In 1857, Theophilus helped charter the Richmond Masonic Hall Association, symbolizing the elite status of the Simonton family in Fort Bend County.

[11] This census also revealed that their plantation had 975 improved acres that produced 11,000 bushels of corn and 600 bales of cotton.

[10] Like many Texas plantation owners, they supported the Confederacy.On January 4, 1864, Joseph, James, and Theo Simonton wrote General J.B. Magruder that they were about to place in Confederate service about 40 [slaves]....

During the Fort Bend Jaybird-Woodpecker political battles during post-Civil War Reconstruction, the Simonton brothers joined the Jaybirds, a faction within the Democratic Party, who wanted to oust the Woodpeckers, primarily blacks and their white allies, from the county administration.

[12] In October 1888 in nearby Pittsville, Theophilus Simonton Jr. was arrested by the county sheriff for fatally shooting a local black leader, Lamar Johnson, and injuring his half-brother, Taylor Randonan.

[13] This incident gained regional and national[14] attention for the deep racial divisions of the Jaybird-Woodpecker War raging throughout Fort Bend County.

Although he had lost his slaves by the time of his death, his estate was valued at $1,311,010, a considerable sum by the standards of Reconstruction Texas.

[17]Their deaths accompanied by the industrial revolution that was sweeping the United States drastically altered the economic means, and thus the social and political roles, in Simonton as well as throughout Fort Bend Country.

According to oral history documentation, the Ku Klux Klan was present in Simonton from the early 20th Century, as they were in many Texas small towns, and were especially active due to the influx of foreign-born immigrants, who moved to Simonton to work as farm and ranch help for the local cattle ranches and pecan groves.

[18] The next event shaping Simonton history was the advent, around 1888, of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railroad.

Also the brainchild of "Snake" Bailey, it is a large indoor rodeo arena in full swing every Saturday night, drawing people from Houston and elsewhere for a taste of the "real west.

"[27] He rode in a stagecoach, and later a barrel racer gave the premier a cowboy-style duster and a ten-gallon hat, both of which he donned and displayed before the crowd.

[25][28][29] Deng's visit to the Simonton rodeo is considered to be the tipping point in the thaw of US-China relations.

[25][30][31] The Simonton Rodeo closed by 1997 when it was bought and restored by Benchmark Wireline, an oil services company.

A China Daily Global video captures the memories of this visit, including Katie Van Dries whose father Luke owned the rodeo at that time.

The photographs of Deng in the cowboy hat appeared in American newspapers, displaying a distinctly human side to a previously mysterious Chinese leader.

[34]The Stetson hat is displayed in the National Museum of China in the center of the exhibit hall which focuses on Deng.

This excitement generated change Sino-American perceptions of each other, as exemplified in a Chinese Foreign Ministry video "The Cowboy-Hat and "Deng Whirlwind — The First Visit to the United States by a Leader of New China.

[4] Almost all of the City is located within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 100-year floodplain of the Brazos River.

[48] The United States Postal Service operates the Simonton Post Office at 35608 Farm to Market Road 1093.