NASSAU BAY, TEXAS. Nassau Bay is on Nassau Lake across Farm Road 528 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Centerqv in southeastern Harris County. The community was developed by the Ernest W. Roe Company from the former Spirit of 1776 Ranch of Col. Raymond Pearson. Construction on the 570-acre community began in 1962 under architect Thompson McCleary of Caudill, Rowlett, and Scott. The site was bounded by Clear Lake, Carlton Bayou, and Swan Lagoon. Nassau Bay Development Associates, representing a group of six Houston businessmen, built several stores, some 15 office buildings, 400 apartments, and 1,000 homes. Marinas, parks, a private club, a hotel, a hospital, a bank, and a shopping center followed. Families first moved into the new development in 1964, and the community incorporated in 1970. From a population of 400, Nassau Bay grew to 2,979 residents by 1968 and to 6,200 by 1974. Its population reached 6,702 in 1980 but declined to 4,526 by 1982. In 1991 Nassau Bay reported a population of 4,506. The population was 4,170 in 2000.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Houston Metropolitan Research Center Files, Houston Public Library. Stephen B. Oates, "NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center at Houston, Texas," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 67 (January 1964). Richard Shanks, "Nassau Bay," Junior Historian, September 1965.
Diana J. Kleiner
