The highest point in Brazoria County is Shelton's Shack, located near the Dow Chemical Plant B Truck Control Center, measuring 342 ft above sea level.

Anglo-Texas began in Brazoria County when the first of Stephen F. Austin's authorized 300 American settlers arrived at the mouth of the Brazos in 1821.

In 1832, Brazoria was organized as a separate municipal district by the Mexican government, so became one of Texas original counties at independence in 1836.

The town of West Columbia served as the first capital of Texas, dating back to prerevolutionary days.

[4][5] Lake Jackson is a community developed beginning in the early 1940s to provide housing to workers at a new Dow Chemical Company plant in nearby Freeport.

However, after Jim Crow laws were cemented, many African-Americans moved to Houston and the county became majority white.

By 2022, due to the growth of ethnic minorities in Pearland, non-Hispanic white people were now a plurality and not a majority in the county as a whole.

After Jim Crow laws were imposed, black residents were suppressed politically until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

[12] Pearland native Kyle Kacal, a Republican from College Station, holds the District 12 state House seat based in Brazos and four neighboring counties.

[18] The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates six state prisons for men and its Region III office in unincorporated Brazoria County.

[24]) In 2007, TDCJ officials said discussions to move the Central Unit from Sugar Land to Brazoria County were preliminary.

They connect to the SH 288 Express Toll Lanes in Harris County operated by the Texas Department of Transportation.

BCTRA came into existence in December 2003 [37] when it saw that the Houston area needed more roadways and wanted to have a say so about any roads that come into Brazoria County.

The 288 Toll Lanes continue into Harris County (maintained by TxDOT) for ten miles up to I-69/US 59 in Houston.

Tolls are collected electronically and an EZ Tag, TxTag or TollTag is required for passage.