|
Spring Branch is a district in west-northwest Harris County, Texas, United States, roughly bordered by Tanner Road and Hempstead Road to the north, Beltway 8 to the west, Interstate 10 to the south, and the 610 Loop to the east; it is almost entirely within the City of Houston. Established by the Texas Legislature, the Spring Branch Management District exercises jurisdiction over the area. Several minor bayous run through the community, including Brickhouse Gully, Spring Branch (the neighborhood namesake), and Briar Branch, which drain into Buffalo Bayou in central Houston. Spring Lake is a large pond near the center of the neighborhood. Spring Branch, as of 2008, includes significant immigrant Korean American and Hispanic American communities.〔Lomax, John Nova. "(The Seoul of Houston: The Weather Was Not the Strong Point on Long Point )." ''Houston Press''. January 30, 2008.〕 ==History== Spring Branch began as a religious German farmer settlement; many of the farmers owned dairies. Karl Kolbe, who arrived in Texas from Germany in 1830, was Spring Branch's earliest settler.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Super Neighborhood 85 - Spring Branch Central )〕 The Germans opened sawmills to cut area timber. In 1848, St. Peter's United (Lutheran) Church opened on a site donated from the Bauer family; the lumber used in the construction originated from one of the local sawmills. The Spring Branch School Society, sponsored by the church in 1856, would eventually become the Spring Branch Independent School District.〔 The early settlers all had roads named after their families – Gessner, Condad Sauer, Witte, Wirt, Blalock, Campbell, Hillendahl, Bauer, Fries, and Neuens. After World War II James E. Lyon served as a developer in Spring Branch.〔 〕 In the mid-1950s, efforts to create a Spring Branch municipality failed. Following this, the Memorial villages, a group of six independent municipalities, formed.〔 Houston annexed the rest of the Spring Branch area.〔 In the mid-to-late 20th century, Spring Branch had a rural suburban character with dirt roads and horses in the area. Spring Branch Elementary School, one of several area elementary schools, was an all-White elementary school.〔Garza, Cynthia Leonor. "(Views are as diverse as city / Day-to-day life shapes residents' stances on illegal immigration )." ''Houston Chronicle''. Sunday April 16, 2006. B1 MetFront.〕 Apartment complexes opened in the Spring Branch area around the 1970s.〔Cobb, Kim. "(Drugs, neglect transform 'single scene' to slums )." ''Houston Chronicle''. July 17, 1988. Section 3, Page 1.〕 In 1982, the City of Houston Housing Authority proposed a $3.8 million U.S. dollar public housing unit at Emnora Lane. The city encountered strong opposition from civic clubs, city council members, and state representatives, so the city housing officials canceled the project. The sign used by the city to indicate the proposed site repeatedly received spray paint graffiti stating "no niggers."〔Rodriguez, Lori. "($5.7 million to go toward public housing )." ''Houston Chronicle''. Tuesday January 24, 1989. A1.〕 By the 1980s, Houston's economy had collapsed and occupancy rates declined. Many apartment complexes faced foreclosure, bankruptcy, and changes in ownership. Bill Zermeno, a city electrical inspector, said in a 1988 ''Houston Chronicle'' article that many of the apartments with some of the strongest violations against maintenance-related city laws were in Spring Branch. Kim Cobb, the author of the 1988 ''Houston Chronicle'' article, said that many of the poorly maintained complexes were located next to well-maintained single family subdivisions.〔 From the 1980 U.S. Census to the 1990 Census, many Hispanics settled in parts of Spring Branch; in pockets of Spring Branch almost all of the immigration was from Central American countries. The Hispanic population increased by an amount between 1,000 and 3,500 per square mile.〔Rodriguez, Lori. "(Census tracks rapid growth of suburbia )." ''Houston Chronicle''. Sunday March 10, 1991. Section A, Page 1.〕 In 1997 S.D. Kim, the Houston bureau chief of ''The Korea Times'', said that Koreatown, the Korean community in Spring Branch, grew because of inexpensive housing and the zoning to the Spring Branch Independent School District.〔Nichols, Bruce. "(TAKING OFF Houston's Asian communities growing rapidly )." ''The Dallas Morning News''. June 29, 1997.〕 In 1998 and again in 2001, a proposal to place Korean language street signs in Koreatown lead to political controversy; the reaction against the proposal lead to the withdrawal of the proposal.〔"(Korean street sign flap revisited )." ''Associated Press''. July 22, 2001.〕〔Lartigue, Casey. "(Signs of Insecurity )." ''Cato Institute''. June 19, 1999.〕 By 2006, Spring Branch Elementary School was mostly Hispanic, reflecting demographic changes in the Spring Branch area.〔 By 2007 several older houses were torn down and replaced with newer houses; new homeowners came to Spring Branch to buy larger lots, to buy in an area cheaper than neighborhoods bordering Downtown Houston. New residents came due to the proximity to Downtown, Uptown, and the Energy Corridor.〔Jackson, Kim. "(Spring Branch enjoys growth / New, larger homes replace decades-old structures )." ''Houston Chronicle''. Thursday July 26, 2007. ThisWeek 10. Retrieved on March 28, 2009.〕 In May 2011 the Spring Branch Central Super Neighborhood campaigned against having federal funds used to improve older apartment complexes in the area.〔Fehling, Dave. "(Spring Branch-area homeowners fight federal help for old apartments )." ''KHOU''. May 23, 2011. Retrieved on May 28, 2011.〕 In 2013 ''Houstonia'' magazine stated that Spring Branch, including the adjacent cities of Hillshire Village and Spring Valley Village, was one of the "25 Hottest Neighborhoods" of Houston.〔Holley, Peter, John Lomax, and Todd Spoth. "(25 Hottest Neighborhoods )" ((Archive )). ''Houstonia''. June 1, 2013. Retrieved on November 2, 2015.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Spring Branch, Houston」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|