In 1936 state highway maps indicated a cemetery and a church. Initially the settlement consisted of one and one-half square miles.[5]
In the mid-1950s, efforts to form a Spring Branch municipality (proposed to be called the city of Spring Branch in roughly the area known today as the Memorial Villages) failed.[6] The city incorporated in 1955 as Spring Valley.[5] There had been two elections for incorporation. The first result was against incorporation, and state law mandated that the next election for incorporation of the same boundary would have to be held at least one year later. Some advocates of incorporation convinced Robert R. Casey, then a Harris county judge, to modify the boundary of the proposed area by removing the Campbell Place area and therefore many voters who opposed incorporating. The following election, held on April 9, 1955, was in favor of incorporation, 183 for and 165 against.[7] Because of the 1955 incorporation, Houston did not incorporate Spring Valley's territory into its city limits, while Houston annexed surrounding areas that were unincorporated.[8] In 1960 the city had 3,004 residents and two businesses. The city had 3,800 residents in 1976 and 3,392 residents in 1990.[5]
In 2007, the name of the city was officially changed from Spring Valley to Spring Valley Village.[9]
Regardless of the name change, all postal addresses in Spring Valley Village are Houston-based.[10]
There were 1,368 households, out of which 476 had children under the age of 18 living with them, 964 were married couples living together, 100 had a female householder with no husband present, and 269 were non-families. 243 households were made up of individuals, and 126 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 2,671 over the age of 18 and 469 who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.4 years.
As of 2023 the mayor of Spring Valley Village is Marcus Vajdos. Allen Carpenter, Bo Bothe, David Dominy, Joy McCormack and Steve Bass currently serve as members of the city council.
Spring Valley Village Police Department is a 24-hour police organization that provides police services to the City of Spring Valley Village. As of 2016 the department employs 32 persons: 26 sworn Texas Peace Officers and 6 Telecommunication Officers. The City of Spring Valley Village was recognized as the safest city in Harris County 2019, (per Houston Chronicle survey). The Police Department was recognized by the Texas Police Chiefs Association as a recognized agency in early 2020.
Pam Lychner, a Spring Valley Village[32] real estate agent who promoted the Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996 after an assault in a vacant house. After Lychner and her daughters died on TWA Flight 800, Congress passed the bill.[33] The City of Spring Valley Village posted a statue of Lychner and her daughters at the city hall. After the statue was posted, visitors read the plaques, left roses, and touched the bronze. Lisa Gray of the Houston Press described it as "shamelessly emotional, a monument to a secular saint and her daughters."[34]
^Meeks, Flori. "Community - Fight failed to make Spring Branch a city - Proposal to incorporate followed by establishment of Memorial Villages." Houston Chronicle. Thursday, September 20, 2012. ThisWeek p. 1. Available on Newsbank, Record Number 14919922. Available at the Houston Public Library with a library card. "And so the boundary lines were changed by eliminating Campbell Place, which lies north of Briar Branch Creek, east of Adkins Road, and west of Campbell Road. This eliminated a good many voters who were against incorporation."
^Lee, Renée C. "Annexed Kingwood split on effects." Houston Chronicle. Sunday October 8, 2006. A21. Retrieved on July 6, 2011. "Some of the area communities that incorporated as cities and escaped annexation by Houston:" Print version exclusively has the information cited; the information is not included in the online edition.
^Gray, Lisa. "After the Crash." Houston Press. Thursday October 23, 1997. 6. Retrieved on July 4, 2010.
^Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.[13]
