WEST UNIVERSITY PLACE

city, Harris county, southeastern Texas, U.S. A residential suburb southwest of downtown Houston, it is bounded by Bellaire (west) and Southside Place (south) but is entirely encompassed by the city limits of Houston. In 1910 Ben W. Hooper, governor of Tennessee, acquired the site from an old Spanish grant, and development was begun seven years later. In 1925 it was incorporated as a city, and by the 1970s virtually all of its 2 square miles (5 square km) was occupied. The city took its name from its proximity to Rice University (founded 1891). Pop. (1992 est.) 13,428.