The area in which Missouri City is now located holds a significant part in the history of Texas that dates back to its early days as part of the United States. In August 1853, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway (BBB&C), began operating its first twenty miles (32 km) of rail line that stretched from Harrisburg (now Houston) to Stafford's Point (now Stafford). It was the first railroad to begin operating in Texas, and the first standard gauge railroad west of the Mississippi River.
The railway continued its extension westward until, in 1883, it linked with its eastward counterpart, completing the Sunset Route from Los Angeles to New Orleans. Today, the route of the BBB&C (now owned by the Union Pacific Railroad) is still an important and heavily operated railroad line.
In 1890, two real estate investors from Houston (R.M. Cash and L.E. Luckle) purchased four square miles of land directly on the route of the BBB&C, only a mile and a half from its first stop at Stafford's Point. They advertised the property as "a land of genial sunshine and eternal summer" in St. Louis, Missouri, and its surrounding areas. Three years later, W.R. McElroy purchased 80 acres (320,000 m2) in the same vicinity, and in effort to promote the area jointly with Cash and Luckle in St. Louis, he named it "Missouri City". Its first actual settlers were from Arlington, Texas, near Dallas and Fort Worth.
The settlement was officially registered in Texas in 1894, and began to take shape as a railroad town along present-day US 90A at Texas Parkway, then known as Main Street and Blue Ridge Road. Its growth took an unexpected turn when, on February 14, 1895, shortly after the first group of settlers had arrived, the town was hit with a blizzard. This discouraged some of the newcomers who gave up and moved elsewhere. Those unwaivered stayed and found success in farming and ranching.
Among its first businesses were a blacksmith shop, a depot, and a general store, which also housed the first post office. The first Catholic church was built in 1913, but was destroyed by a hurricane in 1915. The new church built to replace it stood until 1990.
Oil was discovered in nearby Blue Ridge in 1919; soon after, a salt mine opened there. Missouri City became the railroad shipping point for these two resources. In 1925, at the same location, natural gas was discovered. After a pipeline had been constructed the following year, Missouri City became the first town in Fort Bend County to make use of natural gas.
With the benefit of a railroad, Missouri City had already been home to commuters who, by train, commuted to adjacent towns like Stafford's Point and Sugar Land to work. With the increase of automobiles and improvement of roads and highways in the early part of the 20th century, the developing community gradually attracted a wealth of newcomers. This gave birth to a new generation of commuters replacing railroad commuters that eventually became obsolete. By the 1950s, the town began to take shape as a notable "bedroom community" suburb of Houston.
After fear and rumor spread of possible annexation of the unincorporated town by Houston, town leaders scrambled to piece together a city government. On March 13, 1956, the community that began as a small settlement more than 55 years earlier was incorporated.
Missouri City has since seen tremendous economic growth, moving eastward, southward, and then westward. The city was first made over by Fondren Park (in Harris County), near US 90A, in the early 1960s, followed by Quail Valley, along Cartwright Road between Texas Parkway and Murphy Road, in the late 1960s. It should be noted that, unlike neighboring Houston, Missouri City has been a zoned city since 1981. Multifamily complexes (e.g. apartments and condominiums) are a rare find because of the current zoning ordinance.
The Missouri City area's recent upscale, master-planned residential developments include Lake Olympia, south of Quail Valley, and portions of Riverstone, south of State Highway 6. The nearby unincorporated area of Sienna Plantation, also located south of State Highway 6, is situated on and around land once occupied by plantations where, among other things, sugarcane and cotton were harvested.
Missouri City is served by US 90A, Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Tollway), Fort Bend Toll Road, State Highway 6, FM 1092 (Murphy Road), FM 2234 (Texas Parkway), and FM 3345 (Cartwright Road). Other nearby highways are US 59, and Interstate 610 (Loop 610).
Although Missouri City does not have public transportation within the city limits itself, it is part of the service area of METRO. METRO operates the Missouri City Park and Ride located on Beltway 8 and Fondren Road, which is the terminus of express bus Route 163 Fondren to Sharpstown and Downtown Houston and Route 170 Missouri City Express to the Texas Medical Center (terminating at the Texas Medical Center Transit Center METRORail station there).
Discussions continue on commuter service along US 90A from METRORail's Fannin South station, initially to terminate at the Ft Bend County line near Beltway 8. Expansion westward awaits, among other things, formation of a transportation district or other funding means for communities that are not now in the METRO service area.
