In 1873, when the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway wanted to build a station about 15 miles out of Galveston, the widow of Lent Munson Hitchcock offered the land as long as the town was named after her husband. Previously, the area had been settled in the 1840s and known as Highlands Bayou.

Hitchcock farmers negotiated with railway officials to facilitate shipping their overabundance of fruits and vegetables to other states. This brought prosperity to regional farmers.

Although in decline by the 1930s, the town gained attention during WWII when Camp Wallace and the Naval Air Station were built to operate a blimp base.