The Seat of Brazoria County, the town was founded in 1890 primarily to provide for a connecting railroad track to southern locations in the county. Faustino Kiber and Lewis Bryan bought land in the area in an effort to extend a railroad track to the town of Velasco. It was named Angleton after the family of George Angle. Today, Angleton is an award-winning Keep Texas Beautiful city with an abundance of antique shops and parkland.

Annual events include the Brazoria County Fair—considered the largest county fair in Texas—every October, and the Austin Town Festival, featuring the re-enactment of an 1830s town in Colonial Texas.