Citizen Profiles

Sketches illustrated by Ken Walden. Profiles written by Phyllis Wolford. Illustrations and associated copy are the property of the Tomball Centennial Commission, Ken Walden, and Phyllis Wolford.  Any use of the information below without written approval of all licensees is illegal and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Thomas Henry Ball, II

In the early 1900’s, southbound trains from the north that were headed to Galveston, Texas required two engines to haul cargo because they traveled over hilly terrain.  But by the time those trains crossed the section of land called Zion Road today, they had reached the final incline along their route.  Since the remainder of the coastward trip south was through flat land, one train engine was sufficient and the additional one could be dropped.  Railway companies needed a place to leave the second engine, and the region now known as Tomball was the logical place to do that.

Thomas Henry Ball II, a lawyer for the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad (T&BVR), was the person who established the train terminal in 1906.  It was not more than a service site in the beginning, but those sites had a tendency to develop into robust communities.  Because the service station had everything necessary for maintaining steam locomotives (depot, roundhouse, telegraph office, etc.), the area did begin to grow.  In February of 1907, the site was named Peck after the T&BVR’s highest ranking civil engineer whose last name was Peck.  That name was retained for nine months until the Tomball Townsite Company (formed in 1907) decided to rename the area Tom Ball.  Townsite Company members wanted to honor Thomas Ball for making the flourishing town possible by initiating construction of the service station.  The official name change took place on December 2, 1907, and was eventually shortened to the single word, Tomball, used today.

Thomas Ball made many contributions to the state of Texas during his life.  Among his credentials were banker, mayor of Huntsville for three terms, chairman of Walker County’s Democrat Executive Committee, congressman in the House of Representatives, and member of the Houston City Harbor Committee.

Roy C. Hohl, Sr.

The first auto dealership in Tomball, TX changed hands in 1920 with Roy C. Hohl, Sr. taking over the business and renaming it Hohl Motor Company.  Roy sold Ford vehicles exclusively.  Cars hadn’t been around too long at that time; it was just seventeen years earlier (1903) that Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company.  (Ford developed a gasoline-powered car in 1893.)  Hohl Motor faced Main Street at the northeast corner of Walnut.  Currently, a modified version of the dealership’s original building accommodates a retail shop, Dahlia’s Boutique.

Mr. Hohl made a positive impression on a schoolboy who worked for him.  The lad had stolen a piece of merchandise and attempted to sell it, but his would-be buyer delivered the item back to Roy.  Hohl gave his employee some wise counsel and a second chance.  As time went by, the boy stopped seeing Roy as a boss; he regarded him as a best friend.  

Mr. Hohl did not sit on the sidelines after he moved to town (1920).  He joined Tomball Methodist Church and participated in church functions.  His signature was on the document requesting corporation status for the Fair Association so a community fair could get started.  When Texas granted this request, Tomball hosted the Harris County Fair every year for twenty-six years beginning in 1929.  Roy contributed to the hospital project during 1948.

Mr. Hohl, Sr. conducted the affairs of his business up to the minute he died (1950).  Thirty years of honest, reliable car dealing is quite an accomplishment.

Charles Frederick Hoffman

Charles Frederick (C.F.) Hoffman was the first person to start a business in Peck, Texas (renamed Tom Ball on December 2, 1907) that was not directly connected to the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad (T&BVR).  In April 1907, Hoffman opened a general merchandise store; in time he added butchering services.  Railroad employees who lived in the section houses (living quarters) provided by T&BVR patronized the store.  Hoffman eventually set up a funeral home, a saloon, and a bank and loan company.

 C.F. established his private bank in 1908.  Two years later, a group of local men formed the First State Bank of Tomball, a public facility.  Hoffman closed his bank to become president of the First State Bank.

Mr. Hoffman owned a substantial amount of land in Peck.  Documents dated August 1907 show that he sold one-third of it to a Houston, Texas real estate agent, William Malone.  The belief is that Hoffman relinquished some of his holdings to Malone so T&BVR would continue its expansion in the area.  Malone apparently had a lot of influence with railway officials and could have convinced them to build in other parts of Texas if Hoffman decided not to sell any of his property.  Further railroad-related construction did take place after the land transfer.

C.F. and his wife, Emilie, were longtime residents of Tomball.  Their home (the first one) remains standing today at 200 North Elm Street.  Over and above C.F. Hoffman’s numerous business ventures, he served his fellow citizens as Tomball’s second mayor from 1934 to 1938.

Otto G. Hegar

Otto G. (O.G.) Hegar, his wife, and children moved to Tomball, Texas in March 1908 because O.G. had built a hotel in Tomball.  The Hegar Hotel was the family business as well as the family residence.  Hegar operated his hotel for many years before selling it.

Otto joined the Woodmen of the World (WOW) fellowship, a nonprofit insurance organization.  Everyone in Tomball used the WOW’s meeting hall for various activities.  Methodists worshiped there.  Although the place was adequate for prayer and devotion, townspeople wanted a church.  Hegar, a Methodist, along with men of other faiths, purchased some land in 1909 for that purpose.  They planned to let several religious groups share one structure by holding services at different times.  Since the Methodist Conference covered most of the expenses for the first church, the Conference stipulated that it carry the Methodist name; that condition was met.  Otto Hegar and a minister built the church, completing it in 1910.

The WOW building housed Tomball’s first post office when postal delivery began in 1908.  O.G. handled postmaster duties from 1915 to 1936.  His wife worked as the assistant postmaster and was Tomball’s first librarian.  She stocked one corner of the post office, then at its fourth and fifth locations, with library books.

