Waller, Texas

Everything Waller is known for

0 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

Waller, Texas, a small town northwest of Houston along the US 290 corridor, has a musical identity shaped by artists who call it home and songs that mention the area. Country artist Matt Mercado is from Waller. The song "Texas Armadillo" by Dale Watson also mentions Waller. The city sits where the coastal prairie meets the piney woods, offering a blend of rural charm and growing development.

Music in Waller

Songs About Waller

No songs reference Waller yet.

Artists From Waller

M
Matt Mercado
country Pop: 36

Rivers & Roads in Song near Waller

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Waller.

Brazos River 16 songs US Route 90 6 songs Interstate 10 23 songs Interstate 45 2 songs U.S. Route 59 3 songs Texas Colorado River 6 songs

Musical Heritage

The Prairie View Co-eds - Prairie View A&M RoadyGoat

During World War II, Prairie View A&M was home to one of the most popular all-female big bands in America: the Prairie View Co-eds. With more and more men drafted into the armed forces, band director Will Henry Bennett built a swing orchestra from the women on campus. The Co-eds toured much of the year, performed USO shows, and played a 1944 engagement at New York's Apollo Theater. Trumpeter Clora Bryant, who joined the band as a Prairie View student, went on to become a celebrated jazz trumpeter on the West Coast. The university's archives preserve the band's music collection today.

4.5 mi away

History of Waller

Waller, TX RoadyGoat

Waller, Texas. It’s a place where the whisper of history mingles with the everyday. When you drive through, you might not realize the echoes that rumble beneath the surface. The land itself remembers the early days of the Republic, named as it is for Edwin Waller, a man who put his signature on the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Waller, TX RoadyGoat

Waller isn't just another blip on the map between Houston and Hempstead. It was born out of the same Texas spirit that drove Edwin Waller to sign that Declaration of Independence – a spirit of independence and new beginnings. They say those early floods, the ones that rearranged the creeks and bottomlands back in the day, are what really shaped the town. Folks had to rebuild, rethink, and that created a tight-knit community, one deeply connected to the land. It’s still that way. Agriculture is more than just a job here; it's a way of life, passed down through generations. Of course, you'll hear stories about why people end up here. Some come looking for that quiet charm, a slower pace than the city offers. Others are drawn by the whispers of buried treasure along the creek, remnants of some long-forgotten stagecoach robbery. And then there are the curious, the ones who want to catch a glimpse of the Melon Head on those dark country roads. But if you ask a local why Waller is special, they'll likely tell you it's the people. It's the resilience, the way the community pulls together, like they did after those devastating floods not so long ago. That’s the real reason people stay, and the reason Waller endures.

The College That Opened With Three Students and Died in a Storm RoadyGoat

1898

Waller High School stands on the campus of a college that lived just two years. South Texas Baptist College opened in the fall of 1898 on land from local landowner C. C. Waller, with W. E. Clark of Kentucky's Georgetown College as president. Day one enrollment: three students. By the end of the first session there were thirty-three, and the second session closed with 102. In 1899 the school raised a two-story frame building, classes below, the president's family and female boarders above. The third session opened on September 3, 1900; within the week, the great Galveston storm of September 8 swept inland, severely damaging the college building and demolishing Waller's public school. The college never reopened, and since 1916 the campus has served Waller's public schools. (Sources: Handbook of Texas, South Texas Baptist College; THC marker.)

RoadyGoat →

Bland, Sandra Annette [Sandy]

