Major stories and events
In Katy’s historic downtown, pride in the city’s prairie-town heritage is palpable.
There’s the red “MKT” train, representing the rail line said to have given the town its name; the statue of geese, reminding those driving past of the birds once plentifully found there; and the towering rice dryer, signaling the economic driver that once fueled the town.
And so it followed that officials missed no opportunity to pay homage to tradition and to the past on Friday as they celebrated Katy’s new $7.5 million City Hall — a monumental white-columned, red-brick building with a design reminiscent of old times.
“This is a historical moment for our community,” said David Frishman, chairman of the dedication ceremony.
Indeed, the city of Katy, incorporated in 1945, has transformed rapidly in recent decades. Located about 30 miles west of downtown Houston, the city benefited as growth spread along Interstate 10.
It reached a milestone last fall when an analytics company declared the surrounding Katy area — which expands beyond the city to include all of Katy ISD — to have a larger population than the city of Pittsburgh.
Such tremendous growth brought the city to where it is today and necessitated a newcity hall structure, Mayor Fabol Hughes told the crowd.
“Your city is not the sleepy little bedroom community it was,” Hughes said. Mistaken as new church
After all, Katy Mills Mall — boosted by the recently opened water park Typhoon Texas adjacent to it tourist— could destination.be described Mean-as a while, the school district and the Katy High football program — still reveling in its eighth state championship win — continue to serve as reasons people move to town.
More than 200 attendees, a number dressed in suits and cowboy boots or dresses and heels, had gathered for the ceremony. They sat under the blister- ing sun in bleachers and folding chairs placed on Avenue C. Their backs faced the city’s old municipal complex, a low-slung building dedicated 41 years prior, Hughes said.
The new 33,000-squarefoot structure is topped by a clock tower and cupola from which a needle stretches for a total building height of 124 feet.
Above the columns, the facade bears the words “CITY HALL,” though one bystander said to another he’d heard the building had been mistaken as the new town church. “We wanted to carry really a Georgian, Federalist kind of theme,” said Jack Duran, of Turner Duran architects, which designed the building. “It was a communitywide request that it … carry through the historic feel of old Katy.” The old 20,000-squarefoot city hall has been deteriorating and showing its age. and Plans expandingcall for remodelingthe north section into a civic center and razing the southern section to make room for a plaza. The 75-minute ceremo- ny included two prayers (one by a rabbi, another by a Methodist pastor), two pledges (to the country and to the state) and two ceremonies rife with tradition (the presentation of colors by a local VFW post and a cornerstone leveling ceremony (including the local Masonic lodge). One speaker reviewed the settling of Texas, and eventually the Katy area. Shortened speech
Local dignitaries recognized among the crowd included state Rep. Cecil Bell, state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, Katy ISD Superintendent Alton Frailey, Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers, Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith and the mayors of Richmond, Rosenberg, Brookshire and Sealy.
State Comptroller Glenn Hegar, a Katy resident who traced his own family’s relationship to the place, gave the keynote speech, cutting it short given the heat. Tours followed of the new three-story structure, where air conditioning — a modern marvel — awaited.