Mr. Hegar participated in a range of community efforts.  From 1916 to 1917, he held the position of board chairman for Tomball Rural School District #31.  Hegar was one of the men who formed the Guaranty Bond State Bank (1921).  He officiated as chairman of the bank’s first board of directors, and he remained a board member until his death in 1954.  The people of Tomball elected Otto G. Hegar to be their third mayor (1938-1944).

Allen Hidalgo Keefer  

Allen Hidalgo (A.H.) Keefer is remembered mainly as a banker with a charitable nature.  When the Guaranty Bond State Bank opened in 1921, Keefer was its first president.  Years later, A.H. set up a checking account at the bank in order to help local families who needed financial assistance.  Goodfellows of Tomball was the name on the account, and anyone could contribute funds.

Keefer recognized the importance of having a town newspaper.  He made a personal loan to publishers of a weekly Tomball paper so they could buy a larger printing press.  Keefer knew Guaranty Bank would not have authorized a loan since the bank had difficulties with other newspapers in the past.  A.H. covered the cost of the printing press because the paper’s future depended on it.

In 1948, Mr. Keefer and three other men were Tomball Hospital Land Committee members.  Their job was to find a suitable location within city limits for a hospital; no site existed.  After the four men discovered three adjacent acres just beyond Tomball’s northeast boundary, they bought the property with their own money, and then gave it to the city.

A.H. Keefer was the first mayor of Tomball (1933-1934), he was the first president of the Rotary Club (1945), he was on the first board of directors for the Tomball Country Club (1950), and he was a stockholder in the town’s first telephone company.  Keefer Road bears the name of the banker whose involvement in the community benefited so many people.

 Gottlieb Walter Brautigam

Gottlieb Walter (G.W.) Brautigam was in his early thirties when he moved to Tomball from Decker Prairie, Texas.  He and his brother-in-law had purchased an existing grocery business.  They changed the inventory slightly by adding general goods, and in 1919 the Brautigam & Froehlich general store was born.  G.W. quickly became the exclusive owner when Froehlich retired.  The family-run landmark business was handed down to subsequent Brautigam generations who ran it for over fifty years.

Walter had a passion for ranching and cowpunching.  He started his first cattle ranch when he was only seventeen years old, and he tended livestock until he died at the age of ninety-three.  Brautigam built a corral behind his store in 1923 so local cowboys could show off their rodeo skills.  Six years later, an official county fair (Harris County Fair) was established in Tomball thanks to G.W.’s tireless efforts.  It was an annual event for the following twenty-six years.

 Mr. Brautigam had a hand in a considerable number of town goals.  In 1917, he helped make the Tomball Telephone Company a corporation.  He owned stock in the company and was also its vice president.  Walter served on the first board of directors for Guaranty Bond State Bank after contributing to the bank’s formation (1921).  He bought a membership to support Tomball’s hospital project in 1948.  Project members elected him to the board of directors and to the Hospital Land Committee.  Walter joined Spring Creek Historical Association, the group that put together the museum complex in downtown Tomball.  It is not surprising that Gottlieb Walter Brautigam once received the Citizen of the Year award from Tomball’s Chamber of Commerce.

 Dr. J.J. Trichel

When Dr. J.J. Trichel joined Tomball’s growing population in 1908, he took ownership of the Brick Hotel.  His primary occupation was town doctor, but he managed the hotel for several years.  Trichel made good use of that building.  It was the family home, the medical office, the drugstore, and the second location for the town post office.  Dr. Trichel became Tomball’s second postmaster, keeping that position from 1908 to 1915.

The doctor’s neighbors were his patients.  Most of the time, he examined and treated them in their own homes even though he had an office for seeing people under his care.  He worked round-the-clock and was often paid in food rather than in cash.

Dr. Trichel left the Brick Hotel around 1912; he had two separate buildings constructed that year.  One was a drugstore housing his office and Tomball’s post office.  The other was his family’s new residence.  Tomball’s first telephone system started during 1913 in that new home.  Trichel purchased some phone equipment and installed a switchboard in the front room of his house.  Two years later, a hurricane tore down the phone lines, destroying the system.  That storm also leveled Dr. Trichel’s recently-built drugstore.  His house was still standing, so the doctor practiced medicine from home for a few years in addition to making house calls.

 Dr. Trichel moved to Houston, Texas in 1918.  Although his stay in Tomball was rather brief, his decade of dedicated service to the early townspeople will never be forgotten.

J.C. Browder

A 1950’s Tomball newspaper described J.C. Browder as a versatile gentleman.  That was an accurate assessment because Mr. Browder pursued and mastered a variety of occupations.

 J.C. was employed as a car salesman and as a fuel delivery truck driver when he came to Tomball in 1926; he and his family moved away in 1928.  After they returned four years later, J.C. began putting out a weekly newspaper even though he knew nothing about the newspaper business.  His sales skills got advertising for the paper.  His writing skills kept people reading for the next eleven years.  Mrs. Browder’s job, as an experienced typesetter, was to arrange her husband’s written material into type.  Initially, local businessmen were the ones interested in the Browders’ publication.  But small articles about town residents soon attracted the attention of Tomball’s general public, so the paper’s popularity increased.  Citizens liked having their own journal.  The paper changed hands in 1943; however, the tradition of printing news that appealed to everyone in town stayed the same.

Mr. Browder was Tomball’s justice of the peace twice.  He held the office for a one-year term (1937-38), and then for a three-year term (1941-44).  He worked as a Harris County deputy sheriff for an unknown period of time until his retirement (1957).

Browder took an active role in the community.  He organized Little League baseball, served on the school board of directors, and acted as Sunday school superintendent for his Methodist church.  When J.C. Browder made Tomball his home, he also made it a safer and more enjoyable place to live.

