Incorporated on September 1, 1856, the Houston Tap and Brazoria Railway Company was authorized to run a line from Houston to Columbia, bridge the Brazos River, and extend the line to Wharton. In June 1858, the company bought seven miles of track from Houston to Pierce Junction, and by 1860 had opened fifty miles of track to Columbia, with the terminus on the east bank of the Brazos River. Bonds and loans financed the railway, and field hands from different plantations built the grades. Known as the "Sugar Road," the rail line was disrupted by the Civil War, fell into disrepair, and during the war years service stopped while the tracks were used to make weapons for the Confederate Army. After many financial difficulties, the line was sold to the Houston and Great Northern Railroad in 1873, and it was eventually abandoned between Arcola and East Columbia.