There are 7 counties adjacent to Harris county. Northwest of Harris county is Waller county, North is Montgomery county, Northeast is Liberty county, East is Chambers county, Southeast is Galveston county, South is Brazoria county and Southwest is Fort Bend county.
I had the pleasure to drive through Waller county this week and the county seat in the city of Hempstead. From Houston it is just a short drive out Hwy 290 where you will see Hwy 6 heading north to Bryan College Station and South into Hempstead Texas. If you haven't been to Waller in a while you will be surprised at the changes. The population growth in 2000 was over 39% and in 2010 it was over 32%. That rapid growth is expected to continue for the next 10 or 20 years, so I don't think you could call it a fluke or a short term bump. No indeed! This is real sustained growth and the land owners are smiling all the way to the bank, as they say. I of course, remember doing a lot of hunting on that prairie land. My old buddy from Tomball high school Bill Williams, had an uncle that had a peanut farm somewhere around Waller, where the duck and goose hunting was great. We had some good times there. I don't remember exactly where that spot was but it is probably a subdivision now or in the planning stages for one. I should call my good friend Tim Phelan at Waller County land company and check on that. Tim has been in the real estate business since back in the 80"s and is very knowledgeable of the land in Waller. But Y'all know how that is, That's one of those things you do when you get a-round-to it and you almost never get a-round-to it. Anyway Tim's a sharp guy, we have brokered some land sales together and it is always a pleasure seeing him. I think there are a number of things moving the population growth in Waller and if I had to pick a word it would be, Access. The Grand Parkway, called State Hwy 99 is being built from I10 in Katy over to Hwy 290 near the Mason road area. From the looks of things driving out Hwy 290 it looks like that segment of the Parkway is already under way. There are also plans to build a toll road out the old Hempstead road corridor from the 610 loop in Houston all the way out to the new Hwy 99. Wow, that will be great for the area!
Waller county has 4 school districts serving the county. The districts include Waller ISD, Hempstead ISD, Katy ISD and Royal ISD. In addition to the high schools is the long standing Prairie View A&M University just outside of Hempstead and right off Hwy 290 to the North. I mentioned that the county seat of Waller County was Hempstead and the Waller County Courthouse is also in Hempstead. The county was founded in 1873 and named after Edwin Waller who was a native of Virginia and a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. I'm sure old Edwin, got here to Texas, as quick as he could. Mr. Waller was also mayor of Austin, for those history buffs, among us. According to the US census bureau Waller county has 518 square miles of land and water area. The major highways are I10, Hwy 90, Hwy 290 and State Hwy 6. A favorite road of mine is hwy 362 that runs sort of north and south through the county and crosses hwy 1488 that runs back to Magnolia an and the Woodlands in Montgomery county The population recorded in the 2010 census was 43,205. So it is small compared to it's neighbor, Harris county, but it has a lot of folks looking that way and moving that way. As a real estate broker I believe the land investments in Waller County look very promising with excellent up side growth in the current land prices. Especially if they are in and around the new roads, subdivisions, and shopping centers.
Leaving Waller county I next went through Austin county and the city of Bellville Texas, which is the county seat. The Austin county courthouse is also in Bellville. Austin county has a population of 28,417 as recorded in the 2010 census with a growth rate of around 20%. Austin county covers a total area of 656 square miles. The county was named after Stephen F Austin and founded in 1837. The drive between Hempstead and Bellville on hwy 159 crosses over the Brazos river and is a pleasant country road with beautiful ranch land scenery and loads of wild flowers. If your looking for space and nice country living this is certainly a choice area. The Bellville chamber of commerce over on Holland street, can fill your basket with information about the people, the town and the surrounding country land. On this trip I went through Bellville and turned on FM 2429 to Cat Spring and then on to New Ulm and Freisburg off FM 1094. Now you talk about a nice country drive and plenty of bluebonnets and Texas wildflowers, well Sir, this drive is loaded! My wife and I had to stop 3 or 4 times and wouldn't ya know it I forgot the camera. Duh! I was just going to Columbus to pick up a permit so it sort of slipped my mind. But we will make that drive again and I will try try to post some pictures for everyone to see. The Texas Star Cafe in New Ulm had a great menu and the food was delicious. The chocolate pie was to die for! What a meal and really nice folks. Oh, and we stopped by Heinsohn's store to check out all Bar-B-Que stuff and just about anything you can could ever need or think you need and a lot you probably didn't know you needed, but there it will be. Be sure and take a while to look around.
From Austin county outside of New Ulm I traveled along FM 1094 toward Freisburg turning south on FM 109 in Colorado County headed to Columbus which is the county seat of Colorado County. As we came into the city of Columbus we crossed over the Colorado river which the county is named after and was founded in 1836. The Colorado county courthouse built in1890-91 and the structure was added to the National register of historic places in June 17, 1982. Colorado county covers 974 square miles and has a population of 20,874 people as per the US Census for 2010. If you take the Interstate 10 west out of Houston and Harris county to Columbus Texas you will also see a lot of wild flowers and bluebonnets on the trip. I10 is the major interstate road through the area and Hwy 71 is the other major road as well as Hwy 90 out of the city of Eagle lake. There are lots of duck and geese hunting places in the Eagle lake area and in the county as well. There are certainly some beautiful pieces of land along that Colorado river. The Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge is in the eastern part of Colorado county off Hwy 3013 between Sealy and Eagle Lake covering over 10,000 acres of prairie. This is one of the last remnants of coastal prairie for the critically endangered Attwater prairie chicken. They are doing some great work here and any support is important. They need volunteers if you can spare a little time. I hope you will check it out and at least go to the website. They are at http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/attwater/index.html Columbus is an interesting city in Colorado county along the Colorado river established in 1821 by members of the Stephen F Austin colony. By 1836 Columbus was home to over twenty five families and during the runaway scrape, Sam Houston camped at Columbus, then burned the town down as he headed to San Jacinto and the final battle of the war for Texas Independence. Amazingly, by 1837 the town was reestablished with public houses, stores and a number of dwellings. You should certainly check out the city of Columbus and look up information on the Painted Churches in the area. Oh yes, and who could go to Columbus and not stop by the 1886 Stafford opera house or the Live Oak Art center. You will be glad you did.
Reference link http://en.wikipedia.org/