Alex B. Klein, Sr.

The railroad, agriculture, and oil industries allowed Tomball residents to prosper.  By 1914, the railway business had shut down because freight trains no longer stopped in Tomball.  Cotton farming was almost at its end, too.  Although other kinds of farming were secure, it seemed unlikely that any further town growth would take place.  Then oil was discovered in 1933, and a mass arrival of people came to work in the oil fields. 

1933 was also the year Klein’s Grocery Store opened in Tomball.  Its owner, Alex B. (A.B.) Klein, Sr., already had a grocery store in Spring, Texas, where he lived at the time, but the savvy businessman saw an opportunity to expand by selling food and other merchandise to the oil-boom families settling in the Tomball area.  In 1935, Klein moved his own family to Tomball.  It appeared to offer them a brighter future than Spring.

A.B. Klein believed in supplying people with the goods and services they needed.  His store made grocery deliveries to households at various oil company home sites.  He had a separate feed and farm supply store built to accommodate ranchers and farmers.  Farmers couldn’t operate their tractors without gasoline, so Klein set up a fuel station for them.  He started the Klein Funeral Home in 1936, and provided Tomball with its first ambulance service.  His assistance made both the Ford Chevrolet and the City Café businesses possible.  As chairman of the board of directors for Tomball’s proposed hospital, Alex Klein gave his money, his time, and his expertise to help get the first hospital built.  Many civic organizations appreciated having Klein as a member; he was a charter member of the Rotary Club.  Mr. A.B. Klein, Sr.’s life exemplified the Rotary motto, “Service Above Self.”

Dr. Jacob Frederick Wilhelm Metzler

1908 was the year Dr. Metzler left Rose Hill, Texas to live in Tomball.  He had been practicing medicine for almost thirty years by then.

Early doctors tended to the needs of all people, and Dr. Jacob Frederick Wilhelm Metzler was no different.  He specialized in delivering babies, though.  From 1908 to 1921, almost every child in Tomball was brought into the world by Doc Metzler.  He recorded over five hundred births during that period of time. 

Metzler’s doctoring rarely took place in his office.  Instead, he rode horseback across the prairie to go to his patients.  Women gave birth in their own homes, and Dr. Metzler usually made a mad dash to an expectant mother’s residence when her moment was near.  He continually replaced horses; he exhausted one after another by constantly racing them great distances. His mode of travel changed in later years when he became the owner of the first car in town.

As a pharmacist, Metzler developed syrup to cure a specific type of cough that showed up especially in infants.  His famous tonic was a staple in everyone’s house.

Although there is no consensus today on exactly how many children the doctor himself raised, the number is around fifteen.  Several of those were stepchildren.  Metzler’s first wife died, and he eventually married a widow who already had three children.

Dr. Metzler spent his entire adulthood looking after the well-being of others.  His devotion to the people of Tomball is fondly remembered and revered. 

Ballard E. Stallones

Individual dairy farmers in rural Tomball sold their milk to large wholesale distributors.  The purchase price for the milk was set by the distributors, and for a number of years (beginning in the late 1920’s), the price was so low the farmers could not make a profit.  They knew they were powerless to change the situation unless they confronted the distributors as an organized group.  Those dairymen were fortunate when Ballard E. (B.E.) Stallones moved to their neck of the woods in 1930. 

Stallones was a dairyman, too; he was also a highly influential spokesperson even though he only had a fifth-grade education.  He unified Tomball’s dairy farmers under the existing South Texas Producers Association and became their leader.  In negotiations with wholesale distributors, Stallones demanded that the farmers get more money for their milk.  His demand got rejected, and distributors responded by lowering the milk price again.  At B.E.’s instruction, farmers then refused to supply them with milk.  The dairyers’ battle to preserve their livelihood lasted for weeks.  During that time, Stallones’s opposition set fire to his house in an attempt to get him to call off the boycott, but Stallones did not back down.  His effective plan forced wholesalers to pay local dairymen more. 

B.E. managed South Texas Producers until his death in 1958.  He presided over the Texas Dairy Association for a while and sat on the board of the National Dairy Association.  A milk producers’ publication (1980) rightfully dubbed Ballard E. Stallones “the father of dairy cooperatives in the southwest.”  Without this man’s courageous guidance, independent dairying would have been eliminated. 

 N.B. Anderson

N.B. (Newell Brisco) Anderson became a Tomball resident during 1908; he was hired as the town’s second railroad telegraph operator the same year.  N.B. held that position until the railway company discontinued its train-servicing stop in Tomball (1914).  From then on, the company needed just a handful of workers to continue operations—Anderson was one of them.  Railroad officials placed him in charge of the train depot (1914-24).

In 1935, two years after Tomball incorporated as a town, local citizens voted Anderson in as their first town secretary.  One of N.B.’s early assignments was to arrange meetings for Tomball administrative leaders and representatives of the Humble Oil Refining Company (the largest oil-producing firm of all the oil and gas companies who showed up once oil was discovered in Tomball [1933]).  Prior to 1935, all oil exploration occurred within a five-mile radius of Tomball’s city limits.  But Humble Oil requested permission to drill inside the city limits.  The two parties wanted to reach an agreement concerning the matter.

There is no question that Anderson played a significant role in bringing about the remarkable, well-known settlement the two sides reached.  Tomball granted Humble Oil’s request for drilling privileges.  In return, Humble Oil supplied Tomball with its first public water well and laid natural gas lines throughout the area.  As a result, every home had running water and natural gas energy; both were provided at no cost to the townsfolk.  (Before Anderson helped put this deal together, he personally drilled water wells for many families.)  The amazing arrangement of free water and gas in exchange for drilling rights received national attention when the news got published by “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”  Newell Brisco Anderson’s contribution to those legendary terms arrived at in 1935 endeared him to Tomball’s entire population.

