Imperial Sugar Company Refinery Historic District, Sugar Land, TX - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

From the National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Imperial Sugar Company Refinery Historic District, Sugar Land, Fort Bend County, Texas

Statement of Significance

The Imperial Sugar Company Refinery at 198 Kempner Street in Sugar Land, Texas is the site of the longest-operating sugar cane refinery in Texas (1843-2003) and is foundational to the existence of the City of Sugar Land. Throughout the 160 years of continuous operation on the same site, the City of Sugar Land developed around it, first as a company town, and then later incorporating. The history of Imperial Sugar and Sugar Land are so intertwined as to be the same, and even though the refinery is no longer operational, corporate headquarters for Imperial Sugar are still located in Sugar Land, Texas. Four different sugar refining operations have utilized this property beginning in 1843, with the Imperial Sugar Company using the property for the longest period, from 1907 until 2003. All of the existing resources within the Imperial Sugar Company Refinery Historic District are associated with the Imperial Sugar Company and were the most critical for the site’s function as a refinement, packaging, and shipping facility. Though most of the complex has been demolished, the remaining buildings and structures housed critical functions unique to the manufacturing and sales processes. The Imperial Sugar Company Refinery is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A in the area of Industry at the local level of significance with a period of significance from 1923 to 1967.

Narrative Description

The Imperial Sugar Company Refinery Historic District includes five contributing historic resources and two non contributing resources of the former industrial sugar refining complex in Sugar Land, Fort Bend County, Texas. The functionally related industrial complex is the remaining 4.8-acre portion of a facility that encompassed 25.4 acres, where sugar was refined, finished, bagged and shipped. The nominated district includes four contributing buildings and one structure (a section of railroad track), and two non contributing structures (covered walkways and silos, constructed outside of the period of significance). The buildings include industrial warehouses and an office, all of which relate to aspects of the sugar refining process. One building in particular, the Char House is a well-known and beloved landmark for local residents, and its height at eight stories sets it towering over every other building on the site. The Char House served as the hub for the refinery during its lifespan as the key building for the refining process.

The four buildings and three structures are those remaining of the larger industrial complex and located is a contiguous 4.8 acre historic district and are representative of the company’s growth and adaptation to new technologies and collectively serve as a reminder of the importance of the sugar refinery to the development of Sugar Land.

Contributing Buildings

Char House (1925)

Engineering Building (ca 1953)

3-Bay Refined Sugar Warehouse (ca 1923)

Container Warehouse (ca 1950)

Railroad Tracks (fragment) (ca 1908)

Non Contributing Buildings/Structures

Sugar Silos 1997

Covered Walkways ca.1980

Justification for Proposed District

These seven resources are all those that remain clustered around the Char House of the former refinery complex. At its peak, the refinery complex contained almost fifty buildings, structures, and objects including sheds, warehouses, refinery pipes and conveyors, and cisterns. The others were demolished by previous owners in preparation for failed\ redevelopments or life safety or environmental precautions. The remaining seven buildings and structures are representative examples of the refinery’s historic industrial processes, and they best demonstrate the site’s historic function of processing, packaging, and shipping sugar.

The Char House is an iconic structure to Sugar Land residents and remains the anchor for the proposed district. The char house served as the location for the five steps of processing milled, raw sugar, including affination, carbonation, decolorization, boiling and crystallization, and recovery.

Though non-contributing due to their age (c. 1997), the silos provide valuable context as the location for the final products from the char house before packaging and shipment. The silos are a visual reminder of the company’s continued operations until the end of the twentieth century. Furthermore, the “slip form” technology used to construct the seamless concrete silos is a visual reminder of the company’s commitment to technological advancement.

The 3-Bay Refined Sugar Warehouse, the Container Warehouse, and the railroad tracks all effectively communicate the importance of shipping and transportation for the refined goods. The remaining overhead doors in the 3-Bay Refined Sugar Warehouse also effectively demonstrate the introduction of trucking as a shipment method, not just rail.

Finally, the engineering building served as the center of employee needs. As stated above, the engineering building was used for research and development, and it also held the administrative offices, including payroll. Every employee at the refinery would go to the engineering building, at the very least to pick up their paycheck. The engineering building remains the best example of the refinery’s administrative functions.

These buildings were constructed in their current locations as new technologies, both architectural and industrial, became more prevalent. For instance, the existing Char House replaced an iron-clad char as illustrated in the Sanborn maps. The 1925 Char House, constructed with fire-resistant materials, appears to have provided more square footage for refinement, allowing the company to produce a larger volume of sugar as the company grew and to accommodate new mechanical equipment, including centrifuges and evaporators. The construction of the two warehouses, on locations previously dominated by rail spurs, further emphasizes the transition from rail transport to automotive shipping. The demolition of the cooperage and commissary (both visible in the 1940 Sanborn) to make way for newer buildings also speaks to the evolution of the company’s needs, particularly as packaging types changed and after Imperial Sugar was no longer the sole employer for Sugar Land.

Street address: 198 Kempner Sugar Land, TX USA County / Borough / Parish: Fort Bend County Year listed: 2017 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Industry Periods of significance: 1923-1967 Historic function: Commerce/Warehouse; Industry/Manufacturing Facility Current function: Recreation/Museum Privately owned?: yes Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   05/31/2021 Raven visited it 09/04/2006 ggmorton visited it

View all visits/logs