League City was settled at the former site of a
Karankawa Indian village. Three families, the Butlers, the Cowarts, and the Perkinses, are considered to be the founding families of the city. The Winfield Family has also recently been acknowledged as a founding family by the City Government. The Cowart family settled on a creek now called Cowart's Creek after them (now often called "Coward's Creek"). The Perkins family built on a creek notably lined with
magnolia trees and named it Magnolia Bayou. The Butler family settled inland. The Winfield Family purchased land in League City from the great nephew of Stephen F. Austin and moved there, to a place near what is now Hobbs Road. The first resident of the town proper, George W. Butler, arrived from
Louisiana in 1854 and settled at the junction of
Clear Creek and Chigger Bayou. The area was known as Butler's Ranch or Clear Creek until J. C. League acquired the land from a man named Muldoon on his entering the priesthood. This began a small feud over the name, as Butler was the postmaster. The name was changed several times, alternating between Clear Creek and the new League City. In the end, League City was chosen. In 1907, League had two railroad flatcars of
live oak trees left by the railroad tracks. These were for the residents to plant on their property. Butler and his son Milby supervised the planting of these trees, now known as the Butler Oaks. Many of them line Main Street to this day. Starting in the early 1970s, the bodies of 30 murdered women were discovered in Galveston County, with 4 being discovered in League City, and more have gone missing from the same area. This location has become known as the
Texas Killing Fields. In the 2000s, rising real estate costs in
Galveston forced many families to move to other areas, including League City. This meant an influx of children out of
Galveston ISD and into other school districts like
Clear Creek ISD and
Dickinson ISD. ==Geography==