Dr. Robert Alvin Allwelt

The first physician in Tomball’s vicinity is believed to have been Dr. Robert Alvin Allwelt.  He immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1882, and a 1900 census counted him in Tomball, Texas territory.  (That was seven years before the region was called Peck or Tomball.)  The doctor and his family lived on forty acres of land barely outside the present-day town boundaries. 

According to one of Dr. Allwelt’s patient ledgers, he treated people in three different counties—northwest Harris, Waller, and Montgomery.  He probably made house calls by either driving a one-horse carriage or riding horseback.  The white horse he owned identified him as the man arriving at a sick person’s house.

Although not much more was recorded about Dr. Allwelt, one thing is certain:  his willingness to leave his native country for an unknown future across the Atlantic Ocean blessed pioneers in the Tomball area with a medical practitioner.

 Joseph Eugene Boulet

The Centennial Profile team wanted to display H.A. Abney’s portrait with this copy since he was the first official minister in Tomball.  Unfortunately, a Methodist archival search produced no photo of him, so no portrait could be drawn.  Of the earliest pastors, the only photograph found was Joseph Eugene Boulet’s (a Baptist); therefore, his portrait represents all the ecclesiastics who came to declare the gospel.  

The initial settlers in Tomball, TX earnestly practiced their religious teachings.  Because the town lacked a church, people gathered in hotel lobbies, in private homes, or in the local community building to hold worship services.  The town also lacked an ordained preacher.  Even though many folks had knowledge about the Bible, they longed to hear the Word of God spoken through a true spiritual leader.  Whenever ministers of any faith traversed the area, they were asked to give a sermon.

The Methodist Conference sent Tomball its first pastor, H.A. Abney, in 1909.  One reference gives Reverend Abney credit for helping Otto Hegar build the first church.  But it could have been the second Methodist minister, Ed Prather (1910-1911), who assisted Mr. Hegar.  Or perhaps both clergymen lent a hand.  The most important thing to everyone at the time was that their church was finished.  The first house of worship, Tomball Methodist Episcopal Church South, welcomed a devout congregation in 1910.

The Baptists were the next denomination to provide clerics for Tomball.  Reverend Sesson (1910-1911) began the orderly, formal movement of Baptist parsons through town.  O.M. Smith replaced him (1912-1914).  Joseph Eugene Boulet—who lost his vision as a young child—stayed for one year (1914-1915).

The men and women of Tomball were grateful for their preachers.  Hearing regular reinforcement of their own internal moral convictions allowed them to put together a flourishing suburb.

Cecil Faris

Cecil Faris was a retired person by the time he moved to Tomball in 1932.  His wife had become the owner of her father’s Tomball home, so the Faris family lived there.  (That home is known today as the Griffin House and is located today in the Tomball Community Museum Center on Pine Street.)

Retiree status didn’t stop Mr. Faris from actively participating in town affairs.  He was the proprietor of Faris Service Station.  He filled the city commissioner post from 1938 to 1944.  As soon as he left that office, he got selected as Tomball’s fourth mayor (1944-1948).  During his term, two momentous events took place.  On May 8, 1945, the World War II Allied Victory in Europe (V.E. Day) inspired Mayor Faris to hold a citywide prayer service.  Then in 1946, Coronet Magazine featured Tomball in its April issue.  The flattering article called Tomball a living American town, typical of the rural United States, and nicknamed it Oiltown, U.S.A.  Photographs of Mayor Faris appeared with these captions:  a small town with a big mayor, no closed doors to democracy here, and government is everybody’s business.

Tomball’s Rotary Club formed at the end of 1945 with Cecil Faris instated as vice president.  The following year, he held the president’s seat, and in 1954 the Rotary listed him as a lifetime member.  Mr. Faris undeniably made a lifelong pledge to work in behalf of those around him.

William Frederich Juergens

On February 9, 1827, William Frederich Juergens was born in Prussia (an historical region of Europe formally abolished after World War II).  Juergens came to America when he was approximately thirty-three years old, and he continued making and mending footwear after he arrived.

1873 land deeds place William Juergens in Tomball (not so named until 1907).  He eventually accumulated a total of six hundred acres; part of this he reserved for the family cemetery.  In 1914, at the age of eighty-seven, Mr. Juergens died and was laid to rest there.  Portions of his property have since been sold by descendants.  Tomball’s current high school and stadium occupy an extensive section of the original acreage.  Juergens Park honors the entire Juergens line, but without William Frederich that land might not have been developed into a lovely public park because someone else, with different values and different heirs, would have bought it.  The honest, hardworking shoemaker raised responsible children of integrity, one of the greatest gifts a person could donate to society.

William Juergens Drive is a tribute to the Prussian-born cobbler who called Tomball, Texas his home. 

Sarah Louisa Simpson

Charlie and Sarah Louisa Simpson relocated their family in Tomball (1908 or 1909) from Grapeland, TX where Charlie had been a farmer.  In Tomball, Mr. Simpson worked for the railroad, pumping water for steam engines.  Time will never diminish the breadwinning role of this man; however, it is Sarah Louisa’s life story that shines.

The Simpsons bought an established hotel (the Hegar Hotel).  Aside from being the Simpson family home, the hotel served as a boarding house and restaurant.  Under a new manager (Mrs. Simpson) and with a new name (Simpson Hotel), Sarah Louisa (fondly referred to as Lula) turned the hotel into a popular spot.  Lula’s outstanding ability to prepare mouthwatering meals gave the hotel an excellent reputation.  Her warm manner and neighborliness attracted customers like a magnet.

