Hull is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Liberty County, Texas, in the southeastern Piney Woods near the edge of the Big Thicket. The 2020 census counted 522 residents, though the community was once considerably larger. Hull began as a stop on the Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway and was named for W. F. Hull, a railroad official; a post office opened in 1908. The community sits west of Farm Road 770, about 40 miles northwest of Beaumont. Hull's defining chapter came with oil. The Sun Oil Company identified a salt dome in the area in 1908, and a decade later the Republic Production Company brought in the Hull oilfield, sparking rapid growth. Hull and neighboring Daisetta became oil towns almost overnight, and the community's population climbed to between 1,000 and 1,200 through the 1920s and into the late 1940s, reaching about 1,800 by 1980. The salt-dome fields of eastern Liberty County — and the boom-and-bust rhythm they introduced — shaped the town's character for generations. Today Hull is a quiet, rural community with a much smaller footprint than its boom years. Hull-Daisetta Independent School District serves local students from campuses in the area, including an elementary school on Farm Road 834 in Hull. The surrounding countryside mixes timberland, pasture, and scattered oil-field infrastructure, and the Big Thicket National Preserve lies within reach. Residents travel to Liberty, Dayton, or Beaumont for larger services, while the community itself keeps a slow, small-town pace. Hull appeals to those who want rural Southeast Texas living with deep roots in the region's railroad and oil heritage. It is a place where the Piney Woods and the oil patch meet.