The Woodlands, Texas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Woodlands is a census-designated place (CDP) and master-planned community located in the the counties of Montgomery and Harris in the state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 55,649.
The newest Village of Creekside Park is being developed within Harris County, Texas.
Located about 30 miles north of Downtown Houston, The Woodlands is known for incorporating the piney woods surrounding it with urban and suburban development. It was named one of the best master-planned communities in the country, winning the Award of Excellence in Special Development from the Urban Land Institute and the International Nations in Bloom Gold Award "ULI Award of Excellence" and is one of the fastest-growing communities in Texas due to white flight from Houston. Mitchell envisioned a multi-income community with a vibrant business district that would serve as a model for and later become part of Houston. The result was a relatively affluent community which seeks to remain independent from Houston. The Woodlands is home to the Town Center Improvement District, The Woodlands Waterway, The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center, (the first commercial building in The Woodlands),the 4 AAA Diamond Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, and The Woodlands Country Club, the only golf club in the nation to have six world-class golf courses. Almost all of the community is located in the city of Houston's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ). A small portion lies in the corporate limits and ETJ of Shenandoah. A small section east of I-45 (Harper's Landing) lies within the ETJ of Conroe. Conroe began annexation proceedings in 2006 for this area.
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[edit] Overview
The Woodlands was founded by George P. Mitchell in 1974, who changed ownership of The Woodlands in the 1990's to a joint partnership between Morgan Stanley and Crescent Real Estate Equities. In January of 2004, Crescent sold their interest in The Woodlands to the Rouse Company, a development company familiar with master-planned communities. In 2004, the Rouse Company was sold to General Growth Properties Inc., another shopping mall developer.
The Woodlands was originally financed in part under a $50 million dollar development loan guaranteed by The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pursuant to the Title VII of the Housing Act of 1970 (New Communities Assistance Program.) The Woodlands was one of the few financially successful developments under this program and one of the few which repaid the government guaranteed loan.
The original planning of The Woodlands utilized many of the planning concepts and design consultants employed in other well regarded new communities of that era such as Columbia Maryland and Irvine Ranch California. The original development plan for The Woodlands was distinctive in that it incorporated many of the environmental design principals espoused by Ian McHarg, a distinguished landscape architect, teacher and author of the seminal work "Design With Nature."
The Woodlands is growing up as a formidable community, as many companies are moving to The Woodlands, such as Anadarko, Hewitt Associates, Lexicon Genetics, Mærsk Sealand, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company and Chicago Bridge & Iron. The Woodlands Town Center area includes shopping and eating facilities, plus a waterway reminiscent of San Antonio's River Walk. Under construction in the area are more upscale retail and restaurants, as well as several urban residential developments.
[edit] Geography
The Woodlands is located at (30.177430, -95.503795)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 61.8 km² (23.9 mi²). 60.6 km² (23.4 mi²) of it is land and 1.2 km² (0.5 mi²) of it (1.97%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 55,649 people, 19,881 households, and 15,546 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 917.8/km² (2,377.3/mi²). There were 21,014 housing units at an average density of 346.6/km² (897.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 92.36% White, 1.75% African American, 0.29% Native American, 2.80% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.43% from other races, and 1.32% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.64% of the population.
Of the households, 47.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.2% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.8% were non-families. 19.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.21.
In the CDP the population was spread out with 31.8% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 25.1% from 45 to 64, and 7.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.5 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $85,253, and the median income for a family was $98,675. Males had a median income of $78,642 versus $38,505 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $37,724. About 3.0% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and 10.6% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Education
Pupils in the Montgomery County-portion of The Woodlands attend schools in the Conroe Independent School District.
Pupils from the new section of Creekside Park Village, in Silent Hill, will attend the Tomball Independent School District [1].
Montgomery County Memorial Library System operates two libraries in The Woodlands, the South Branch and the George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library.
[edit] Schools
[edit] Public schools
[edit] Secondary schools
[edit] High schools
- Montgomery County portion
- The Woodlands High School is the largest high school in Texas in terms of its area (it extends over two campuses). It once had the largest number of students (over 4,900) until the opening of a second high school in The Woodlands. TWHS is ranked 577 on Newsweek's 2005 list of the Best High Schools in America.
- The Woodlands College Park High School is a brand new campus built to relieve The Woodlands High School.