Lula and her husband had ten children.  When Charlie passed away in 1914, three of the children were adults, but seven were still adolescents and youngsters who needed to be watched closely.  Lula succeeded in raising all of them by herself while carrying out her daily schedules filled with hotel chores.  Charlie’s death caused financial hardship for Lula, too.  She didn’t own the hotel outright yet, and sometimes she had difficulty making payments.  Ultimately, her diligence not only paid off the hotel but also provided her with a $270.00 refund because she had overpaid by that amount!

Fire destroyed the Simpson Hotel in 1934.  Instead of replacing it, Lula had a house (her new home) built on that site.  Eight years later, she succumbed to cancer and was buried in Willow Cemetery. 

Mention Lula Simpson’s name and the countless number of people touched by her kindness will smile.

William Holderrieth

William Holderrieth spent his entire life in Tomball, Texas.  He was born on the south side of town where Holderrieth Road now runs east and west.

As an adult, Mr. Holderrieth had the two-story Brick Hotel erected on a piece of land he purchased (1908), but he did not personally operate the business until about 1912.  He sold furniture on the ground floor in 1933 or 1934; the upper level remained a hotel.  Slightly over a year later, the structure caught fire and was reduced to rubble.  Holderrieth decided to build again on the same plot, and in the latter 1930’s, the doors of the Tomball Furniture Company swung open to the public.

Tomball had no fire department when the Brick Hotel burned; although a Houston fire station sent a truck to the scene, flames had already engulfed the building by the time it arrived.  William’s loss motivated him to start Tomball’s first volunteer fire department, which he presided over.  Funds for the department were meager to nonexistent, so as an incentive to keep firefighters interested in staying, William bought each of them one meal every month at a local café.

Mr. Holderrieth made his home closer to downtown Tomball after buying a cornfield.  Holderrieth Boulevard currently takes up part of that former field.  William furrowed and smoothed the road himself long before it carried his name.  In due course, he sold it to Harris County so county road crews could maintain it for the town.

Tomball’s sewer lines were put in while William Holderrieth was mayor (1950-1952).  This stellar citizen’s additional community contributions were plentiful.  He took his civic obligation seriously by shouldering much more than his individual share.

 Jimmie C. Tanner

Humble Oil and Refining Company hired Jimmie C. Tanner seven years prior to sending him to its oil field in Tomball.  On December 26, 1933, the Tanners joined other families who resided in Humble Oil’s “camp” outside the newly incorporated town of Tomball (oil discovery:  May 1933; town incorporation:  July 1933).  The camp had two sections.  Supervisors and engineers stayed in a company-owned housing area known as upper camp.  Right beside this was an employee-owned housing area for oil field laborers and their families, like the  Tanners, known as lower camp.  Homes in each section surrounded a central park.  A man-made lake, recreation hall, and tennis court added to the heaven-on-earth quality of the camp lifestyle.

Jimmie devoted thirty-five years to Humble Oil as a field pumper.  He retired from that company in 1961, but his spry nature did not allow him to remain idle.  With one of his sons, Mr. Tanner obtained a concrete business during 1963 and he continued logging full-time hours.  Ten months later, he put his company on the market.  Tri-County Concrete wanted to buy it, but would only consider purchasing if Jimmie and his general manager came along as part of the sale.  The men agreed, and for the next decade Jimmie worked with cement.  He returned to his previous profession in 1973 when he became a Mound Oil field pumper.

Mr. Tanner belonged to Tomball’s Rotary Club.  He also served as the unofficial representative for the Chamber of Commerce.  At Chamber functions he entertained guests with his charm and poetry recitation.  The Chamber chose him as the town’s 1974 citizen of the year.  Jimmie Tanner’s extroverted vitality and diplomacy made him an essential part of Tomball. 

Harvey Cecil Evans

Harvey Cecil Evans made his first trip to Tomball, TX at the age of twenty-one (1919).  He lived in the town for about one year while on a temporary assignment for his employer, Humble Oil and Refining Company.  Harvey helped construct Humble Oil’s Tomball plant.  (Although oil wasn’t found till 1933, the search for it began at least as early as 1916.)

Harvey had risen to the rank of District Superintendent for Humble by the time he returned to Tomball (1943).  He also had married.  The town became a permanent home for the Evans couple and their daughters once they settled in Humble’s upper camp, the housing section for supervisory personnel.  Evans had another place of residence built on his personal tract six years later; in 1950 he and his family left the company-owned house they occupied and entered their new homestead, Pinehaven.  

Pinehaven’s premises must have been extensive because Humble company picnics were held there.  Mr. and Mrs. Evans generously gave permission to various groups to use their property for social gatherings.

Mr. Evans always found time to take part in local organizations.  Tomball Country Club’s first board of directors consisted of Harvey and six other men (1950).  The Evanses attended the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, and Harvey chaired its Building Finance Committee.  He was an affiliate of Harris County Farm Bureau.  In 1968, he sat on the public school board.  As a Freemason, Evans earned Master Mason standing, maintaining that distinction for sixty years until he died.  Harvey’s benevolence enriched the lives of others; they and their burgeoning city benefited when Mr. Evans put down roots in Tomball.

William Herman Scott

The Houston Press highlighted a troubling situation in Tomball during the late 1920’s by printing some photographs with the heading, “Tomball’s Kids Have to Get Their Rock Chunking in Before Clock Strikes Eight.”  Young boys, and possibly girls, were throwing rocks through downtown shop windows for sport.  The practice grew into such a problem, businessmen who had storefronts along Main Street stipulated a curfew be adopted.  Town authorities supported their idea.  The curfew stated that any child under seventeen must be in his/her home by eight o’clock each night.  This regulation needed enforcement, which was the reason William Herman Scott came to Tomball.  The town retained him to implement its 8:00 P.M. restriction.

