The Woodlands, Texas, United States

🇺🇸 The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with portions extending into Harris County. The Woodlands is governed by The Woodlands Township, an organization that provides municipal services and is administered by an elected board of directors. The United States Census Bureau defines an urban area separate from the Houston urban area with The Woodlands as a principal city: The Woodlands–Conroe, TX urban area is the 103rd largest in the United States.

The Woodlands is located 28 miles (45 km) north of Houston along Interstate 45. Though it began as an exurban development and a bedroom community, it has also attracted corporations and has several corporate campuses, most notably Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Huntsman Corporation, Woodforest National Bank, Baker Hughes, McKesson Specialty Health, and Halliburton. The community won a Special Award for Excellence in 1994 from the Urban Land Institute.

History The area that is now The Woodlands was used by the Akokisa and Bidai peoples, who relied on the fresh water of Spring Creek. In 1984, construction in the Indian Springs neighborhood near the creek discovered Bidai artifacts.

Foundation and growth The Woodlands was conceived after the oil industry investor George P. Mitchell attended a symposium by the Rouse Company subsidiary American City Corporation and developer of Columbia, Maryland, on how to develop new towns using the HUD Title VII program. It was dedicated by George P. Mitchell in 1974 and managed by The Woodlands Corporation as an extension of Mitchell Energy & Development. Mitchell, an oil businessman, planned to establish a conference centre, hotels, office parks, retail malls, schools, large distribution centres, and golf courses. Houses would range from moderately priced to expensive and large. Bill Schadewald of the Houston Business Journal said that Mitchell wanted the development to "entice city slickers looking for far-flung suburban quality of life". Schadewald said that local sources stated that the HUD New Town program, a federally funded program, had a "low survival rate" and questioned whether The Woodlands would succeed.

The Woodlands Corporation was acquired on July 31, 1997, by a partnership between Morgan Stanley and Crescent Real Estate Equities. In December 2003, Rouse Company acquired Crescent's interest, and Rouse was bought by General Growth Properties on November 12, 2004. In 2011, The Woodlands was sold to the Howard Hughes Development Corporation.

The land was previously occupied by the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Mill, hence Grogan's Mill and Cochran's Crossing neighborhoods, called "villages". The original planning utilized many of the planning concepts and design consultants employed in other well-regarded new communities of that era such as Columbia, Maryland, Irvine Ranch, California, and Reston, Virginia. The original development plan included environmental design principles espoused by Ian McHarg, a distinguished landscape architect, teacher and author of the seminal work Design With Nature.

In 2012, the U.S. Census Bureau designated the area around The Woodlands and Conroe as a "large urbanized transit area", defined as having over 200,000 residents, making it eligible to receive federal transportation funds.

Incorporation as a city Mitchell's original plan was for The Woodlands to be annexed by the city of Houston. However, as the community developed and grew, there was little support for that idea. In the middle part of the 2000s, some residents organized to prevent any annexation, as had happened to the Kingwood development almost a decade before. To counteract any possible move by the city, a movement began to create an independent city government. However, the formation of an independent government would require authorization by the State of Texas and the City of Houston, as Houston held extraterritorial jurisdiction over the area.

In 2007, two state legislators representing The Woodlands, Sen. Tommy Williams and Rep. Robert Eissler, introduced two bills that were enacted in the 2007 Legislature – House Bill 4109 and Senate Bill 1012. HB 4109 called for a vote to allow expansion of an existing improvement district (now The Woodlands Township) and to allow The Woodlands to collect sales tax, while SB 1012 allowed for the creation of regional agreements between governments. The passage of these bills allows an opportunity for The Woodlands to incorporate itself until 2057. Since 2019, there has been formal discussion of The Woodlands to become an incorporated city. However, as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these plans were put on hold and resumed in April 2021. In 2020, residents of The Woodlands formed the TownshipFuture PAC. In a referendum on November 2, 2021, residents voted against incorporation by a wide margin, keeping The Woodlands as a township for the foreseeable future.

