Tomball, TX

Tomball is a northwest Houston-area city with roots in early nineteenth-century settlement and a later railroad-town identity. Today it benefits from a busy retail and commercial corridor along SH-249, while Lone Star College gives the area a regional education presence. Tomball still has a recognizable old-town core, but the larger story is growth: Houston's suburbs have reached well past it, and the city now mixes small-town festivals, commuter neighborhoods, and steady commercial development.