Scott, a World War I veteran, patrolled Montgomery County as a constable before moving to Harris County to start his new job.  As a parent, Herman Scott wanted to instill good behavior in his own sons as well as in other children.  A reminder bell began ringing in Tomball every evening to warn the not-yet-seventeen crowd they had better get home.  Herman nudged stragglers toward their houses; he named defiant ones to the justice of the peace.  Herman firmly carried out his duty, but he also befriended the mischievous children. 

The curfew stopped the destructive window-breaking activity, so after only a handful of years in Tomball, Mr. Scott headed to Houston where he had accepted a deputy sheriff position.  He remained a Houstonian and a law-enforcing officer for the rest of his life.

W.W. Baker

For the first ten or twenty years of Tomball’s existence, family farms dominated the landscape.  Almost one hundred percent of the town’s population earned a living by raising cotton.

In 1926, a farm transfer brought W.W. (Bud) Baker and his family to the Tomball area.  An experienced farmer, Baker grew cotton and corn on his one hundred twenty acres, providing nicely for his wife and five children.  But beginning in 1933, cotton farming rapidly declined.

Locally, oil had been discovered (1933).  Derricks popped up everywhere, even in Baker’s cotton fields.  He worked around them; the oil wells were a minor inconvenience. 

Nationally, Franklin D. Roosevelt had been elected President (1933).  While Roosevelt held office, the tax on cotton climbed to an exorbitant amount.  His Administration also set a limit on the number of cotton crops farmers could plant.  These two policies caused Mr. Baker to end his agricultural vocation.  Although he still farmed, he cultivated smaller and smaller measures of land.

In 1936, Bud sold a considerable piece of property to Harris County for a road (FM 2920 or Main Street).  Over the next thirty years, he continued to sell portions of land, retaining thirty-three acres for himself.

Mrs. Baker died in 1966, and Bud followed two years later.  The couple shared at least sixty years together; they had celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in the mid-1950’s.  

 A special remembrance goes to Mr. Bud Baker:  family man; dedicated individual; American farmer.

George L. Charlton

George L. (Judge) Charlton’s professional pursuit was law.  He worked as a lawyer and as a judge in Harris County after earning his law degree in 1906.  He administered the official oath to Tomball’s first mayor and city council (1933).

Judge Charlton’s personal pursuit was history, and he was more than just a buff.  His zeal for preserving historic sites, buildings, and items led to the formation of Spring Creek County Historical Association (1961).  That organization assembled Tomball’s Community Museum Center.

Charlton’s catalyst for starting the Association happened in 1960 when he examined the dilapidated condition of New Kentucky Park, located west of Tomball.  (General Sam Houston stopped briefly at New Kentucky before leading freedom fighters to San Jacinto where the final battle of the Texas Revolution occurred [1836]).  Judge had the grounds cleaned and had a new monument put in the Park to commemorate Houston’s landmark interim; then he set out to document Tomball’s past.

Mr. Charlton and other Association members chronicled regional events, collected local memorabilia, and planned the Museum Center.  The Griffin House and Farm Museum were the two structures in the Center before Judge died.  Today, several additional buildings offer an insightful look at a bygone way of life for early residents.  Thanks to George Charlton’s passion for history, Tomball not only has a place to display cherished mementos but also has Spring Creek County Historical Association to protect them. 

Arnetia Elizabeth Latimer Evans

Arnetia Elizabeth (Betty) Latimer married Harvey Cecil Evans on May 22, 1920.  She and her husband moved to Tomball during 1943 and lived in Humble Oil’s upper camp.  Betty’s roles as wife, mother, and civic participant followed the customary path for women of her era, but this lady’s ability to lead and her extensive involvement in community affairs made Betty far from typical. 

She became the Club’s first president (1953).  Home Demonstration members established several 4-H Clubs and Betty held one of the leadership positions for two years (1954 and 1955).  She advanced to Nutrition Chairman of Harris County Extension Service, the umbrella organization that included the Home Demonstration Club.  Because of her noteworthy achievements, she got invited to the Service’s Texas Convention (1954).  Only two other women from Harris County were chosen to attend.  As Mrs. Evans served as president of Humble Study Club (1951-52).  Tomball’s Home Demonstration Club evolved after Betty showed others, through step-by-step instruction, how to upholster.  She naturally Women’s Department Chairman for the Harris County Fair Association, Betty regularly appeared on television to advertise the Fair by demonstrating a cooking technique or by making a craft.  Tomball Country Club put Mrs. Evans in charge of its Social and Entertainment Committee.  The Good Shepherd Thrift Shop opened as a result of Betty’s efforts.

In 1966, at a senior citizen age, Mrs. Evans dedicated herself to restoring the Griffin House, part of the Museum Center at the north end of Pine Street.  The home renovation had been an unfulfilled dream of her deceased friend, Magdalene Charlton.  Turning Magdalene’s dream into reality was Betty’s personal goal; the project took thirteen years.

Betty Evans willingly offered her time and talents to support worthwhile causes.  Her altruistic spirit left a significant mark on the town of Tomball.

George Frank Brautigam

As a youth, George Frank Brautigam recognized the value of a good education.  He strongly desired one, but public schools were primitive while he was growing up in Decker Prairie (early 1900’s).

Tomball started the first semiformal school for the region (1908); children gathered at the town’s community hall for lessons.  An actual school opened during 1910 after townspeople donated enough money to get it built.  A more serious focus on learning accompanied the new school.  Still, the highest academic level seems to have been the eighth grade.

