Community Center

The Village was established through filing of a plat for the townsite of “Custer”.  The town was then changed to honor Joe Bonney, an eccentric conductor of the Columbia Tap train that once linked up with the International & Great Northern Railroad to Houston.  By 1889 the Village of Bonney established a local post office and in 1890 had a general store.  By 1906 there was a school and twenty students.

A “big boom” was proposed at Bonney in 1911, when “a large company” acquired about 5,000 acres in the area. Plans were announced for a development that would include the sale of farm sites, as well as the construction of both a large hotel and a bank. According to a newspaper article about the plan, stock in this development was already being sold, but the plan never fully materialized. This was one of several such schemes in that era, during which developers “sold” parcels in Brazoria County to unwary Northerners.

The Post Office was discontinued in 1920. In 1955 the town had one business and twenty-five citizens.  The Village of Bonney, located in Brazoria County Voting Precinct 4, was incorporated by voters August 14, 1976.  And in 1988 the population was ninety-nine and a new City Hall was constructed 1999. A beautifully rural residential community located 30 minutes south of Houston with a population of 310, according to information from the 2011 Census. Located on FM 521, serving as our Main Street, portions of Bonney are crossed by County Roads 51 and 618. 

Operating with a mayor and aldermen, the village has no marshal or other local peace officer, providing for law enforcement through an Interlocal agreement with Brazoria County for service by sheriff’s deputies. The village has no property tax, financing its modest expenses through franchise fees paid by Reliant Energy, HL&P and Verizon telephone.