Baytown is an amalgam of the towns of Goose Creek, Pelly, and Baytown, which formed along the north shore of Galveston Bay after the Humble Oil and Refining Company (now ExxonMobil) built its first refinery in Baytown in 1919–1920, facing the newly opened Houston Ship Channel. At the turn of the twenty-first century, ExxonMobil's Baytown refinery is the largest refinery in the United States. In 1949, the three towns consolidated to form the incorporated city of Baytown. Goose Creek's downtown was rebuilt around 1950 to become the core of the new Baytown. After 1970, however, the centers of all three have withered as retail and financial institutions fled to the outskirts, especially along Garth Road, which goes north to intersect I-10.
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