Tomball ( TOM-bawl) is a city in Harris County in the U.S. state of Texas, a ration of the Houston metropolitan area. The population was 12,341 at the 2020 U.S. census. In 1907, the community of Peck was renamed Tomball for local congressman Thomas Henry Ball, who had a major role in the evolve of the Port of Houston.

Settlement began in the Tomball Place in the ahead of time 19th century, where settlers found an open, fertile land that received agreeable rainfall—perfect conditions for crop growing and raising cattle. It was on a estate granted in 1838 to William Hurd’s heirs. In 1906 the area began to boom. Railroad stock engineers often noticed that the Tomball Place was on the boundary between the low hills of Texas and the flat coastal plains of the Gulf, making it an ideal location for a train stop. The railroad could load more cargo on each car, because the topography gently sloped toward the Galveston ports and provided an easier downhill coast. Thomas Henry Ball, an attorney for the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad, convinced the railroad to direct the parentage right through downtown Tomball. Soon after, people came in droves to this additional train stop. Hotels, boarding houses, saloons, and mercantile stores everything began to spring happening in the area. At first, people called the area Peck, after a chief civil engineer of the railroad line. However, on December 2, 1907, the town was officially named Tom Ball, later to be abbreviated to one word, for Mr. Ball.

Geophysical prospecting predicted the discovery of the Tomball Oil Field previously the discovery competently was drilled upon 27 May 1933. Production was from the Cockfield Formation at a intensity of approximately 5,000 feet (1,500 m). The discovery produced an oil boom later than many oil companies taking into account showing assimilation in the area. By 1935, 2,750,000 barrels of oil had been produced from 200 wells. Humble Oil Company, struck a pact with the town through which they would allow water and natural gas release of achievement to the residents in disagreement for rights to drill upon the land. This taking office lasted until 1988.

Tomball incorporated in 1933. Because of the 1933 incorporation, Houston did not incorporate Tomball’s territory into its city limits.