The Huffman community is centered on Farm to Market Roads 2100 and 1960, 25 miles (40 km)[1] northeast of Downtown Houston in the piney woods of southeastern Texas. David Huffman, a native of Louisiana, came to Texas to fight against Mexico during the Texas Revolution.[2]
In the early years, the economy was driven by farming with primary crops being cotton, rice, and corn as well as ranching and logging. A post office was established in the community in 1888, and two blacksmith shops were operating by 1892. The Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway came through the community in the early 1900s. By 1914, the town reported two general stores and a population of 250. The construction and operation of the Sinclair Oil pump station in 1921 added to the economy. The 1936, the county highway map showed a church and cemetery at the townsite. In 1953, Lake Houston was opened as a water reservoir serving the City of Houston and serves as a recreational lake in the area today with boating, water skiing, jetting, fishing, and sailing.
Huffman covers about 39 square miles (100 km2) and houses approximately 12,000 citizens.[3] Huffman is a community consisting largely of subdivisions, scattered farms, apartments, and small businesses.
The Huffman Independent School District is named after the community and, up to 2007, served the area with four schools: Ben Bowen Elementary, Copeland Intermediate, Falcon Ridge Elementary, Huffman Middle School, and Hargrave High School. Since the construction of a new Hargrave High School campus and the renovations of the old middle school, which moved to the old high school campus, the five schools were renamed as follows:
The Commons Of Lake Houston
Fairway crossings
Idleloch
River Terrace
Cypress point
Huffman Hills
WildWood Hilltop
Tayme Ranchettes
Plantation
Rolling Creek Acres
Pine Way Estates
Fairway Crossing At Lake Houston
Lazy Pines
Lochshire
Last Stand
Huffman Hollow
Lake Houston
Forest Manor
Spanish Cove
Saddle Creek Farms
Lakewood Heights
Woodland Lakes
Harris Health System (formerly Harris County Hospital District) designated E.A. "Squatty" Lyons Medical Center in Humble for ZIP code 77336. The nearest public hospital is Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in northeast Houston.[6]
Parks and recreation
Harris County Precinct 2 operates the 69-acre (280,000 m2) I.T. May Park at 2100 Wolf Road. The park includes eight lighted baseball fields, two lighted American football fields, concession stands, barbecue pits, picnic areas, two playgrounds, a paved quarter-mile walking trail, and restroom facilities.[7] The park also includes the May Community Center.[8]
Historic
Huffman is the home to a 347-year-old Heritage Live Oak tree. The Huffman Heritage Live Oak reached 75 feet tall with a crown spread of 135 feet in 1989, surpassing the Texas State Forestry Champion Live Oak at Goose Island State Park at Rockport in two of the three criteria. (Goose Island Oak is larger in girth of the trunk). The Texas Forestry Service determined the Huffman Heritage Live Oak to be 314 years in 1989, verifying its witness to hundreds of years of Texas history.[9]