Deer Park is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands metropolitan area. The city is located in southeast Harris County. As of the 2020 census, Deer Park had a population of 34,495.
Deer Park is the home to several major industrial facilities, including the Shell Chemicals plant, the Pemex refinery, and the Dow Chemical plant (formerly Rohm and Haas).
History Deer Park was founded in 1892 by Simeon H. West, a farmer, retired legislator, and much-traveled adventurer from Illinois. He named the town for the large number of deer that roamed the Gulf plains. 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 to almost nothing with four houses, one little schoolhouse, and an old hotel with a few scattered shacks along the railroad right-of-way. In 1928, Shell Oil Company broke ground on a new refinery. In the 1930s, an independent school district was established. By 1940, the population had grown to 100. 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. Because of the 1948 incorporation, Houston did not incorporate Deer Park's territory into its city limits.Lee, Renée C. "Annexed Kingwood split on effects." Houston Chronicle. Sunday October 8, 2006. A21. Retrieved on July 6, 2011. "Some of the area communities that incorporated as cities and escaped annexation by Houston:" Print version exclusively has the information cited; the information is not included in the online edition. The first city council meeting was held on February 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. A public library was begun in 1962 on Center Street. Population was 12,773 in 1970, and 28,520 in 2000. 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. Today, Deer Park has approximately 9,000 homes and more than 30,000 residents.
Deer Park is near the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, where, on April 21, 1836, Texas won its independence from Mexico. Because the initial surrender treaty after the battle was drafted in Dr. George Moffitt Patrick's cabin, Deer Park bills itself as the "Birthplace of Texas". The original cabin was located on Buffalo Bayou where Rohm and Haas, now owned by Dow Chemical Company, established a chemical plant in Deer Park. A replica of Dr. Patrick's cabin is in front of the Theatre/Courts Building on Center Street. The Texas State Historical sign marker was relocated from the Dow Chemical parking lot to the replica log cabin home of Dr. Patrick located at the Theatre/Courts Building.
Shell Chemical plant explosion On June 22, 1997, an ethylene explosion occurred at the nearby Shell Chemical Company plant that was heard and felt as far as away. While no evacuation of the city was ordered, residents living within a mile west of the plant were advised to remain inside their homes.
Intercontinental Terminals Company's chemical fire On March 17, 2019, a chemical fire broke out at Intercontinental Terminals Company. The fire, which was caused from a pump seal failure, eventually spread to a dozen tanks. The resultant fire and smoke plume could be seen for miles and lasted for three days. The tanks involved in the fire contained chemicals including xylene, naptha, pyrolysis gasoline (Pygas), and toluene. Deer Park residents were required to shelter in place during the fire. A probe by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board concluded that leaking chemicals had accumulated in an above-ground storage tank for about 30 minutes before they ignited. In April 2024, the state of Texas and the U.S. government reached a $6.6 million settlement with ITC; the money will be used to reimburse the state and federal government for damages caused by the blaze.
2023 tornado
Deer Park has been known for several smaller and less destructive tornadoes in its past, but on January 24, 2023, a large EF3 tornado hit downtown Deer Park. It caused damage most notably to the local skating rink, a nursing home, an animal shelter and knocked out power to many areas, including schools in the Deer Park Independent School District. Schools were still in session at the time of the tornado, and were dismissed late, and closed the remainder of the week. 3 injuries occurred as the tornado passed. Entire neighborhoods were severely damaged as a result of the tornado. The tornado prompted the first ever tornado emergency issued by the National Weather Service in League City.
2023 Shell refinery explosion In May 2023, a Shell petrochemical plant in Deer Park, causing a three-day blaze that resulted in toxic contamination in the air and water. The Shell plant had a long history of chemical incidents between 2016 and 2022, including 68 emissions events that released 974,847 pounds of toxic emissions into the air. The company had eight "excessive" events at the plant during that time.
