Thomas Phillip Crosby came to Texas from New York in 1830, surveyed land along the Colorado River, and then settled on this tract along the Brazos River to build a landing for lower Brazos River plantation owners. Recognizing the importance of a site on the water, he established docks after being wounded in the Battle of Velasco in 1832 and shipped and received goods for local landowners from places including Galveston and New Orleans. Crosby's Landing was noted by Mary Austin Holley in an 1835 journal entry during her first visit to Texas, and in 1836 the steamboat Yellowstone carried Stephen F. Austin's body there for delivery to his brother-in-law's Peach Point Plantation for burial. Crosby was already providing postal service when his post office was officially approved by the Republic of Texas government in 1836, and the site also included a general store, a voting precinct, and a tax collection place. In 1860 Crosby was elected sheriff of Brazoria County but died before taking office, after which his son and grandson served in turn as postmaster. The landing served Peach Point Plantation, the Jack Plantation, and the Abner Jackson Plantation, and the Crosby family also operated one of four ferries crossing the Brazos in Brazoria County to connect plantations on both sides of the river. Although most of the 1,000 acres owned by Thomas Phillip Crosby were sold over the years, the site of Crosby's Landing remained in the Crosby family at the turn of the 21st century.