its name back to Clute and adopted an alderman (city council) form of government.

Brazoswood High School opened in Clute in 1969 with grades 9–11. The first class graduated 356 students in May 1971. Brazoswood won the state championship in football in 1974.

In November 2003, a pair of mammoth tusks were found buried in a sand pit near Brazoswood High School by a backhoe operator. They are believed to be remains of the first-dated mammoth discovered on the Texas Gulf Coast.

The mammoth was judged to be about 38,000 years old, judging from the age of logs recovered near the site, and was considered to be a Columbian mammoth. These mammoths were slightly larger and less hairy than their famous cousin, the woolly mammoth. In addition, fossil logs and remains of bison, horse, deer and turtle are present, providing a glimpse of a unique Ice Age environment buried 35 feet below the surface, said Robson Bonnichsen, director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans.