Tamina is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in southern Montgomery County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Tamina is located along the

Missouri Pacific The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

line, located east of

Interstate 45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...

and south of the city of Conroe. James H. Berry promoted the community and named it after

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The letter writer submitting the name to the postal department spelled the name "Tamina." The name is pronounced "Tammany" by some of the community's older residents.

History

The founding of Tamina can be traced back to 1871, when

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

in the area helped construct the

Houston and Great Northern Railroad Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. The town became known as "Tamina" in 1897 when the name was submitted for the building of the community's first post office."Tamina."
Heritage Museum of Montgomery County. Accessed on June 16, 2017. In the early 1900s, the community survived mostly through its connection with the lumber industry, particularly after the establishment of the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Company's Tamina Mill in 1917. The population of the area dwindled to 50 after the Tamina Mill was closed in 1927. The post office closed in the late 1930s, followed by the town's

black school Black schools, also referred to as "colored" schools, were racially segregated schools in the United States that originated after the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. The phenomenon began in the late 1860s during Reconstruction era w ...

in 1949. At that time, Tamina students attended Booker T. Washington School in Conroe.

Public Sewer Service

Over the past 50 years, the area surrounding Tamina has undergone significant development, leading to the incorporation of the adjacent cities of Shenandoah in 1974 and Oak Ridge North in 1979. As a result, Tamina became the only community in the area without urban infrastructure, most notably a public

sewerage Sewerage (or sewage system) is the infrastructure that conveys sewage or surface runoff (stormwater, meltwater, rainwater) using sewers. It encompasses components such as receiving drainage, drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, a ...

. Most residents of Tamina rely on

septic tanks A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatme ...

for sewage disposal, while a few residents make use of the more expensive

aerobic treatment system An aerobic treatment system (ATS), often called an aerobic septic system, is a small scale sewage treatment system similar to a septic tank system, but which uses an aerobic process for digestion rather than just the anaerobic process used in septi ...

for their homes. The first attempt in the early 2000s to install a public sewerage system, a collaborative project with Oak Ridge North, failed after Tamina residents refused the terms of a Texas Water Development Board loan which would have required Tamina to give up certain rights over usage of the water. A second attempt at establishing a public sewerage system was initiated in 2006-2007 between Tamina and the City of Shenandoah. The

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

offered a loan to Tamina for the construction of a public sewerage system on the condition that Tamina find a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

willing to treat the sewage. Shenandoah eventually backed out of the deal because the loan also prohibits Shenandoah from

annexing Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

Tamina until the debt is repaid. While Shenandoah is not currently populous enough under current state law to annex territory, population growth projections estimate that Shenandoah will pass the requisite 5000 person threshold by 2030.

Demographics

Because Tamina is an

, the United States Census does not collect demographic data specific only to the Tamina community, but rather divides the Tamina area among three larger

census tracts A census tract, census area, census district or meshblock is a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census. Sometimes these coincide with the limits of cities, towns or other administrative areas and several tracts commonly exist ...

. As a result, estimates of Tamina's population vary, ranging from 200Leonard, Marie
"Tamina community faces challenges as area expands: Sewer service fight continues."
Community Impact Newspaper: January 18, 2016. Accessed on June 15, 2017. to 1000.Tresaugue, Matthew
"In shadow of The Woodlands, Tamina community fights to stay on map."
Houston Chronicle: October 18, 2015. Accessed on June 15, 2017. With its history as a

freedmen's town In the United States, a freedmen's town was an African American municipality or community built by freedmen, former slaves who were emancipated during and after the American Civil War. These towns emerged in a number of states, most notably Texas ...

, most of the residents of the community are

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

. Many residents have been living in the community for multiple generations, with some residents tracing their ancestry back to the beginning of the community.John S. Marshall, Cindy George, John D. Harden and Margaret Kadifa
"Fatal fire at pastor's Tamina home devastates family, community as three grandchildren perish in blaze."
The Courier of Montgomery County: May 12, 2017. Accessed on June 15, 2017.Murrmann, Mark
"Powerful Photos From One of Texas’ Most Historic Black Communities:'The land represents the blood, heart, and soul of our African American heritage.'"
Mother Jones: June 25, 2016. Accessed on June 15, 2017.

Education

The community is within the

Conroe Independent School District Conroe Independent School District (CISD) is a school district in Montgomery County, Texas. The district's headquarters are located in the Deane L. Sadler Administration/Technology Center in Conroe. The CISD area, which covers , is part of the ...

. The area is divided between the attendance zones of Oak Ridge Elementary School and Houser Elementary School. The following schools serve all of the Tamina area. *Vogel Intermediate School *Irons Junior High School * Oak Ridge High School

References

External links

*
Tamina Community Center
Non-profit providing services to the community.
Civil Rights in Black and Brown: The History of Tamina
Series of interviews with long-time residents of Tamina. {{Coord, 30, 10, 43, N, 95, 26, 30, W, type:city_region:US-TX_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Unincorporated communities in Montgomery County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Greater Houston Populated places in Texas established by African Americans