Humble is a city in Harris County, Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area.

The proper pronunciation of the city is "umble" (the "H" being silent), as the city's founder (see below) pronounced his last name in that manner. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 14,579. The city shares a zip code with the small Houston neighborhood of Bordersville, although people who live in Bordersville still have Humble addresses.

Petroleum has been the basis of Humble's economy since its beginning. Loch Energy is headquartered in Humble; the city was the namesake for Humble Oil and Refining Company, which later merged with the Exxon corporation.

The city got its name from one of the original founders/settlers, a successful wildcatter originally from England named Pleasant Smith "Plez" Humble, who opened the first post office in his home and later served as justice of the peace.

Geography

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Humble is located at (29.994920, -95.264873).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.6 km² (9.9 mi²). 25.6 km² (9.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.10% is water.

Downtown Humble is located on a salt dome and most of the petroleum production is shallow and encircles the city by about a 2.5 mile radius.

History

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The first settlers began moving into the Humble area in the early 1800s. Joseph Dunman was thought to be the first person to settle here and was believed to have arrived in 1828. A ferry was built nearby, over the San Jacinto River, and the area of Humble became a center for commercial activity due to the region's large timber industry.

Humble became an oil boom town in the early 1900s when oil was first produced there. The first oil was produced a couple years after the famous Spindletop discovery in Beaumont, Texas. Railroad linkage was established in 1904 and shortly thereafter the first tank car of oil was shipped out of Humble's oil field. The Humble oil fields are still active and have produced over 138,835,590 barrels of oil. When the oil boom receded, many land owners returned to truck farming, dairy farming and the timber industry.

The town of Humble was incorporated in 1933. It remained a rather small, quiet city until the opening of the Houston Intercontinental Airport in 1969.

Demographics

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As of the census of 2000, there were 14,579 people, 5,460 households, and 3,652 families residing in the city. The population density was 570.3/km² (1,477.5/mi²). There were 5,908 housing units at an average density of 231.1/km² (598.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 69.24% White, 14.49% African American, 0.68% Native American, 3.22% Asian, 0.26% Pacific Islander, 9.07% from other races, and 3.04% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.36% of the population.

There were 5,460 households out of which 37.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were married couples living together, 16.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.1% were non-families. 26.3% of all households were made up of individuals...