HEDWIG VILLAGE, TEXAS. Hedwig Village, south of Interstate Highway 10 on the western edge of Houston, encompasses about a square mile and is among the smallest incorporated municipalities in metropolitan Harris County. It is one of a series of affluent local communities with names that include "village." Hedwig Village is in the Spring Branch-Memorial area, which was originally part of the John D. Taylor^qv and Isaac Bunker leagues and was later settled largely by Germans. The community was named for nearby Hedwig Road, built on land donated by Hedwig Jankowski Schroeder, who in 1906 immigrated with her husband from Germany to Texas to farm. The town incorporated on December 23, 1954, and adopted a zoning ordinance in 1955 to ensure orderly land use. Hedwig Village, which is governed by a mayor and five councilmen (see MAYOR-COUNCIL FORM OF CITY GOVERNMENT), had two schools, a bank, a library, and two churches by 1966 and completed a park in 1971. Local students were educated within the Spring Branch Independent School District. In 1960 Hedwig Village's population was 1,182, and in 1970 it was 3,255. The community's population reached a high of 3,994 in 1980 and was reported at around 2,616 in 1990. By 2000 the population dropped to 2,334.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hedwig Village Gazette, July 4, 1986. Houston Metropolitan Research Center Files, Houston Public Library.

Diana J. Kleiner