Cypress
Cypress, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
CYPRESS ATTAKAPAS AND AKOKISA INDIANS BEGAN TO DISAPPEAR FROM HARRIS COUNTY IN THE MID-1800s WITH THE ARRIVAL OF ANGLO SETTLERS. THE FIRST DOCUMENTED SETTLERS IN THE CYPRESS AREA WERE THE BURNETT AND SIMMONS FAMILIES, BEGINNING BY 1831. MATTHEW BURNETT ESTABLISHED A TAVERN AND INN NEAR THE CYPRESS CREEK CROSSING ON THE ROAD TO WASHINGTON-ON-THE-BRAZOS, AND WAS DESIGNATED AS THE FIRST POSTMASTER AT BIG CYPRESS BY 1840. IN THE LATE 1840s, GERMAN IMMIGRANTS AND SETTLERS SEEKING LAND OWNERSHIP AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CAME TO THE CYPRESS AREA, WHICH SOON GREW INTO A RURAL COMMUNITY OF FARMERS, DAIRYMEN AND RANCHERS. SMALL SCHOOLS SERVED THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF THE CHILDREN. MORE A REGION THAN A SINGLE COMMUNITY, CYPRESS ENCOMPASSES MORE THAN A HUNDRED SQUARE MILES WITHIN THE CYPRESS CREEK AND LITTLE CYPRESS CREEK WATERSHEDS, INCLUDING THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS OF BIG CYPRESS, HAMBLIN, EDEN, CYPRESS GROVE, CYPRESS TOP, CYPRESS CITY, AND THE TOWN OF CYPRESS. RAILROADS THROUGH THIS AREA WERE CHARTERED IN 1839 AND 1848 TO FOLLOW A ROUTE THAT WAS GRADED FOR A PLANK ROAD. THE CYPRESS TOP POST OFFICE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1851 ALONG THIS ROUTE. IN JULY 1856, TRACKS FOR THE GALVESTON AND RED RIVER RAILWAY (SOON RENAMED THE HOUSTON AND TEXAS CENTRAL RAILWAY) REACHED CYPRESS TOP DEPOT, 26 MILES NORTHWEST OF HOUSTON. THE RAILROAD ATTRACTED BUSINESSES AND CREATED A DISTRICT OF STORES, HOTELS AND SALOONS. IN THE EARLY 1900s, THE DISCOVERY OF A HOT ARTESIAN WELL DEVELOPED INTO THE HOUSTON HOT WELL SANITARIUM AND HOTEL. DANCE HALLS, SUCH AS TIN HALL AND JUERGEN’S HALL, WERE POPULAR. CYPRESS TOP HISTORIC PARK PRESERVES A REMNANT OF THE RAILROAD COMMUNITY. (2012)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Cypress region of northwest Harris County took shape after Attakapas and Akokisa peoples gave way to Anglo settlers like the Burnetts and Simmonses in the 1830s, with Matthew Burnett running an inn and serving as first postmaster at Big Cypress. German immigrants seeking land and religious freedom arrived in the late 1840s, and the Houston and Texas Central Railway reaching Cypress Top in 1856 turned scattered farms into a thriving depot community of stores, hotels, and dance halls.
Why it matters
It illustrates how Native displacement, immigrant settlement, and the coming of the railroad together built the rural communities that fed and framed a growing Houston.
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Related people
- · Matthew Burnett
Related events
- · Arrival of the Galveston and Red River / Houston and Texas Central Railway
Themes & tags
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