Spring became a trading post in 1838 for the Spanish and French explorers to trade with the Orcoquisac Indians. By the mid-1800s German farmers began migrating to the area and the actual Town of Spring was platted by the Houston and Great Northern Railroad in 1873. One of the interesting stories of how Spring got its name is associated with the railroad. A base camp for the crew responsible for laying the tracks was constructed in the area about the time of the “spring thaw” causing the rail crew to refer to their quarters as the Spring camp.

The original roundhouse for the Houston area was in Spring and 14 track yards were added by 1902. Spring flourished. An opera house, hospital, lumber mill and several hotels and saloons were built to house, feed and otherwise entertain the over 200 railroad men stationed here. Prohibition and the transfer of the rail yard to Houston in the early 1920s, as well as the Great Depression in the ‘30s, caused the demise of Spring. During that period most of the wooden buildings in town were salvaged for firewood or used to build barns and other outbuildings.

A Town Revitalized

Spring owes its resurgence to a big, juicy hamburger. In 1949 Viola Burke began operating the Spring Café on Midway in the former Wunsche Bros. Café & Saloon turning out hand-patted hamburgers. Known for “the best food and slowest service anywhere,” the Spring Café attracted retailers to the surrounding area providing café customers a way to kill time while waiting for hamburgers. The beginning of the restoration of what was to be known as “Old Town Spring” began around 1979. The number of merchants in the 10-square-block area has grown from 10 merchants in 1980 to over 150 today.

Today, the remains of the original town can be found at several locations. Wunsche Bros. Café, one of the first buildings erected in Spring, is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of Uncle Charlie, a railroad man. Whitehall, the town’s oldest original residence has a two-story aviary with doves that coo at passers-by. The original Spring Bank, rumored to have been robbed by the famous Bonnie and Clyde, now contains a retail shop whose owners allow glimpses into the old bank vault. Over the years, local landowners have relocated buildings from the fields and farms around Houston and rented them to shop keepers. One landowner moved the old depot from Lovelady, Texas and another landowner moved several houses from the Heights in Houston. Since these structures are from the original time period of the town, they only add to the ambiance.