Spring Creek, which passes under Interstate 45 between Spring and The Woodlands, has been the southern boundary of Montgomery County since 25 January 1840, when the Fourth Congress of the Republic of Texas fixed the line along it. The creek rises near Waller and runs east to the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, west of Lake Houston, dividing Harris County from Montgomery County for much of its course. The new line moved land that had belonged to Harris County into Montgomery County, and settlers along the creek objected. In November 1840 about 130 men of the Spring Creek district petitioned Congress for a county of their own. They got one, briefly. On 21 January 1841 Congress created Spring Creek County, centred on the creek and taking in parts of what became Grimes, Montgomery and Harris counties, with a seat to be called Greenville.
It was one of the Republic's judicial counties, created for courts and local business without separate seats in Congress, which was capped at forty representatives until the population reached 100,000. In 1842 the Texas Supreme Court ruled in Stockton v. Montgomery that judicial counties were unconstitutional, and Spring Creek County ceased to exist. Greenville was never built.
The United States Geological Survey has measured the creek at the Interstate 45 crossing for decades. The largest flow on its record came on 18 October 1994, at 78,800 cubic feet per second. Hurricane Harvey's peak on 28 August 2017 came within 400 cubic feet per second of it.
Getting there
30.1105, -95.4363
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
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