Spring Branch is a district in west-northwest Harris County, Texas, United States, roughly bordered by Tanner Road and Hempstead Road to the north, Beltway 8 to the west, Interstate 10 to the south, and the 610 Loop to the east; it is almost entirely within the city of Houston. () Established by the Texas Legislature, the Spring Branch Management District exercises jurisdiction over the area.
Several minor bayous run through the community, including Brickhouse Gully, Spring Branch (the neighborhood namesake), and Briar Branch, which drain into Buffalo Bayou in central Houston. Spring Lake is a large pond near the center of the neighborhood.
Spring Branch includes significant immigrant Korean American and Hispanic American communities,Lomax, John Nova. "The Seoul of Houston: The Weather Was Not the Strong Point on Long Point." Houston Press. January 30, 2008. and was established in the 1800s as a rural German American community. As of 2020, Spring Branch East/West population has grown by 7,298 residents and over 400 new construction homes built.
History
Spring Branch began as a religious German farmer settlement; many of the farmers owned dairies. Karl Kolbe, who arrived in Texas from Germany in 1830, was Spring Branch's earliest settler. The Germans opened sawmills to cut area timber. In 1848, St. Peter's United (Lutheran) Church opened on a site donated from the Bauer family; the lumber used in the construction originated from one of the local sawmills. The Spring Branch School Society, sponsored by the church in 1856, eventually became the Spring Branch Independent School District.
Yellow fever outbreaks in 1859 and 1867 killed many residents.
The early settlers all had roads named after their families – Gessner, Conrad Sauer, Witte, Wirt, Blalock, Campbell, Hillendahl, Bauer, Fries, and Neuens.
After World War II James E. Lyon served as a developer in Spring Branch. - Available from the Houston Public Library website, newspapers sectiom. Accessible with an HPL library card and its PIN.
The eastern part of Spring Branch was annexed by the City of Houston in the 1940s while the western part was annexed in the 1950s."Annexations in Houston Or How we grew to 667 square miles in 175 years." City of Houston Planning and Development Department. p. 27 and 32 of 62. Retrieved on February 21, 2017. In the mid-1950s, efforts to create a Spring Branch municipality failed. Following this, the Memorial villages, a group of six independent municipalities, formed. Houston annexed the rest of the Spring Branch area. In the mid-to-late 20th century, Spring Branch had a rural suburban character with dirt roads and horses in the area. Spring Branch Elementary School, one of several area elementary schools, was an all-White elementary school.Garza, Cynthia Leonor. "Views are as diverse as city / Day-to-day life shapes residents' stances on illegal immigration." Houston Chronicle. April 16, 2006. B1 MetFront.
Apartment complexes opened in the Spring Branch area around the 1970s.Cobb, Kim. "Drugs, neglect transform 'single scene' to slums." Houston Chronicle. July 17, 1988. Section 3, Page 1. In 1982, the City of Houston Housing Authority proposed a $3.8 million U.S. dollar public housing unit at Emnora Lane. The city encountered strong opposition from civic clubs, city council members, and state representatives, so the city housing officials canceled the project. The sign used by the city to indicate the proposed site repeatedly received spray paint graffiti stating "no niggers."Rodriguez, Lori. "$5.7 million to go toward public housing." Houston Chronicle. January 24, 1989. A1.
By the 1980s, Houston's economy had collapsed and occupancy rates declined. Many apartment complexes faced foreclosure, bankruptcy, and changes in ownership. Bill Zermeno, a city electrical inspector, said in a 1988 Houston Chronicle article that many of the apartments with some of the strongest violations against maintenance-related city laws were in Spring Branch. Kim Cobb, the author of the 1988 Houston Chronicle article, said that many of the poorly maintained complexes were located next to well-maintained single family subdivisions.
From the 1980 U.S. Census to the 1990 Census, many Hispanics settled in parts of Spring Branch; in pockets of Spring Branch almost all of the immigration was from Central American countries. The Hispanic population increased by an amount between 1,000 and 3,500 per square mile.Rodriguez, Lori. "Census tracks rapid growth of suburbia ." Houston Chronicle. March 10, 1991. Section A, Page 1. In 1997, S.D. Kim, the Houston bureau chief of The Korea Times, said that Koreatown, the Korean community in Spring Branch, grew because of inexpensive housing and the zoning to the Spring Branch Independent School District.Nichols, Bruce. "TAKING OFF Houston's Asian communities growing rapidly." The Dallas Morning News. June 29, 1997. In 1998 and again in 2001, a proposal to place Korean language street signs in Koreatown led to political controversy; the reaction against the proposal led to the withdrawal of the proposal."Korean street sign flap revisited." Associated Press. July 22, 2001.Lartigue, Casey. "Signs of Insecurity." Cato Institute. June 19, 1999. By 2006, Spring Branch Elementary School was mostly Hispanic, reflecting demographic changes in the Spring Branch area. By 2007 several older houses were torn down and replaced with newer houses; new homeowners came to Spring Branch to buy larger lots, to buy in an area cheaper than neighborhoods bordering Downtown Houston. New residents came due to the proximity to Downtown, Uptown, and the Energy Corridor.Jackson, Kim. "Spring Branch enjoys growth / New, larger homes replace decades-old structures." Houston Chronicle. July 26, 2007. ThisWeek 10. Retrieved on March 28, 2009.
In May 2011, the Spring Branch Central Super Neighborhood campaigned against having federal funds used to improve older apartment complexes in the area.Fehling, Dave. "Spring Branch-area homeowners fight federal help for old apartments ." KHOU. May 23, 2011. Retrieved on May 28, 2011.