2015

Sandra Annette "Sandy" Bland, an African American social activist whose death in police custody sparked national momentum for the Black Lives Matter movement, was born on February 7, 1987, in Naperville, Illinois. Raised by her single mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, Bland was the fourth of five daughters. As a child, she was active in the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle, Illinois, and around the age of ten she started playing the trombone. In 2005 Bland graduated from Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois, and earned a marching band scholarship to attend Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black institution in Prairie View, Texas. Bland studied agriculture and had the goal of becoming an inspector for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While earning her degree, she became a member of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, a historically Black Greek-letter organization. In 2009 she graduated with a bachelor's of science degree in agriculture. Bland lived in Houston before moving back to Illinois in 2012. In January 2015 she started a video blog series on her social media account titled "Sandy Speaks." She used this platform to discuss a number of topics, including police brutality, inattentive parents, and mental health. Later in the year, on July 9, Bland returned to Texas for a job interview at Prairie View A&M and was hired as a community outreach coordinator. She was to begin her new job on August 3. Arrest and Death On July 10 Bland returned to Prairie View A&M to fill out some paperwork. As she drove away from the university, she was followed by Brian Encinia, a White state trooper, who eventually pulled her over on University Drive for changing lanes without signaling. Dashcam footage from the trooper's vehicle showed Encinia ordering Bland to extinguish her cigarette. After she refused to do so, he then ordered her to exit her vehicle. Bland challenged Encinia's authority to order her to do so, at which point Encinia attempted to physically pull Bland from her vehicle and then drew his Taser gun. Bland exited her car and was led out of view of the dashcam. She was forced to the ground and handcuffed before being taken to the Waller County jail in Hempstead, Texas, and jailed on suspicion of felony assault on a public servant-Encinia wrote in his arrest affidavit that Bland had kicked him. Despite informing police during booking that she had previously attempted suicide, Bland was not placed under observation and assigned to an isolated cell. Her bail was set at $5,000. During the following days, she made several phones calls from jail to friends and family as efforts were made to raise the money to post her bail. On July 13, 2015, police reported that Sandra Bland had used a plastic garbage bag to hang herself in her cell. Following an autopsy, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science concluded that her death was a suicide. This judgment was quickly challenged by Bland's friends and family, who insisted that Bland was not suicidal and called for an independent autopsy. Impact of Death and Legal Consequences Bland's death came in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and heightened scrutiny of police violence towards African Americans. Her death sparked a series of demonstrations throughout the United States, including Hempstead, Texas, where Black Lives Matter protesters and armed members of the New Black Panther party gathered outside the Waller County jail. Her death galvanized the #SayHerName movement, which addresses police violence against Black women. Bland's funeral was held at DuPage AME Church in Lisle, Illinois, and she was buried at Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens in Hickory Hills, Illinois. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) placed Trooper Encinia on administrative duty for violating protocol for traffic stops, and a joint investigation into Bland's death was launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Texas Rangers , the investigative arm of the DPS.

Tsha Handbook → · 3.5 mi away

Prairie View, TX (Waller County)

1876

Prairie View is on U.S. Highway 290 and the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, between Hempstead and Waller in north central Waller County. It traces its roots to Alta Vista, the plantation home of Jared E. and Helen Marr (Swearingen) Kirby . Alta Vista was one of four plantations and several small farms owned by the Kirbys in the vicinity of Best and Iron creeks, and at one time claimed a population of 400 slaves. Kirby was a colonel in the Confederate Army, and his home was Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith 's headquarters during the later phases of the Civil War . When her husband died soon after the war, Mrs. Kirby was left in debt. In 1867 she transformed the mansion into a boarding school for young ladies called Alta Vista Institute; when she moved the school to Austin in 1876 she sold Alta Vista to the state of Texas. That year the Fifteenth Legislature established the first public institution of higher learning for Blacks in Texas, to be located on the former Kirby plantation. The new agricultural and mechanical training school opened in March 1878 with only eight students, who did not remain long. In April 1879 an act of the state legislature established Prairie View Normal and Industrial Training School (now Prairie View A&M University) to extend broader educational opportunities to Black youth. It opened on October 6, 1879, with sixteen students, and flourished. In 1892 the first post office in Prairie View was established by Duncan D. Robertson in his home, which also served as a general store for the area's Black college students and for White farmers and stock raisers. The population at this time was reported as 300. The post office was discontinued in 1938, but in 1988 mail still came to a branch office in the Prairie View A&M student center, via the Hempstead post office. The presence of an academic institution contributed as significantly to the area's growth as did agriculture. In the late 1980s the town remained both a college and agricultural community. It got its water from the Prairie View A&M University water system and was dependent upon the university for fire protection, ambulance service, and medical service. Local farmers produce corn, melons, and other commercial crops and benefit from the expertise available from the school's agricultural department. Prairie View citizens voted to incorporate in the spring of 1969, electing W. D. Thompson as their first mayor. The City News , published twice a month, began publication in July of that year. The town had six churches, retail businesses, the Waller ISD Junior High School, and a bus station. Prairie View is also home to St. Francis Episcopal Church, established in 1870. The church was originally located in Hempstead and was moved to its present location in 1958. The population of Prairie View was 4,129 in 1980 and 4,004 in 1990. By 2000 the population was 4,410.

