South Houston is a compact, fully built-out city in Harris County, Texas, on the southeast side of the Houston metropolitan area. It is bordered by the city of Pasadena and surrounded by Houston on its other sides, sitting just north of William P. Hobby Airport and west of the Houston Ship Channel industrial corridor. With roughly 16,000 residents in about three square miles, South Houston is one of the region's older incorporated suburbs, dense and established rather than sprawling. The community began in 1907 as the townsite of Dumont, laid out by the Western Land Company. A post office followed in 1910, and the town incorporated as South Houston in 1913, with Walter Tharp as its first mayor. In its early years, local growers shipped produce through the town, and its growth was tied to the expanding Houston area around it. Today South Houston is a working- and middle-class city whose character reflects the industrial and logistics economy of east Harris County. Its grid of older residential streets is dotted with small businesses, and many residents work in the nearby port, airport, refining, and distribution industries. The city's own identity — with its own municipal government, parks, and police department — persists within the larger Houston urban fabric. Public education is provided by Pasadena ISD, with South Houston High School, South Houston Intermediate, South Houston Elementary, and Dixie Melillo Middle School all located in the city. Harris County Transit offers local bus service, complementing the region's METRO system. South Houston suits buyers and renters seeking an established community close to Hobby Airport, the Port of Houston, and the industrial employment centers of the East Side, with the amenities of the larger Houston region a short drive away.