Pasadena itself was brand new when the strawberries arrived. In 1893 a Galveston developer named John H. Burnett laid out a townsite on the prairie southeast of Houston and, taken with the green of the place, borrowed the name of Pasadena, California. The railroad reached it in 1894, and the settlement grew as a farming community — strawberries above all, but also cantaloupe, figs, and the fragrant cape jasmine — supplying the Houston markets just up the road. For its first decades Pasadena was a quiet country town on the edge of a growing city.
Our Pasadena logo carries Texas's longhorn and Lone Star above ‘Texas Republic — Est. 1845,’ the shared retro emblem of our Texas towns. The longhorn stands for ranching toughness and the star for the Lone Star State, and the 1845 date marks Texas statehood; the emblem is the through-line that links Pasadena to every other Texas town we make. It suits this one well — the same Western spirit that filled the Gilley's dance floor, stamped over a town that has always worn its boots and its grit with pride. What makes this one Pasadena is the strawberry sweetness underneath the swagger.
Why People Visit Pasadena
Pasadena balances big-city access with Gulf-coast ease. Visitors pair the strawberry and Western heritage with bayou boardwalks, festival weekends, and a short hop to Houston, the Space Center nearby, or the beach. It is friendly, unpretentious, and family-oriented, with year-round appeal in its parks, trails, and public spaces. History and everyday culture sit side by side here in a welcoming way.