Tsha Handbook → · 3.5 mi away

Jacob E. Freeman

1841

In response to the political, social and economic turmoil in Texas and the South after the Civil War, the federal government enacted the Reconstruction Act on March 2, 1867. Many local and state officials were removed from office and a constitutional convention convened in 1868 with ten African Americans elected to serve. The 12th Legislature met in 1870-1871 and was composed of 14 elected African American members. Amid struggles and violence, African American legislators continued to serve Texas. Among them was Jacob E. Freeman who served as a representative from Waller, Fort Bend and Wharton counties. Freeman was born a slave in Alabama around 1841 and came to Texas when he was eleven. He assisted his master in the Confederate army during the Civil War and, by 1873, was a mechanic in the Hempstead area and had served on a Waller County grand jury. In July 1873, Freeman served on the Colored Men’s Convention where attendees discussed political, civic and economic rights of minorities. As a member of the Republican Party, Freeman won a seat in the Texas House of Representatives in 1874 for the 14th Legislature where he served on the Penitentiary Committee. He was again elected to the 16th Legislature in 1879. In 1878, Freeman campaigned for the Greenback Party candidate for Governor, unsuccessfully ran for the Legislature as a People’s Party candidate in 1886 and campaigned for a gubernatorial candidate in 1892. Jacob E. Freeman and other 19th century African American legislators helped safeguard the rights of Texas and its Black citizens against tremendous odds and a sometimes hostile political climate. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836 - 2011

Historical Marker → · 4.2 mi away

Bernardo Plantation

1822

Bernardo Plantation, one of the plantation homes of Jared E. Groce , was located on a high bluff on the Brazos River four miles south of the site of present Hempstead in Waller County. In 1822 Groce, the first large planter in Texas, built a rambling story-and-a-half house of cottonwood logs, hewn and counterhewn, at the site. When completed, it had four large rooms downstairs, two rooms and a hall upstairs, and a house-length gallery supported by polished walnut columns. The other plantation buildings included a kitchen, the doctor's house, Bachelor Hall for entertaining guests, a dairy, and quarters for the house slaves. Removed near a lake were quarters for the field slaves, an overseer's house, a kitchen and dining hall, and a day nursery for children of the field workers. Cotton was planted in 1822, and a gin was in operation in 1825. About 1833 Groce divided his plantation property, and Bernardo fell to Leonard Waller Groce . Jared Groce, Sr., was back at Bernardo from March 31 to April 15, 1836, when the Texas army under Sam Houston camped near Groce's Ferry . A hospital was set up for the soldiers; all plantation facilities were at their disposal. Bernardo was filled with refugees of the Runaway Scrape . There the women made sandbags for the army, and Groce melted his lead pipes for bullets. On April 12 the Twin Sisters were unloaded and placed in front of Bernardo. The army crossed the river on the Yellow Stone on April 12–14. Jared E. Groce died in Grimes County on November 20, 1836, and was buried at Bernardo. Leonard Groce lived at Bernardo from 1833 until 1853, when he moved his family to a new home at Liendo Plantation , although he continued to own and plant Bernardo until his death in 1873. Several of his relatives occupied the house in the years following his move to Liendo. A son, William Wharton Groce, tore the log house down in 1865 in order to build a new home a few miles from Bernardo. After Leonard Waller Groce's death in 1873, another son, Dr. Leonard Waller Groce, bought Bernardo from other heirs and constructed a frame dwelling. He later sold the plantation, which subsequently had a number of owners. A historical marker at a rest area on U. S. Highway 290 three miles east of Hempstead commemorates the Groce family plantations.

Tsha Handbook → · 4.4 mi away

Prairie View A&M University

1876

Authorized by the Texas legislature in 1876, the "Agricultural and Mechanical College for Colored Youth" was Texas' second state-supported institution of higher learning. As a land grant college, it occupied a 1434-acre former slave plantation. Organized by the Texas A&M Board of Directors, Prairie View has remained a part of the Texas A&M system. The first eight students enrolled on March 11, 1878, but low enrollment caused the school to close. The following year the "Prairie View Normal Institute" was organized with emphasis on preparing teachers in trade and agricultural subjects. A coeducational college, Prairie View's enrollment of 16 soon reached 60. In ten years, industrial training was added to the curriculum. Intercollegiate athletics began in 1904. By 1931 the campus boasted 31 main buildings and 50 cottages. In 1934 the Southern Association of Schools granted a class "A" rating. In 1947 the institution became "Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical College". Integrated during the 1960s, the name changed to "Prairie View A&M University" in 1973. The University's motto is "Prairie View produces productive people".