[edit] Junior high schools
- Montgomery County
- Knox Junior High School
- McCullough Junior High School
[edit] Primary schools
[edit] Elementary and Intermediate schools
- Montgomery County portion
- Coulson Tough School
- Joel Deretchin School
[edit] Intermediate schools
- Montgomery County portion
- Collins Intermediate School
- Mitchell Intermediate School
- Wilkerson Intermediate School
[edit] Public elementary schools
- Montgomery County portion
- Buckalew Elementary School
- Bush Elementary School
- David Elementary School
- Galatas Elementary School
- Glen Loch Elementary School
- Hailey Elementary School
- Lamar Elementary School
- Powell Elementary School
- Ride Elementary School
[edit] Private schools
The Woodlands also has several private schools:
- Oak Ridge Christian Academy is a private Christian academy serving The Woodlands, Texas and South Montgomery County, currently serving grades pre-K thru 8th. ORCA provides a classical education with its primary emphasis on academics with a Christian worldview.
- The Woodlands Christian Academy is a private Christian school enrolling grades Pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade.
- The John Cooper School was founded through the generosity of corporate and private benefactors, dedicated parents, and other supporters in the local community and the Houston metropolitan area. It was named in honor of Mr. John Cooper, the long-tenured Headmaster of Houston's Kinkaid School, whose expertise and counsel guided the school through its original formation and early years of operation.
Cooper officially opened in the fall of 1988 on a 43-acre campus designated for this purpose by Mr. George Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell is the founder and original developer of The Woodlands, a planned community of approximately 70,000 residents located 40 miles north of Houston. The school began operations with an enrollment of 175 students in pre-kindergarten through grade seven, and one additional grade level was added each successive year. The first senior class, comprised of 25 students, graduated in 1994. In 2004, Cooper awarded a diploma to its 500th graduate, and the Class of 2005, numbering 80 seniors, is the school's largest ever graduating class. The opening enrollment of 890 students for 2005-06 also represented the school's largest ever student body.
A non-profit corporation governed by a board of trustees, Cooper earned its first accreditation by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS) in 1998. The school also holds memberships in the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC), the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB), and the Education Records Bureau (ERB).
The campus and facilities of the school have expanded in conjunction with the school's steadily growing student body. A recent $4.5 million capital campaign supported the construction of a middle/upper school gymnasium and track, additional fine arts classrooms, and a third middle school science lab. Additional funding supported the expansion of the middle/upper school classroom building; five classrooms, two computer labs, and new guidance and college counseling offices were added. A new student center opened in October, 2005, featuring a dining hall, meeting rooms, and student lounge areas.
- Esprit International School is an AMS certified, non-sectarian private school with 100 students from Pre-Kindergarten through ninth grade that focuses on the development of the student in cordination with their academic achievement.
- The Woodlands Academy Preparatory School is a private, non-sectarian private school that was established in 2002. Though it has a Spring, Texas address, with the purchase of the surrounding tracts of land by The Woodlands Development Company to make way for the Village of Creekside Park the school will soon officially be in The Woodlands proper.
[edit] Neighborhoods
- Village of Alden Bridge: North of Sterling Ridge and Carlton Woods, West of Cochran's Crossing, bordered by FM2978 on the West with FM1488 and Jones State Forest on the North. Comprises the Northwest section of The Woodlands.
- Carlton Woods: comprised of high-end homes situated on the Jack Nicklaus Golf Course of The Club at Carlton Woods Originally designated as a Village, this is a gated community located between Sterling Ridge and Alden Bridge. A expansion of Carlton Woods (called Creekside) is being built within the Village of Creekside Park. This area was built around the Tom Fazio Golf Course. The Carlton Woods communities are no longer designated as separate Villages.
- Village of Cochran's Crossing: location of The Woodlands High School, and The Woodlands Country Club's Arnold Palmer Course
- Village of College Park: location of Montgomery College, a public two-year community college; The University Center, which offers distance learning courses sponsored by Sam Houston State University, Texas Southern University, Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M, the University of Houston, and the University of Houston-Downtown; and The Woodlands College Park High School. This Village includes the area East of I-45 designated as Harper's Landing.
