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CYPRESS,
TEXAS
Harris County,
Texas
Gulf Coast
Highway 290
Roughly 20 Miles NW of Downtown Houston
Population: 18,527 (2000)
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A neighborhood
park near Cypress (Ravensway)
Photo Coutesy Tom Wells, November 2007
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History in
a Pecan Shell
It is said that the first inhabitants of what is know known as “Cypress-Fairbanks”
were various tribes of Atakapan Indians who didn’t survive contact
with white settlers. In the 1840s German immigrants started settling
alongside ranching Anglos along Cypress Creek.
The names of
these pioneer families can still be found on street signs in the
suburban neighborhoods, as well as a few cemeteries found deep inside
subdivisions.
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The
Hoffmeister family cemetery sits among suburban lawns.
TE Photo June 2005
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The
family name (spelled Huffmeister) is a major area throughfare.
TE Photo June 2008
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Other than residences,
the first commercial building constructed was a dance hall in the
late 1870s. Burned, but rebuilt, the establishment lasted for 100
years before progress caught up with it.
A one room school built in the mid 1880 eventually morphed into the
Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, one of Texas’ largest.
Cypress’ first boom was in the early 1900s when oil was discovered
nearby. Oil drillers tapped into a hot artesian well. The timing couldn’t
have been better. It was the era of spas and health resorts and soon
the Houston Hotwell Sanitarium and Hotel were in operation, despite
the dubious qualities of the water.
Dairy farming and rice cultivation drove Cypress’ economy until postwar
construction changed the area forever.
Even into the 1980s, Cypress remained unincorporated with a population
less than 100. “Greater Cypress” grew exponentially as Houston
roads and highways added lanes, building north and westward. |
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