Historical Marker → · 4.3 mi away

Wyatt Chapel Community Cemetery

1865

This cemetery is located on land that was originally part of Jared E. Kirby's Alta Vista Plantation. According to oral tradition, the Kirby family set aside this land as a burial site for their slaves, as well as slaves from nearby Liendo Plantation, owned by Kirby's cousin, Leonard Waller Croce. The numerous unmarked graves here are believed to date to the Antebellum period, when most slaves would not have had the resources to erect lasting grave markers. The cemetery continued to be used by African Americans after the Civil War ands after Kirby's widow, Helen Marr Swearingen Kirby, deeded the plantation to the state in 1876 for the Alta Vista College for Colored Youth (now Prairie View A&M University). Later, the cemetery became associated with and named for Wyatt Chapel, a nearby African American church. The oldest marked grave is that of MAttie (Wyatt) Wells (d. 1882), the daughter of a former slave. Area religious leaders, veterans of World Wars I and II, and former slaves and their descendants are also buried here. Used until the 1950s, the cemetery remains a tangible reminder of African Americans' historic presence in this area.

Historical Marker → · 4.8 mi away

Things to Do in Waller

quirky 24.8 mi away
The Blues Capital of Texas

Mance Lipscomb picked cotton all week and picked guitar all weekend on the farms outside Navasota for decades before anyone beyond Grimes County knew his name.…
historical 24.9 mi away
The Explorer Who Died Lost

On March 19 1687 the French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle was walking through the bottomlands near the Navasota River when one of his own men…
historical 13.6 mi away
Tomball ISD Stadium

A $35 million high school football cathedral — because in Texas the stadium is the town square. Friday night lights at their finest.
historical 24.8 mi away
The Night the Cotton Burned

In 1865 the Civil War was over but the chaos was not. A warehouse in Navasota packed with cotton bales and gunpowder exploded after Confederate veterans angry…
quirky 24.8 mi away
The Town Under Six Flags

Navasota sits near Washington-on-the-Brazos where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed and that location gives it a claim few towns can match. All…
historical 24.8 mi away
The Summer Everything Died

In August 1867 yellow fever swept into Navasota and the town simply collapsed. Of three thousand residents more than half fled within days leaving the sick to…
historical 24.9 mi away
Birthplace Next Door

Just seven miles from Navasota sits Washington-on-the-Brazos where fifty-nine delegates signed the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2 1836. They did…
food 17.8 mi away
Goodson's Cafe

Tomball cafe on State Highway 249, north of Houston. Ella Goodson took over the place in 1954, and the chicken-fried steak here has been called the best in…

Sports in Waller

🏈 High School Football

ROADYGOAT SPORTS

Tap a team for its schedule, results, history and notable alumni.

Waller Bulldogs →
⭐ HOMETOWN LEGENDS Class 6A · Football

Waller Bulldogs — A 6A football town with an NFL pipeline

Waller ISD · the Bulldogs play at 10,000-seat Daikin Stadium

Waller has been playing football since before the turn of the last century — the high school dates to 1887 — and these days the 6A Bulldogs fill a 10,000-seat stadium just northwest of Houston. The wins matter here, but so does where the players go next.

Waller has quietly become a defensive pipeline to the NFL, sending linebackers Joplo Bartu and Jason Phillips to the pros, with defensive lineman Gabe Hall following the same path. It isn't only football, either: the 2007–08 girls' wrestling team brought home a state duals title, and the 2007 Bulldog football team made a four-round playoff run before falling in the regional final.

Class
6A
Founded
1887
Stadium
Daikin (10,000)
To the NFL
Bartu · Phillips · Hall
Key Players
  • Joplo Bartu — Linebacker — NFL (Atlanta / Arizona)
  • Jason Phillips — Linebacker — NFL (Philadelphia)
  • Gabe Hall — Defensive tackle — Baylor, then the NFL
The moment

A 2008 girls' wrestling state duals title and a four-round 2007 football playoff run — Waller's pride runs past just the varsity Friday-night lights.

Sources: Wikipedia · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)
⭐ HOMETOWN LEGENDS Class 6A · Football

Waller Bulldogs — Waller — a college & pro athletic pipeline

3 alumni who reached major-college or pro sports

Waller High School has a proud tradition of athletes who have gone on to compete at major college and professional levels. These former Bulldogs have represented Waller with skill and dedication in various sports. The community takes pride in seeing its own succeed on larger stages, reflecting the strong athletic foundations built right here in Waller, Texas.

Among the notable alumni are Joplo Bartu, who played linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League, and Jason Phillips, also a former linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. More recently, Gabe Hall played American college football defensive tackle for the Baylor Bears and is now with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Pro/D1 alumni
3
Class
6A
Founded
1887
Key Players
  • Joplo Bartu — linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League
  • Gabe Hall — American college football defensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles, formally the Baylo
  • Jason Phillips — former linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League
The moment

Joplo Bartu played linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League.

Sources: Wikipedia · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near Waller

328 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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