HILSHIRE VILLAGE, TEXAS. Hilshire Village is located north of Buffalo Bayou and Interstate 10, approximately eight miles west-northwest of downtown Houston in southwestern Harris County. With an area of about one-third of a square mile, the community is the smallest of six clustered, incorporated municipalities known as the Memorial Villages. The town began when Frank Bruess and his mother came from Missouri in the late 1940s and purchased thirty acres. Following this sale, while on a business trip to Boston, Bruess read about a country estate in Hillshire, England, and the name appealed to him. He decided to call his development Hilshire Village, spelled with one "l." Construction began by the early 1950s, and the community incorporated on April 15, 1955. In 1960 it had a population of 543. That figure showed a modest gain with 627 residents in 1970. By the 1990s Hilshire Village had 665 residents and still supported additional limited developments with the building of patio homes. Some buyers demolished older houses to construct larger residences.
Hilshire Village had a population of 720 in 2000. The city operated under a mayor-council form of city government, and nearby Spring Valley provided police and emergency services. The Spring Branch Independent School District and one private school served Hilshire Village. The community was largely residential but did contain one small commercial section with a flower shop, beauty salon, and three churches.
