City History

The recorded history of the Cleveland area began in 1836 when the Texas General Land Office began giving land grants in exchange for service in the Army. A community formed after 1878 when Charles Lander Cleveland, a local judge, deeded 63.6 acres of land to the Houston, East and West Texas Railway for only one dollar with the request that a station bear his name.

Cleveland Train Depot
Proletarian Diamond Oil Association Members

In 1900 the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe railroad appeared so Cleveland served as a junction for these major railways. Soon the echoes of saws and steam engines filled the forests around Cleveland as sawmill towns proliferated and East Texas’s lumber industry grew up amidst these railroad towns. The Cleveland area was finally incorporated in 1939. Now most of the sawmills are gone, yet Cleveland remains a vital shipping point for lumber products and also sand and gravel.

Located in Liberty County, Cleveland lies 45 miles north of Houston on U.S. Highway 59. Centered among mixed pine and hardwood forests and surrounded by the East Fork, and San Jacinto Rivers; the Cleveland area is a beautiful environment where one can find most everything they need to live a good life. With a thriving economy, great schools, churches, recreation, and friendly people; Cleveland is truly “What a Hometown Should Be.”

View more historical photos from Cleveland.

Parade in Cleveland