The grain we are talking about here is rice. It was not so very long ago that
there were almost more rice farms in the Cypress area than a person could
count.
It was a favorite pastime of Cy-Fair High School students having classes in rooms with south windows to look out across Hempstead Highway and the railroad
track to watch combines cutting rice.
Rice production in the United States started in the Carolina colonies about
1685. Commercial rice production in Louisiana started shortly before the Civil
War and then spread into southeast Texas. Early rice farming in Texas began
with farmers plowing small plots with oxen, planting seed by hand, depending on
rain for moisture and harvesting with hand sickles. It was in the 1880s that
combines, irrigation systems with pumps, and rice mills appeared.
Then in 1904, seed rice was imported from Japan to the Texas Gulf Coast. The
Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Pacific Railroad brought Japanese
farmers to Texas to advise local farmers on rice production. This was the
impetus needed to really get the rice industry moving in the Harris County
area. The Japanese rice seed yielded much more grain per acre than the native
rice seed, and the Japanese farmers were experts in the area of rice
cultivation.
Irrigation canals, so important for the rice crop, also had some other uses. There were usually fish in the canals, and it was not unusual to see people out
beside the canals casting a line with a cane pole.
Also, the water in the canals was quite cold, which made for a really refreshing
dip after a hot, dusty day combining rice. Of course, it was great sport for
teenage boys to sneak into a rice field at night and go skinny dipping in the
canals.
Today, the rice industry is pretty much gone from the Cypress area. Subdivisions and shopping centers have covered the farm lands with pavement and
buildings, leaving no room for rice farming. One of the last reminders of the
rice farming era, the Cypress Grain Drying Company, built in 1951 on House Hahl
Road next to the railroad track, was recently taken down. Those who grew up
seeing this historic old landmark will surely miss it; others will not ever
even know of its existence.
Commissioner Steve Radack’s mission in establishing Cypress Top Historic Park, located at 26026 Old
Hempstead Highway, is to keep Cypress history alive and to provide today
’s area residents with an identity and sense of community. The park museum
buildings are open every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for drop-in visitors.
The Cypress Historical Society conducts tours at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. To
schedule a group tour for a different day and time, please call this Precinct.
3 office number:
281-357-5324. You may e-mail Jane Ledbetter at
janel_54@att.net if you have questions about this article or Cypress genealogy and history.