2023 Emergency siren overhaul Deer Park's 10 emergency warning sirens began experiencing failures over the years following a 2019 upgrade on the former siren system. In August 2023, the City of Deer Park replaced all 10 outdoor warning sirens with rotating, more efficient sirens. That also included strobe lights on each siren across the city to make fit for the hearing-impaired. 17-year-old deaf citizen William Stokes, presented the idea to the city during the replacement project. Emergency sirens are tested every Saturday at 12:00 PM.
Geography and Climate
Deer Park is located in Southeastern Harris County at (29.692003, –95.118108). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 0.62%, are water.
Deer Park is bounded by the city of La Porte to the south and east, and by the Houston Ship Channel—the dredged-out Buffalo Bayou—to the north.
Climate- As with the rest of the Houston area, Deer Park faces a Humid Subtropical climate: mild winters with an occasional cold spell, hot and humid summers, often receiving sea breeze thunderstorms on spring and summer afternoons. Rainfall is abundant year round, however, this area is prone to major rainfall events specifically between the months of May and October, especially during Hurricane Season. Twice has the Deer Park region seen incredible rainfall events from a Tropical Cyclone between 2001 and 2017. Tropical Storm Allison dumped 15-30" of rain throughout the region in June 2001, and Hurricane Harvey dropped 30-50" throughout the region in August 2017. Both events in a span of less than a week.
Demographics
As of the 2020 census, there were 34,495 people residing in the city.
Racial and ethnic composition +Deer Park city, Texas – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010Pop 2020% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)23,04822,25719,23880.81%69.53%55.77%Black or African American alone (NH)3604267581.26%1.33%2.20%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)96107980.34%0.33%0.28%Asian alone (NH)3144614461.10%1.44%1.29%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)2118210.07%0.06%0.06%Other race alone (NH)35181650.12%0.06%0.48%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)3053051,0551.07%0.95%3.06%Hispanic or Latino (any race)4,3418,41812,71415.22%26.30%36.86%Total28,52032,01034,495 100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Deer Park had a median age of 37.1 years, 25.6% of residents under the age of 18, and 14.7% of residents 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 97.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.8 males age 18 and over.
As of the 2020 census, there were 12,002 households in Deer Park, of which 39.2% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 55.5% were married-couple households, 15.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 23.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 19.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
As of the 2020 census, there were 12,721 housing units, of which 5.7% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 13.2%.
As of the 2020 census, 100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 23,097 67.0% Black or African American 822 2.4% American Indian and Alaska Native 310 0.9% Asian 486 1.4% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 25 0.1% Some other race 3,755 10.9% Two or more races 6,000 17.4% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 12,714 36.9%
2019 American Community Survey By 2019, residents of Deer Park had a median gross rent of $1,170 and a median household income of $80,592. The per capita income was $33,083 and 7.3% of the population lived at or below the poverty line.
2000 census In 2000, the racial makeup of the city was 90.01% White, 1.31% African American, 0.41% Native American, 1.13% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 5.25% from other races, and 1.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.22% of the population.
In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $61,334, and the median income for a family was $66,516. Males had a median income of $50,867 versus $30,926 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,440. About 4.0% of families and 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.4% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.
Industries Dow: The Dow Chemical plant, formerly Rohm and Haas, is located in Deer Park. It is located on 900 acres along the Houston Ship Channel. The plant has approximately 700 employees.
Lubrizol: Lubrizol Specialty Chemicals plant, occupying over 330 acres, employs approximately 1,000 people.
Shell-Pemex: Shell Oil began operations at the Shell Oil Refinery in Deer Park on August 13, 1929. The Shell Chemicals plant opened in 1941. In January 2022, Shell sold its Deer Park refinery to Pemex, the state oil company of Mexico.
Pemex: Pemex refinery, formerly the Shell refinery, has approximately 1,500 employees.
Shell: Shell Chemicals plant in Deer Park occupies 1,200 acres along the Ship Channel. Shell Deer Park has about 1,500 employees.
Government Municipal government The city has a council-manager form of government. The city council has seven elected members, including the mayor and six city council members. The city council sets the policies for city operations. The city manager, who is appointed by the city council, is responsible for administering city policies.
Deer Park City Hall is located at 710 E. San Augustine Street.
As of 2024, the City had 420 employees.
Public faciilities