Waller County

HEMPSTEAD AND WALLER COUNTY TEXAS COURT INFORMATION

506th District Court
Judge Albert M. McCaig, Jr.
836 Austin St. Room 307
Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-921-0921
Fax: 979-826-9149
Coordinator: Susie Schubert
Phone: 979-921-0921

County Court at Law
Judge June Jackson

836 Austin Street, Room 216
Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-7763
Fax: 979-826-9119

Waller County District Attorney
Elton Mathis
846 6th Street Suite 1
Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-7718
Fax: 979-826-7722

County Attorney
Elton Mathis

Waller County Courthouse
846 6th Street Suite 1
Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-7718
Fax: 979-826-7722

County Sheriff
Sheriff Glenn Smith
701 Calvit St.
Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-8282
Fax: 979-826-7781

Precinct 1  Justice of the Peace
Judge Charles Karisch
775 Business 290 East, Suite 105
Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-7745
Fax: 979-826-7748

Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace
Judge Delores Hargrave
27388 Fieldstore Rd.
Waller, TX 77484
Phone: 936-372-2193
Fax: 936-931-5206

Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace
Judge Marian Jackson
12620 Fm 1887
Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-7637
Fax: 979-826-7639

Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace
Judge Ted Krenek
3410 1st. Street
Pattison, TX 77466
Phone: 281-375-5233
Fax: 281-375-7757
P.O. Box 7
Pattison, Texas 77466

Precinct 1 Constable
Bo Hashaw
701 Calvit
Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-8282

Precinct 2 Constable
Glenn White
27388 Field Store Rd.
Waller, TX 77484
Phone: 936-931-1914
Cell: 281-932-9217

Precinct 3 Constable
Duke Shariff-Bey
12620 FM 1887
Hempstead, TX 77445
Phone: 979-826-7635

Precinct 4 Constable
Joel Trimm
3410 1st. ST.
Pattison, TX 77466
Phone: 281-934-3055
(Mailing Address)
P.O. Box 389
Pattison, TX. 77466

HISTORY OF WALLER COUNTY TEXAS

Waller County, created in 1873 from Austin and Grimes Counties, is located in a favorable geographic environment. Today the county bears the growth of Houston metropolitan area; which began to develop in the late nineteenth century with the implementation of the Houston and Texas Central Railway that helped to stimulate its expansion. If the railway helped to develop the area in the beginning of the century, the highways have the same function today. Two important transportation corridors serve Waller County; US 290 which connects the State’s Capital to Houston, and Interstate 1-10, which crosses Texas East-West, connecting Houston to San Antonio and on through to El Paso. This strategic location makes Waller an important piece in the region’s economy, and at the same time challenges the county development.

Limited on the West by the Brazos River, the County shares borders with Harris and Montgomery counties to the East, Fort Bend and Austin counties to the South and Grimes County to the North. The landscape varies from the “rolling timbered in the North to the coastal prairie in the South.”‘ A smooth variation on the elevations that range from 100 to 300 feet above sea level characterize the area as being part of the prairie landscape. Variations occur in the type of soil across the County, ranging from the alluvial soil near the Brazos River and numerous creeks in its southern area, to sandy and loam soil and black waxy soil in a small portion in the County, give Waller diversity in natural landscape.

The expansion of Waller was led by the development of the axis of transportation. Hempstead, the county seat and the major town in the County, was one of the cities developed by the railway companies. It was one of the most powerful development forces in the US in the late eighteenth century.

From the same pattern of development came the town of Brookshire, which was developed just after the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway passed through the city from Houston in 1893. Today, both railways are property of the Union Pacific Railway network.

The area took advantage of the available transportation system and this helped shipping the production of cotton through the country. In the late 1800′s, cotton was the major product in the county’s economy, along with cattle. In the area of what today is Waller County, perhaps, was one of the first plantations in the southern part of the country. The discovery of oil would completely change the regional economy, but it would not occur until the 1930′s.

Having its economy based on farming and cattle brought a great number of African Americans to the county, who helped in the colonization of the area. The 1880 census reported 65% of its population as being African Americans. After their emancipation from slavery, the economy suffered and several plantations were broken up, dropping the local production of farming and cattle.

The participation of African Americans in politics increased and they were elected to county as well as to state offices. Cultural diversity enhanced with immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe, Ireland and Italy arriving in late nineteenth century, together with Germans, Polish and Czech immigrants arriving in the beginning of the twentieth Century.