Where are the pear trees in Pearland?

Little is known about the city’s founder Witold de Zychlinski, a Polish nobleman who purchased 5,991 acres and platted about 500 acres as “Pear Land” in 1884. Just as the city’s founder is shrouded in mystery, so too is the origin of pear trees in the area.

Members of the Pearland Historical Society have debated the issue for years. Some say pear trees were part of the landscape. Others believe that Zychlinski instructed his assistants to plant flowering pear trees for their natural beauty and to attract would-be settlers drawn to the city, which was promoted as an “agricultural Eden”.

Area agriculture was devastated by the Galveston hurricane of 1900, the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. After the storm, local farmers grew oranges and figs, according to the Texas State Historical Association, and pears slowly withered out of existence.

To bring back the city’s namesake, the Pearland Alliance for Arts & Culture and the city teamed up for the Pear-Scape Art Sculpture Trail, a public art installation featuring 4-foot-tall hand-painted pears.