In 2013, Houstonia magazine stated that Spring Branch, including the adjacent cities of Hillshire Village and Spring Valley Village, was one of the "25 Hottest Neighborhoods" of Houston.Holley, Peter, John Lomax, and Todd Spoth. "25 Hottest Neighborhoods" (Archive). Houstonia. June 1, 2013. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.
On May 5, 2016, a four alarm fire occurred in Houston's Spring Branch area, not to be confused with the municipality of Spring Branch, TX, north of San Antonio Texas
On November 24, 2022, a gunman opened fire and shot four people, two fatally during Thanksgiving in the Spring Branch neighborhood.
Cityscape
Spring Branch is generally bounded by Beltway 8 on the western end, the 610 Loop on the eastern end, Interstate 10 on the southern end, and U.S. Highway 290 and Tanner Road to the north.Meeks, Flori. "Community - Fight failed to make Spring Branch a city - Proposal to incorporate followed by establishment of Memorial Villages." Houston Chronicle, September 20, 2012. ThisWeek p. 1. Available on Newsbank, Record Number 14919922. Available at the Houston Public Library with a library card. "In 1957, the city of Houston annexed the remaining areas now known as Spring Branch. The community's boundaries today are roughly Tanner Road and U.S. 290 to the north, Beltway 8 to the west, Interstate 10 to the south and the 610 Loop to the east."
The district has access to Interstate 10, the 610 Loop, Beltway 8, and the Hempstead Highway. The district is in proximity to Downtown Houston, the Energy Corridor, the Memorial City District (including Memorial City Mall and the Memorial Hermann Hospital Memorial City), the Texas Medical Center, Uptown Houston (including The Galleria), and Westchase."About the District ." Spring Branch Management District. Retrieved on May 14, 2010.
Terrence McCoy of the Houston Press said in 2012 that in Spring Branch "[a]venues lined with orderly yards and American flags buttress shopping centers where Spanish dominates."McCoy, Terrence. "Who's Behind Helena Brown?" Houston Press. July 4, 2012. 2. Retrieved on July 25, 2012.
As of 2012 there are different varieties of housing in Spring Branch. Spring Branch West includes many 1960s ranch-style houses. The central portion of Spring Branch has houses which are worth about $500,000 as of 2012. The eastern portion of Spring Branch, which is blue collar, has many bungalow houses with wood siding. Houstonia wrote that "Up until [the 2000s] or so, much of Spring Branch had a rural feel. It wasn’t uncommon to see pastures full of horses, relics of its past life as farmland tilled by generations of German immigrants".
In 1983 there were a travel agent, an optical shop, multiple restaurants, a newsstand, a bookstore, a pharmacy, and a furniture store in Spring Branch catering to Koreans.Cook, Allison. "The Grand Tour." Texas Monthly. Emmis Communications, January 1983. Vol. 11, No. 1. ISSN 0148-7736. START: p. 98. CITED: p. 144.
Economy John Nova Lomax of the Houston Press said that Spring Branch has many "old-school ethnic eateries" and described Long Point Road, Spring Branch's main road, as "thrift store nirvana". The journalist added that Long Point has few chain businesses and stores. The Koreatown portion has various Korean restaurants.Pham, Mai. "A Mini Food Tour Through Korea Town." Houston Press. December 3, 2011. Retrieved on February 10, 2016.
La Michoacana Meat Market has its headquarters in Spring Branch and in Houston."Updated February 18, 2010.." La Michoacana Meat Market. Retrieved on August 18, 2011. "Office" "8845 Long Point Rd., Suite B" "Houston" "77005" BJ Services Company has its headquarters in the Spring Branch district and in unincorporated Harris County."Global Locations." BJ Services Company. July 3, 2007. Retrieved on December 8, 2009. Tesco Corporation has its headquarters in the Spring Branch district and in Houston."Contact Us ." Tesco Corporation. Retrieved on January 23, 2010. Cameron International Corporation's Drilling and Production Systems center is in the Westway Business Park in Spring Branch and in an unincorporated area."Cameron Locator ." Cameron International Corporation. Retrieved on April 28, 2010."Cameron Headquarters Building ." Hines Interests Limited Partnership. Retrieved on June 2, 2010.
Previously, Igloo Corporation had a manufacturing facility in Spring Branch."Igloo consolidating operations in Katy facility." Houston Business Journal. October 18, 2004. Retrieved on March 2, 2011. "1001 W. Sam Houston Parkway North" for the old Houston facility The Spring Branch location also housed the company headquarters.Herman, Erik L. The Houston Job Bank. Adams Media Corporation, 2003. "IGLOO PRODUCTS CORPORATION 1001 West Sam Houston Parkway North, Houston TX 77013." Retrieved on March 3, 2011. , . In 2004, Igloo announced that it was consolidating to a location in unincorporated Waller County, Texas, near Katy."Igloo Worldwide Headquarters ." Igloo Corporation. Accessed September 5, 2008. "Igloo Products Corp. 777 Igloo Road Katy, Texas 77494"
Before its dissolution, Weiner's had its headquarters in Spring Branch and in Houston."Home Page." Weiner's. October 5, 2000. Retrieved on February 25, 2010. At one time, AppleTree Markets had its headquarters in Spring Branch and in Houston."Directors and Executives." Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives, Volume 2. Standard & Poor's, 1995. 637. Retrieved from Google Books on July 1, 2010. "Appletree Markets, Inc., 4301 Windfern, Houston, TX 77041."
By 2008 a Super H Mart supermarket, a part of a Korean American chain, opened. Purva Patel of the Houston Chronicle wrote that this supermarket attracted development to the area.
Diplomatic missions