Geography The Woodlands is primarily in Montgomery County, Texas, with a small portion in Harris County, bordering Houston. According to the United States Census Bureau, The Woodlands has an area of 43.9 square miles (113.6 km²), of which 43.3 square miles (112.1 km²) are land and 0.58 square miles (1.5 km²), or 1.32%, are water.

The Woodlands is in a heavily forested area, and much of the community has retained trees for shade and decoration. The terrain is essentially flat, with the exception of topographic variations ranging from 125 to 175 feet above sea level between Spring Creek and Flintridge Drive.

Villages The Woodlands is organized into eight villages, which are subdivided into neighborhoods. Each village features varying amenities including parks, hike and bike trails, golfing, commercial centres, and a range of residential properties from single family to estates. The Town Center includes shopping and eating facilities, corporate offices, and a waterway modeled after the San Antonio River Walk. The Research Forest district includes a Park and Ride facility and The Woodlands Township Town Hall. • Alden Bridge • Cochran's Crossing • College Park • Creekside Park • Grogan's Mill • Indian Springs • Panther Creek • Sterling Ridge.

Protected Areas The Woodlands has 151 urban parks within its boundaries, with all residents being within a ten-minute walk of a park.

The areas surrounding Spring Creek are protected as part of the George Mitchell Nature Preserve, a section of the larger Spring Creek Greenway, the "longest, connected, urban forested corridor in the nation".

The northern part of the CDP borders on the W. Goodrich Jones State Forest. This forest, managed by the Texas A&M Forest Service, serves as a vital habitat for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.

Ethnic groups

See also: History of Mexican Americans in Houston

As of 2017 about 10% of the residents of The Woodlands were of Mexican origins; they numbered at over 10,000. In 2000 wealthy Mexicans began buying houses in The Woodlands for vacation purposes. Large numbers settled in The Woodlands from 2006 to 2014 as the Mexican Drug War occurred. In 2017 many wealthy Mexicans in Texas were moving back to Mexico and fewer were moving to The Woodlands. The Rice University Baker Institute director, Tony Payán, stated that uncertainty regarding the Trump Administration's attitudes towards immigration and the decline in value of the Mexican peso were factors.

Economy By 2000, a significant amount of corporate office space was under construction. Of the 4,800,000 square feet (450,000 m²) of office space under construction in Greater Houston, over one third was in The Woodlands.

On February 11, 1999, Anadarko Petroleum announced that it would purchase a 7.5-acre (30,000 m²) tract from The Woodlands Land Company, to build a 800,000-square-foot (74,000 m²), 32-story headquarters building, to open in mid-2002. As of 2000, the Anadarko building was the largest office project in The Woodlands.

In January 2012, Anadarko announced the imminent construction of a sister tower on site, 31 stories high, of which ten will be for parking. According to a press release from the company, site work had already begun and construction of the tower would be complete by 2014. The building is at the corner of Woodloch Forest Dr and Lake Robbins Dr. With its completed sister tower, Hackett Tower is the tallest building in Montgomery County and between Houston and Dallas.

Chicago Bridge & Iron's (CB&I) worldwide administrative office was in The Woodlands. In 2018 McDermott International, which acquired CB&I, announced that it would sell the headquarters facility in The Woodlands to Howard Hughes Corporation.

In 2000, work began on a 100,000 square feet (9,300 m²) building for Maersk Sealand.

In 2011, ExxonMobil announced plans to construct a new complex on a 385-acre plot of land near the intersection of the Hardy Toll Road and Interstate 45, which is in the Houston ETJ and might be annexed by Houston. About 10,000 employees in the Houston area will relocate to the campus starting in 2014, with full occupancy by 2015.

Other companies based in The Woodlands include Woodforest National Bank, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, McKesson Corporation, Tetra Technologies, Rigaku, Cleaning Solutions, Huntsman Corporation, and Kroger Texas.

