Harris County, Texas

Harris County, originally Harrisburg County, is located on the upper Gulf Coast in Southeast Texas and is bounded by Waller County on the north and west, Montgomery County on the north, Liberty and Chambers counties on the east, Galveston and Brazoria counties on the south, and Fort Bend County on the west. Almost three-quarters of the county iis covere by the city of Houston and thirty smaller communities; only 27 percent (310,000 acres or 485 square miles) of the county was rural.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Baytown | Bellaire | Bunker Hill Village | Deer Park | El Lago | Fairbanks | Galena Park | Hedwig Village | Hilshire Village |Hockley | Houston – county seat | Humble | Hunters Creek Village | Jacinto City | Jersey Village | Katy (partly in Fort Bend and Waller Counties) | La Porte | Lynchburg | Morgans Point (Rightor’s Point, Hunter’s Point, Clopper’s Point, New Washington) | Nassau Bay | Pasadena | Piney Point Village | Seabrook | Shore Acres | South Houston | Southside Place | Spring Valley Village | Taylor Lake Village | Tomball | Webster | West University Place

History

Harrisburg County was formed by the First Congress on December 22, 1836. The county encompassed the territory of the old municipality plus Galveston Island (the mainland was attached to Brazoria County) until May 1838, when its modern boundaries were established. In December 1839, Congress changed the name to Harris County, in honor of John R. Harris. The county briefly lost its northwest corner in 1841 when Spring Creek residents tried to form a separate county. Since the first log court building, the county has built four successive imposing courthouses on the courthouse square in Houston.

County Histories

Houston: The Bayou City, 1969 (Houston: A History, 1981) by David G. McComb

The Port of Houston, 1968, by Marilyn M. Sibley

Pasadena: The Early Years, 1994, C. David Pomeroy, Jr.

History of Baytown, 1986, by Margaret Swett Henson

Galveston-Houston Electric Railway, 1959, by Herb Woods

Location

Houston, TX 29° 45′ 46.3824″ N, 95° 22′ 59.0232″ W

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