- Village of Creekside Park: the last new development to be undertaken by The Woodlands Development Company; will be completed in 2011 and will include a large public park with nature trails and small lakes; the Tom Fazio Golf Course (also called the Creekside Course) of The Club at Carlton Woods will be located here as well; the namesake of this neighborhood stems from the fact that Spring Creek runs through it. This portion of The Woodlands lies in Harris County and feeds to Tomball ISD
- Village of Grogan's Mill: The Woodlands first neighborhood is located in the front of the Woodlands near Town Center and The Waterway; Although many of the homes are older (development began in 1974) most offer larger lots than are availabe elsewhere in The Woodlands, most dramatically in Grogans Point, The Woodlands only non-gated "estate" community; There are a few lots remaining but for the most part the neighborhood is built out - as a result, may areas are seeing renovations as buyers are increasingly looking for larger lots near the front of The Woodlands; The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center, along with the town's two non-private golf courses, the Oaks Course and the Panther Trail Course, are located in Grogan's Mill.
- Village of Indian Springs
- Village of Panther Creek: borders the west shore of Lake Woodlands; this neighborhood includes many waterfront subdivisions and some of the largest and most expensive houses in The Woodlands are located in Panther Creek
- Village of Sterling Ridge: developed in 2000; the Gary Player Course of The Woodlands Country Club is located here, along with The Woodlands High School Ninth Grade Campus
- Town Center: a primarily commercial development, rather than a residential one; Town Center sits on the west side of Interstate 45, and is home to The Woodlands Mall, an indoor retail development, and Market Street, an outdoor retail center designed to evoke an urban setting; this development also contains two Cinemark movie theatres, and two hotel properties, The Woodlands Resort & Conference Center and The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center; several commercial structures are also here including The Woodlands' tallest building, the Anadarko Tower; a waterway runs through Town Center that empties into Lake Robbins, separating the development from the freeway. Town Center includes the new East Shore community, situated on the east shore of Lake Woodlands (hence the name); largely a community of townhouses and condominiums; it will be completed in 2011, with amenities including a yacht club. Town Center also includes a small number of brownstone-style houses near the Pavilion and Waterway intended to convey a more urban feel. Town Center services are largely funded by the Town Center Improvement District which collects a 1% sales tax on all goods and services provided in that area (consumers pay this tax in addition to the 6.25% sales tax levied by the State of Texas). These services include supplementing public safety services as well as providing economic development programs including marketing area businesses and promotion of special events.
[edit] Future Plans
Development of The Woodlands is currently in its final stages. Construction on the neighborhoods of East Shore and Creekside Park will be completed in 2011, at which point the developer, The Woodlands Development Corporation, will disassociate itself from the development. The Woodlands is not technically a town, but rather a very large private development, and when this happens, the residents will have to decide whether or not to incorporate their town or allow themselves to be annexed by Houston or Conroe. The City of Conroe, located several miles north of The Woodlands development, has already announced its intention of a limited annexation of commercial and industrial properties of Harper's Landing neighborhood of The Woodlands, which sits at the northernmost end of the development, separated from the other neighborhoods by Interstate 45.
A moratorium on Houston's annexation of sections of The Woodlands expires in 2011. The moratorium was enacted by the State of Texas after the annexation of Kingwood by Houston. The formation of an independent government by The Woodlands would require authorization by the State of Texas and/or the City of Houston.
Governance planning is an ongoing discussion.
[edit] Trivia
The World Championships of the Tri One 0 One series of triathlon races are to be held in The Woodlands on November 11, 2007. The governing body plans to make this the annual location for this event.
The tract of land where The Woodlands is situated was previously occupied by the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Mill. The neighborhoods of Grogan's Mill and Cochran's Crossing are of that namesake.
In the town's early years, street signs used a vertical text format and were made to look like pieces of wood with the name of the street burnt into it. The signs were distracting and difficult to read, and after numerous complaints—and traffic accidents—they were replaced with conventional metal signs.
Will Makar, who made the top 16 on American Idol but was voted off before the finals, lives in The Woodlands.
In 1991, The Woodlands was briefly the recipient of a great deal of negative publicity on a national scale when ten Woodlands youths led by Jon Christopher Buice travelled to the heavily gay area of Montrose in Houston and, under the influence of alcohol and LSD, randomly beat a man to death. [2]
Win Butler and brother Will, of the Montreal-based indie group The Arcade Fire, grew up in The Woodlands. Their debut EP included a track entitled "The Woodlands National Anthem".
Clay Bailey from Xiaolin Showdown is from this city, though in the series it is portrayed as a stereotypical-"cowboy town" rather it's real-life suburban town.
[edit] External links
- Oak Ridge Christian Academy
- The Woodlands
- [3] Handbook of Texas Online article
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
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