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is a city in Harris County, Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Area and is situated in Southeast Texas. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city population was 28,520.
Deer Park was founded in 1892 by Simon Henry West, a Yankee from Illinois. The town was named for a park of privately owned deer who lived in the area. A railroad station opened later that year and a post office followed in 1893.
The subdivision was established in 1893 and was the site of a Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway station by about 1894. A Deer Park post office was established in 1893, discontinued in 1919, and reestablished in 1930. In 1896, the community, with a population of forty, had a hotel, a general store, and three resident carpenters. By 1922 Deer Park had dwindled down in population to almost nothing with four houses, one little schoolhouse, and an old hotel with a few scattered shacks along the railroad right-of-way. 1928 brought in Shell Oil Company breaking ground on a new refinery. In the 1930s, an independent school district was established. By 1940, the population had grown to 100. In the 1930s, an independent school district was established. By 1946, however, the area began to flourish as Deer Park became the site of refineries and toluene plants for the production of TNT. The citizens of Deer Park voted to incorporate on December 12, 1948 and a few weeks later, Earl E. Dunn became the first mayor. The first city council meeting was held on Feb 7, 1949. The population had grown to 700 by 1948, to 5,000 by 1960 with a fire station, city hall, playground parks and an independent city water supply. The first public library was built in 1962 on five acres of land. Population was 12,773 in 1970, and now has over 30,000 residents. This growth has been fueled by the growth of the petrochemical industry as well as the growth of business along the Houston Ship Channel. Deer Park has a school district with 14 campuses, a city library, community theater, municipal court building, three fire stations, numerous city parks and recreational facilities, state-of-the-art water and sewer processing facilities, a post office, several hotels, 14 major industries as well as several light industrial companies. Deer Park has approximately 9,000 homes and more than 30,000 residents at this time.
Deer Park neighbors Pasadena, La Porte, and Buffalo Bayou, the site of the San Jacinto Battlefield, the location of the April 21, 1836 battle that ended the Texans fight for independence from Mexico. The Texans defeated the Mexican army, and the Republic of Texas was born. With the signing of the initial surrender treaty papers after the Battle of San Jacinto in Dr. George Moffitt Patrick's cabin, The City of Deer Park holds the destinction of being the true "Birthplace of Texas." The orginal cabin was located on Buffalo Bayou where Rohm and Haas Texas Incorporated is located in Deer Park today. The city proudly displays a replica of Dr. Patrick's cabin in front of the City Courts Building on Center Street.