Atascocita, Texas

Bordered on its eastern shore by the Lake Houston, the community contains several parks, country clubs, and golf courses, including Atascocita Country Club, Walden on Lake Houston Golf and Country Club, and Tour 18, a recreation of some of the United States' most celebrated golf holes. Atascocita was named one of the "Best Places to Retire" by U.S. News & World Report, citing Lake Houston's boating and fishing opportunities and Atascocita's numerous golf courses. ==History==

Atascocita's name derives from the Atascocito military outpost and subsequent road constructed by the Spanish in 1756. The Atascocito Road stretched from Spanish Louisiana in the east to San Antonio in the west, connecting eastern Texas to the rest of New Spain. The Atascocito Road was a major route for American migrants moving to Texas in the 1820s and 1830s. It is unclear exactly when Atascocito shifted to Atascocita. The City of Houston annexed portions of what would become Atascocita in the 1960s, but it was de-annexed in the late 1970s. Construction in the area began in the 1970s. In the 1990s Atascocita included fifteen neighborhoods and was one of the fastest-growing developments in the Greater Houston area. The U.S. Census Bureau first established the Atascocita CDP for the 2000 U.S. census. The City of Houston did limited purpose annexation in Atascocita after the year 2000, therefore reducing the CDP's territory. and The Atascocita Observer. ==Geography==

Atascocita is located at (29.993365, -95.182054). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.74%, is water. Syd Kearney, author of A Marmac Guide to Houston and Galveston, "There are fine resort homes in sections such as Atascocita Shores." ==Demographics==

Atascocita was listed as a census designated place in the 2000 U.S. census. According to the 2020 census, its racial and ethnic makeup was 38.92% non-Hispanic white, 22.86% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 3.31% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 0.49% some other race, 3.61% multiracial, and 30.37% Hispanic or Latino of any race. The per capita income for the CDP was $31,496 Atascocita's median home price was $153,100 as of 2017; there are many subdivisions in Atascocita, ranging from small, intimate neighborhoods to large, master-planned communities like Eagle Springs, Walden on Lake Houston, The Groves, The Bridges on Lake Houston, Balmoral, Lakeshore, Waters Edge, Summerwood, Pinehurst and Atascocita Shores. New home prices range from under $200,000 to over $20 million. ==Government and infrastructure==

Local and county government The Atascocita Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services. The Harris County Sheriff's Office provides police services. The Atascocita CDP is divided between Harris County Precinct 1 and Harris County Precinct 4. As of 2022, Commissioners Rodney Ellis and Lesley Briones head the precincts, respectively. The CDP is served by the Harris County Sheriff's Office District II Patrol, headquartered from the Humble Substation at 7900 Will Clayton Parkway in Humble. The Harris County Sheriff's Office Academy is in Atascocita. The Harris County Fire Marshall's offices are in Atascocita. The Sheriff's Office opened the Atascocita boot camp, a correctional facility for county inmates, in 1991. It closed in September 2004 as the county decided that its rehabilitation value was questionable. The vocational programs, once at the camp, were transferred to the Downtown area. The nearest public clinic of the Harris Health System (formerly Harris County Hospital District) is the E.A. "Squatty" Lyons clinic in Humble. The nearest public hospital is Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital in northeast Houston. State representation Pam Lychner Unit, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice state jail for men, is located in the Atascocita CDP. The state jail, which has beds for 2,200 residents and a residential probation program with 450 beds, was named after Pam Lychner. ==Education==

Primary and secondary schools ; Public schools Atascocita students attend school in the Humble Independent School District. Elementary schools within Atascocita CDP include: Maplebrook Elementary School is in the limited purpose city limits of Houston and surrounded by Atascocita CDP. Other elementary schools serving portions of Atascocita include Deerwood (Kingwood), Greentree (Kingwood), Lakeshore (Houston), Park Lakes (unincorporated), River Pines (unincorporated), and Summerwood (Houston). Some portions are zoned to Sterling Middle School in Humble, Creekwood Middle School in Kingwood, and Riverwood Middle School in Kingwood. Previously Humble High School served the Atascocita area until rapid growth in the community forced the construction of Atascocita High School in 2006. With an exterior modeled after Thomas Jefferson's iconic Monticello estate, the , $46.9 million school was built on a heavily wooded parcel of land in the center of Atascocita. Since its opening, Atascocita High School has garnered an impressive list of academic accolades including being labeled a "Recognized" campus by the Texas State Board of Education in 2010. All students attending the Humble Independent School District have the option to apply for admission to Guy M. Sconzo Early College High School, a magnet high school in Atascocita. ; Private schools The PK-5 Holy Trinity Episcopal School is in proximity to Atascocita. Colleges and Universities Lone Star College opened its Atascocita Center in August, 2011. The center offers access to adult basic education/GED, English as a Second Language, college classes to meet degree requirements and Academy for Lifelong Learning (ALL) for seniors. The University of Houston–Downtown also offers a bachelor's degree in business administration in the evenings at the center. Public libraries Atascocita is served by the Atascocita Branch Library of the Harris County Public Library (HCPL), located inside the CDP. In 1986 the Atascocita Hi Neighbor group began to campaign for a library in Atascocita. The branch was built from 1994 to 1996 with the help of Janette Dennis, an Atascocita resident and philanthropist, and opened on May 5, 1996. Janette Dennis helped spearhead "The Friends of the Atascocita Library" (FOAL) donates around $20,000 United States dollars per year to the library. ==Parks and recreation==

Atascocita Park, a area of space on Lake Houston Parkway, opened on June 24, 2020. A part of Harris County Precinct 2, it had a cost of $11,500,000. It has a dog park with of space, a boardwalk with a pond, and a playground with skywalks. Lake Houston is in the Atascocita area. Syd Kearney, author of A Marmac Guide to Houston and Galveston, said that Atascocita was "synonymous with golf, tennis, and other great recreational features on Lake Houston." ==See also==