Frank Brautigam’s educational break came in 1920.  Tomball established a separate high school offering a two-year course and Frank, then eighteen, enrolled.  His 1922 graduation class totaled three:  Frank, Vera Dudley, and Ethel Means.  Frank and Vera became husband and wife three years later.  He continued his studies at Sam Houston State Teachers College, earning a teaching certificate and a master’s degree in education. 

Frank’s career centered on the academic world for twenty years.  He helped Tomball schools meet specific requirements so the Texas Review Board would grant them accreditation.  When Mr. Brautigam was the superintendent for Klein School District, he found out Tomball High’s staff had elected him to be their next principal.  Frank never requested the job; however, he accepted it once he gave the matter substantial thought.

Mr. Brautigam went into the retail business in 1945, leaving academia.  Frank and Vera operated Brautigam’s department store on Main Street until 1973.

Frank belonged to Tomball’s Rotary and Chamber of Commerce; he held a term presidency for each.  He won the Chamber’s 1975 Citizen of the Year award.  Mr. Brautigam served his community well by being a positive and productive member of it.

Ted Hewitt

Ted Hewitt and his wife, Ruth, wanted to bring up their son and daughter in a suitable environment.  Their search for such a place ended after arriving in Tomball (November 1943).  The thriving suburb more than satisfied their needs.

The Hewitts stayed with relatives when they first came to town.  Although Ted wasn’t employed, he landed a job within one week.  He became a pipeline worker for Humble Oil.  Instead of lodging at Humble Camp, Ted and his small family moved into a three-room house on Cherry Street.  By the time Mr. Hewitt retired (1962), Humble Oil had been sold to Exxon.  Ted’s oil days might have been over but his working days were not.  He entered a different profession as a Klein Funeral Home employee. 

Ruth’s knack for floral arranging led to a joint venture for Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt in 1950.  They ran the Art Rose Flower Shop on Main Street for nearly ten years.

The Hewitts were one of the one hundred sixteen families that got Tomball Country Club going (1950).  Ted also had a charter membership in Tomball’s Lions Club, which formed during October 1951 with thirty men.

About twenty-three years ago, Ted and Ruth Hewitt praised Tomball as “ideal to raise a family.”  These two surely helped make that glowing statement true.

Poley Parker

Poley Parker spent his childhood on a ranch in Webster, Texas where he developed an appreciation for the land.  Consequently, he sought an agricultural line of work when he got older; he chose vocational agriculture education.

Mr. Parker became a Tomball resident in 1950 and started teaching at Tomball High School as a degreed vocational instructor.  He received a promotion in 1976 to vocational director of Tomball’s entire school district.  Poley was the first person to have that position.  His job performance merited him an Outstanding Vocational Agriculture Administrator award.  Mr. Parker moved up to district superintendent two years later (1978), occupying that office until his retirement.

Poley’s contribution to the agricultural way of life had a major effect on local farmers and ranchers.  They respected him and gave him an honorary Lone Star Farmer degree.  Most people referred to Poley as Mr. Vocational Agriculture; he especially enjoyed that unofficial title.

Mr. Parker held memberships in many groups connected to his career.  He also assisted both the Harris County Fair and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo associations with their annual events.  A portion of his schedule was reserved for service to his church, Tomball United Methodist.

Personal voids are always created whenever someone dies.  Mr. Parker’s passing additionally generated a great sense of loss throughout the agriculture and education industries.

Floyd King Rose

Floyd King Rose showed up in Tomball two months after the first oil gusher burst forth (1933), but he did not seek oil field employment; his intention was to feed the people who did.  Mr. Rose had two years of experience doing this in other oil towns.  He put a dining hall on the corner of Humble Camp Road and 149 (now Humble Road and 249).  Floyd offered diners a choice of three meals per day for one dollar or thirty-five cents each.

Within a few years, Mr. Rose changed careers because he had been appointed postmaster of Tomball; he assumed that office on October 1, 1936.  Shortly thereafter, he got a letter from Robert Ripley (of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”) asking if Tomball really had “free water and gas and no cemetery.”  Rose provided the confirmation needed so Ripley could print the news in one of his features. 

Floyd held his postmaster position for sixteen years, retiring in July 1952.  That same year, residents outside Tomball’s city limits began getting house to house mail delivery.  By the close of 1952, Floyd had been rehired by the post office as a rural mail carrier, and he continued doing that for five years. 

Variety seasons every life.  Floyd Rose possessed food service skills as well as solid business and managerial abilities, which he utilized to run his dining halls and oversee operations at the post office.  His physical strength helped finish Main Street in 1936.  His musical talent elicited harmonious tones from the First Baptist Church choir; he directed it for two decades.

Warm regards to Floyd King Rose, whose diverse capabilities advanced Tomball’s progress.

William Archie Carrell, Sr.

In 1926, William Archie Carrell, Sr. bid farewell to Anderson, TX because he found a place in Tomball for his family to live.  The Carrells settled on one hundred acres of farmland northeast of “downtown.”  References are unclear whether they raised a cash crop, but they did have an assortment of farm animals in their care.

Archie worked for Sinclair Oil, inspecting a stretch of pipeline from Hufsmith to Singleton.  He literally walked beside the pipe looking for defects.  (This method was common until airplane use took over years later.  Gradually, pipeline patrol pilots replaced foot patrollers.)  Every workday Archie walked 8.5 miles.  He said he tallied 92,000 on-the-job miles by the time he retired in 1946.

Carrell Street, named after William Archie, was home to more than Mr. Carrell and his immediate family.  The Second Baptist Church (renamed Carrell Street Baptist Church) built its first sanctuary there.  Tomball’s first hospital stood where Carrell and Hospital Road meet.  Mr. Carrell owned the acreage that Tomball’s Hospital Land Committee purchased for the building.  Archie lowered the price so groundbreaking could begin as soon as possible on the sixteen-bed health care facility (1948).

