History of Woodlands

Learning the history of an area can play an important part in choosing a place to call home. The Woodlands has a history that starts with one man’s vision and ends in an unrivaled success story.

The Woodlands was conceived by George P. Mitchell, a successful oil industry investor and owner of Mitchell Industries. In the early 1960’s, Mitchell attended a symposium on how to develop Title VII HUD-financed communities, like Columbia, Maryland. Mitchell was keen to put his new knowledge to work so in 1964, he purchased a large piece of land from the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Company. Of that, 2800 acres was combined with additional land that he purchased over the next ten years, until eventually Mitchell had assembled the original 17,455 acres that would become The Woodlands.

Today, The Woodlands spans 28,000 acres, beginning just west of I-45 North at the eastern boundary and carrying on to FM 2978, in Magnolia, at the western boundary – the only exception being Harper’s Landing to the east of I-45. The southern portion extends into Harris County and the northern border extends into Conroe. The Woodlands is divided into residential villages, with each village including individual residential enclaves. Within each enclave, specific deed restrictions specify maximum and minimum square footage for the houses, and price ranges vary accordingly. Most of the villages have shopping centers consisting of grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies, banks and other retail stores.