Rosenberg grew on part of the original Mexican land grant of early settler Henry Scott, where a small, unnamed shipping point existed on the Brazos as early as 1830. The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad had tracks here before 1860, but the town developed after the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad arrived in 1880, built a station at its crossing with the B. B. B. & C., and in 1883 bought and platted a 200-acre site with a central square between the Brazos and the railroad. The town was named for Henry Rosenberg of Galveston, a financial backer and president of the G. C. & S. F. Count Joseph Telfener, an Italian investor, established offices here in 1881 to build the New York, Texas & Mexican Railway, which extended to Victoria. R. T. Mulcahy, called the "Father of Rosenberg," arrived in 1883 and for 40 years promoted schools, business, and government. The first newspaper, "The Silver X-Ray," was founded in 1895, Methodist and Baptist churches were active before the town was incorporated in 1900, and in 1912 the community gained city water, electric lights, and the chartering of a Boy Scout troop, one of the first in Texas. Oil and sulphur discoveries and highway development after 1920 made Rosenberg a center of trade and steady growth.