Editor’s note: With The Woodlands’ 50th anniversary just around the corner, PaperCity is showcasing some of the top stories on TheWoodlands.com that bring the first five decades of this groundbreaking planned community to life. This is the second story in a new series in which PaperCity reporters get a glimpse into what has shaped and continues to shape The Woodlands.
TIt is thanks in part to Cynthia Woods Mitchell’s love of the English language and her constant attention to the smallest details that The Woodlands is the name of the beloved community that celebrates its 50th anniversary on October 19.
“My mother had a good command of English – and she thought The Woodlands meant more than just Woodlands,” says Scott Mitchell, the eldest of Cynthia Woods Mitchell’s ten children.
Original founder George Mitchell and his wife Cynthia Woods Mitchell were the first couple of The Woodlands. As The Woodlands approaches its 50th anniversary, with a year-long public celebration culminating on October 19, the official 50th anniversary date, the community’s name still holds great significance.
It turns out that the name The Woodlands has been known to the Mitchells for a long time. In fact, The Woodlands was the original name of a piece of land that George Mitchell bought for his family, located on SH 149.
“We had a 3,500-acre property between Magnolia and Montgomery that was part of the original purchase of the land from the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Company,” explains Scott Mitchell. “That became our ranch. We had horses, cattle and axis deer.”
“It was a beautiful place in the pine forest.”
Since the original purchase, neighboring properties have been added, bringing the Mitchell ranch land to over 5,000 contiguous acres. When it came to naming the town George Mitchell wanted to build south of the ranch property, the entire family was involved.
“My mom suggested a family contest,” Scott Mitchell recalls. “And (my sister) Pamela named it The Woodlands. Everyone agreed that was the best name.”
The problem was that the name was already in use, for the family ranch.
“We renamed our ranch Cook’s Branch,” says Scott Mitchell, “after a stream that runs through the property.”
Cook’s Branch is now managed as a nature reserve by the George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Foundation.
Charles Blain, president of the Urban Reform Institute, called The Woodlands one of America’s next great cities, even though it’s not technically a city and will soon be 50 years old.
Driving through the area today, you can see that the original vision is still alive. The trees are still the dominant feature, and the signs of shops, restaurants and businesses are shielded from the harsh lighting found in so many other areas. Today, The Woodlands is home to more than 120,000 people and 2,400 businesses, from Fortune 500 companies to mom-and-pop shops.
This is a unique community, and it just wouldn’t be the same without its distinctive name.
Five decades later, The Woodlands still has a special sound. Cynthia Woods insists on the all-important “The.”
