| The original town of Spring was platted by the Houston
and Great Northern Railroad in 1873. Originally it served as a railroad
camp as a terminus for movement of the lumber in the rich East Texas Pine
Forest which was used to build much of the structures in Houston. A roundhouse
and 14 track yards were added in 1902. An opera house, hospital, lumber
mill and several hotels and saloons were built close to the railroad tracks
to house, feed, fete and "otherwise" entertain over 200 railroad men stationed
nearby. The young settlement reached a population of more than 200 by 1910.
Prohibition and transfer of the rail yard to Houston in the early 1920's, along with the Great Depression of the ë30's, reduced Spring to a country village of a few small homes and shops. Both original depots are gone, but a similar depot built in 1907 was relocated from Lovelady, Texas 125 miles north, and now houses Puffabelly's Depot Café. Another popular landmark built around the turn of the century, Wunsche Bros. Café & Saloon, is the oldest original structure in the town and is listed on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. 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 the slowest service anywhere," the Spring Café attracted retailers to the surrounding area, providing café customers a way to kill time while waiting for their hamburgers. In 1982, the building was bought and renovated by Scott and Brenda Mitchell and again named Wunsche Bros. In 1986, Burke's daughter, Irma Ansley, reopened the Spring Café (now Hyde's Café) on Keith Street. Whitehall, a restored two-story Victorian home built in 1897 on Main Street, has been a family home, boarding house, a funeral home, a church and a schoolhouse, a hippie commune, an office, a beauty parlor, an antique shop and currently a restored home with tours offered by its owner Ramon Hudson. Many of the merchants in the 10-square block area of Old Town Spring occupy the original, modest houses of the town and the former bank and post office. Others occupy old houses moved from outlying areas, or unusual newly built Victorian-style houses. The number of merchants has grown from about 10 in 1980 to more than 180 at last count. |