Harris County communities

Cypress

Of the towns that developed as a stop along the Houston & Texas Central Railroad line to Houston, Cypress has experienced the most growth over time. Early German families included the Hoffmeister family and the Telge family.

The center of Cypress—at Spring Cypress Road and the Hempstead Highway—was known as Cypress Top. It featured a post office, two hotels, a grist mill and a general store. E.F. Juergen became postmaster in 1898 and founded the Juergen General Store.

Fairbanks

Founded in 1893, the town of Fairbanks was farther down the railroad line to Houston, near the present-day intersection of Hempstead Highway and Tanner Road. The town was referred to as Gum Island by railroad workers because of the gum trees growing between White Oak Bayou and Willow Creek.

The Fairbanks school district consolidated with the Cypress school district in 1939. Since Fairbanks schools only went up to eighth grade, the merge allowed students to go to Rural High School No. 5 in Cypress, which was an easier commute than Reagan High School in Houston. Fairbanks was annexed by the City of Houston in 1956, and its identity as its own town faded.

Rose Hill

Another German-settled town, Rose Hill was originally known as Spring Creek, but was later renamed after founder P.W. Rose in 1892. Records from the original community date as far back as 1836. Rose Hill is home to one of the oldest Lutheran congregations in Texas—the Salem Lutheran Church—founded by Johann Heinrich Theisz in 1852. Cypress Rosehill Road, connecting the two towns it was named after, served as a road for horse-drawn wagons to transport crops to the railroad line.

The town population began to decline as early as the 1920s and 1930s, but the area maintains its own fire department and church to this day. A historic landmark has been placed on the church.