Many wealthy Mexicans who settled in The Woodlands due to rising crime in Mexico had also established businesses in The Woodlands.

Arts and culture Cultural events include: • The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, the summer location of the Houston Symphony. • The Woodlands Waterway, which stretches from The Woodlands Mall to Lake Woodlands, and has lighted sidewalks. • Market Street, a shopping district with a movie theater, shops and restaurants. • The Woodlands Mall, which borders the waterway and is adjacent to Market Street, forming a large shopping district. • Every April, The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival draws 220 international juried artists. • The Woodlands Concert Band, established in 2001, performs at local events, and is composed of amateur and profession musicians.

Each village in The Woodlands has its own shopping center.

Government The Woodlands Township is a special-purpose district created by the 73rd Texas Legislature in 1993, and is run by a seven-member board of directors who are elected directly by the residents of the township in an at large election, for two year staggered terms. Even though The Woodlands is not a city nor a traditional township government, it still provides limited municipal government services such as trash pickup, parks and recreation, covenant enforcement, fire and rescue services, streetscaping, economic development, and enhanced law enforcement and security patrols.

Education Most students in the Montgomery County portion attend schools in the Conroe Independent School District. Children residing in the May Valley neighborhood in Sterling Ridge Village attend schools in the Magnolia Independent School District. Children from the Creekside Park Village in Harris County attend the Tomball Independent School District.

Montgomery County Memorial Library System operates two libraries in The Woodlands, the South Branch and the George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library. Most schools have the honored rank of an exemplary school, the highest school ranking in Texas. Texas students are administered the STAAR test, a review of general knowledge, which can determine students' promotion to the next grade level.

Primary and secondary schools Public schools The Woodlands High School (TWHS) serves the western portion of The Woodlands in Montgomery County. TWHS was ranked 626 on Newsweek's 2012 list of America's Best High Schools.

The Woodlands College Park High School, which opened in 2005, serves the eastern portion of The Woodlands in Montgomery County. TWCP was ranked 382 on Newsweek's 2012 list of America's Best High Schools. College Park is also home to the Conroe ISD Academy of Science and Technology, a science and technology based magnet program. Refer to the Conroe School District for specific feeders. Magnolia High School serves pupils residing in May Valley, and Tomball High School serves pupils residing inside the Harris County portion.

Junior high schools • Montgomery County: Knox Junior High School, McCullough Junior High School • Harris County: Creekside Park Junior High School

Private schools By 2015, many private preparatory schools began campus expansions as The Woodlands had an increase in population and corporate office relocations. • The John Cooper School • The Woodlands Preparatory School • The Woodlands Christian Academy • St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School (K-8) (of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston)

The closest Catholic high school is Frassati Catholic High School in north Harris County; the planners of the school intended for it to serve The Woodlands.

As of 2019, the British International School of Houston in Greater Katy has a school bus service to The Woodlands.

Education: Universities Lone Star College (originally the North Harris Montgomery Community College District) and Sam Houston State University-The Woodlands Center serve the community. The territory in Conroe ISD joined the community college district in 1991, and the territory in Tomball ISD had joined the district in 1982. The headquarters of the Lone Star College System are located in The Woodlands and in unincorporated Montgomery County, Texas. The district moved to its current location on March 17, 2003. Our Lady of the Lake University, a private non-profit university based in San Antonio, moved its Houston Campus to The Woodlands in 2011.

Media In 2007, The Bracelet of Bordeaux was filmed in The Woodlands. The cast and crew were largely composed of local residents, and the film was part of a larger effort to generate interest in using The Woodlands and Houston as shooting locations for major motion pictures.

Infrastructure Law enforcement in Montgomery County is provided by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Highway Patrol. The Harris County portion is covered by Harris County Constable Precinct #4.

The Woodlands Township runs two transit services in The Woodlands: The Woodlands Express, which provides commuter service to the Central Business District of Houston, the Texas Medical Center, and Greenway Plaza from three park and ride lots in The Woodlands, and the free daily Town Center Trolley.