Carrell Street may still house some of Archie’s relatives.  Theirs is a close-knit, loving heritage, handed down to them by a hearty pipeline walker.

Joe Buvinghausen

Joe Buvinghausen, born in 1905, spent most of his life on the Buvinghausen family farm in an outlying region of Tomball (Spring Cypress Road).  When Joe reached school age around 1910, he went through the elementary grades at Neudorf School on Grant Road.  Joe’s parents made education a top priority.  His father considered it so important that he moved his family to Houston where Joe and his eight siblings had an opportunity to gain all the knowledge they could from the scholastic world of their day.  (Tomball’s instruction ended at the eighth grade.  Apparently, the closest school system offering higher grade levels was Houston’s.)

While he lived in Houston, Joe married (1930).  He and his young bride, Eleanor, left that city the following year and made their home on the Buvinghausen farm.  The couple had three daughters; Joe became as concerned with their education as Joe’s father had been with his.  Mr. Buvinghausen was a board member for Neudorf School at the time it incorporated into Tomball’s school district.  He then shifted his membership to Tomball and remained on the board for fifteen years; he served as president for an unknown duration.

Town and school authorities honored Joe Buvinghausen by naming a street after him.  They christened the “new” road on the east side of Tomball’s elementary school Joe B Road.  Only the first letter of Joe’s surname got used since Buvinghausen presented such a challenge to spell correctly.  At some point, however, the street name changed because today the sign reads Buvinghausen.

Great citizens make great cities.  Tomball’s expansion can be attributed to people like Mr. Buvinghausen—a self-motivated man with a strong work ethic and a commitment to persevere.

Truman Thomas Moore

When Humble Oil set up “camp” at the southwestern edge of Tomball (1933), the company brought in identical prefabricated five-room houses for its engineers, electricians, foremen, and supervisors.  One of those homes was reserved for Truman Thomas (Denny) Moore, a civil engineer.  Denny and his family were among the original upper camp residents.

In 1946, Mr. Moore put together a general contracting business, T-T Construction.  He started by acquiring some equipment and work animals (ten mules!) from the defunct Houston Transportation Company.  Denny shaped T-T into an up-to-date firm that prospered for thirty-five years.  He gave quite a few local fellows their very first job; they benefited from Moore’s personal understanding of the field and learned specific trade skills.

Mr. Moore passed away on August 19, 1981.  A short time before this date, Denny had sold his portion of T-T Construction to two men who operated it through the 1980’s.

Moore’s entrepreneurial undertaking proved to be a well-calculated risk.  He provided a necessary service to consumers along with a means of support for any person willing to work.

Alvin William Theis, Sr.

It seemed inevitable that Alvin William (Allie) Theis, Sr. would become a constable.  Physically equipped for the job, Allie began his career in 1941.  His large, thick hands ended many brawls during an era when fistfighting customarily settled disputes.  But Theis maintained order without exchanging blows, too.  By merely showing up, he often silenced disturbances before things escalated to a punching level.  His powerful build and commanding presence let offenders know he meant to curb any commotion.  One townsman said trouble always stopped as soon as Allie Theis arrived.

Constable Theis rarely arrested unruly people, especially teenagers; he talked to them instead.  An Allie lecture was not uncommon.  Generally, notifying a teen’s parents sufficed for correcting bad behavior.  Theis called himself a peace officer, and he tried to keep the peace in a peaceful manner.

Allie’s effectiveness and popularity secured his position (an elected one) until he retired (1972).  At that time, no other law enforcement officer had more consecutive years of duty than Mr. Theis.  The rugged, kind-hearted constable must have been a tough act to follow.

A drive down Tomball’s Theis Lane brings folks to Theis Attaway Nature Center.  (Attaway is the maiden name of Allie’s wife.)  The road once divided Theis’s 183-acre farm in half.  Allie saved a section of his farmland in a trust to be used for public benefit one day.  That day came on April 22, 2000 with the opening of the Nature Center.  This quiet spot, surrounded by commercial property, is ideal for fishing, picnicking, walking, or just relaxing.  Posthumously, Allie still has a way of preserving the peace in Tomball.

Joe W. Mahan

Death, finance, and law are weighty matters that specific professions deal with.  Joe W. Mahan entered those professions, successfully handling each sensitive subject.  

When Mr. Mahan became part of Tomball in 1945, he worked as a funeral director.  Levelheadedness and a calm demeanor surely top the list of required personal characteristics for such a position.  Joe opened the town’s first credit bureau and also ran an insurance agency for a while.  Sometimes money is a more delicate issue than dying.  In 1952, by popular vote, the people instated Joe as Tomball’s justice of the peace.  Justices need diplomacy to rule on crimes and know which cases should go to higher courts.  Judge Mahan stayed in office until new district boundaries did away with his job completely (1972). 

A member of Tomball’s Lions Club and a former president, Joe was in the Club during its 23-year sponsorship of Boy Scout Troop 113; Mahan served as scoutmaster for ten years (1956-66).  (Boy Scouts started in England in 1908, in America in 1910, and in Tomball in 1934.)  Since the organization’s goal is the wholesome development of boys, its leaders cannot be less than “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.”  These words adequately describe Mr. Mahan who led seven young men from Troop 113 to achieve the Boy Scouts’ highest rank.  In a single ceremony (Court of Honor), all seven were awarded Eagle distinction.  Judge Mahan remarked later that it was the finest point of Scouting for him.

 From an appreciative town, for everything he did, many thanks to the Judge.