Biohazard Cleanup Near Pinecrest Forest Tomball, TX

Tomball is Harris County's northernmost town, located about thirty miles north of downtown Houston in the Houston metropolitan area.

The community was originally called Peck, and on December 2, 1907, it was renamed Tomball in honor of U.S. Congressman Thomas Henry Ball, who helped route the railroad through town and was a major force behind the development of the Port of Houston.

Settlement in the Tomball area began in the early 19th century on land granted in 1838 to the heirs of William Hurd, and Ball, an attorney for the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad, convinced the railroad to run its line right through downtown.

On May 27, 1933, drillers struck oil west of town, and Tomball became a boomtown popularly known as "Oil Town U.S.A." — its population tripled as twenty-five to thirty oil and gas companies set up within a five-mile radius.

In a deal famous enough to be featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not, Humble Oil gave Tomball residents free water and natural gas in exchange for drilling rights within the city limits, an arrangement that lasted until 1988; Ripley's billed Tomball as the only city with free gas and water and no cemetery.

Tomball incorporated on July 6, 1933, with a population of 665 — and because it incorporated, Houston never annexed its territory.

The 2020 census counted 12,341 residents in Tomball, and the Census Bureau estimated the population had grown to 15,768 by July 2025.

Census QuickFacts counts about 5,213 households in Tomball (2020–2024), averaging 2.52 persons per household.

Tomball College opened in 1988, and the community is now served by Lone Star College, while local students attend schools in the Tomball Independent School District.

The Tomball Museum Center, run by the Spring Creek County Historical Association, preserves historical homes, a farm museum, and the old Trinity Evangelical Church.