Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Southside Place, TX

Southside Place is a tiny independent city in west-central Harris County, covering only about 0.2 square miles and completely surrounded by Houston, Bellaire, and West University Place.

Southside Place opened on Easter Day in 1925, developed by Edlo L. Crain on land that had previously housed the Harris County Poor Farm.

Developer Crain platted Southside Place in 1924 as a 329-lot subdivision and built its amenities first — it was the first Houston subdivision to provide a swimming pool, tennis court, clubhouse, and park for the private use of residents.

Southside Place Park, known locally as Fire Truck Park, is named for the city's first fire truck, retired in 1970 and converted into a playground structure that served as a beloved landmark for 42 years; the park received an Official Texas Historical Marker in 2025.

Southside Place incorporated in June 1931 with about 600 residents, a move that kept Houston from annexing its territory even as Houston absorbed the unincorporated land all around it.

Southside Place's population was 1,835 at the 2020 census — packed into its fifth of a square mile, that gives it a density of more than 7,300 people per square mile.

In 2000 Southside Place ranked among the wealthiest communities in Texas by per capita income, and it remains one of the most expensive residential enclaves in the Houston area.

Southside Place runs its own police, fire, water, and parks services despite its size, and its schoolchildren are zoned to the Houston Independent School District.