Ever wonder how a town gets its name? Thompsons, Texas, nestled within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, has a simple origin story. Thompsons sits south of the Brazos River in east-central Fort Bend County. Robert E. Bohannon, an Alabaman, arrived in Texas around 1830, receiving a land grant thanks to empresario Stephen F. Austin’s settlement program. After Bohannon’s passing, his widow remarried a man named Hiram Thompson. Hiram, it seems, had a penchant for self-promotion. He gave the growing community his own last name, a legacy that endures today. Thompsons officially became a stop on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway in 1879. A post office arrived in 1888, solidifying its place on the map. The town even briefly held the moniker “Thompsons Switch,” a nod to its railroad roots. By 1896, Thompsons boasted around 300 residents, a cotton gin, a general store, and, like any respectable Texas town, two saloons. The 2020 census recorded a modest population of 156. A significant portion of Thompsons is covered by Smithers Lake, a man-made reservoir, and the associated W.A. Parish Power Plant. If you’re ever in Thompsons, you can send a postcard from the Thompsons Post Office at 222 Oilfield Road. And don’t forget to visit the site of the old railroad depot, a reminder of the town’s humble beginnings. Thompsons might be small, but its history is woven into the fabric of Texas.
Greenwood Church
How about a story of faith spanning generations? This is the story of Greenwood Church. Greenwood Church has a rich