Mahaffey Elementary is the 31st elementary school in the Klein ISD. The school is located at 10255 Mahaffey Rd, Tomball, TX 77375 and is named after the Mahaffey family who farmed and owned the land the school occupies today.
Amos Mahaffey, Sr. came to East Texas from Mississippi with his family in the 1850s. After marrying and starting a family, he moved to the the small community of Willow in 1865 shortly after the Civil War ended. The Mahaffey family originally immigrated to the colony of South Carolina from Ireland in 1765.
Shortly after arriving in the Willow (Klein) area, Amos Mahaffey, Sr. died, leaving the lands and farm to his wife and children.
Amos Mahaffey, Jr. went on to farm and acquire more land in the area after his father’s death. At one point in the early 1900s, the family owned 1,000+ acres of land much of which was purchased by Amos Mahaffey, Sr. for $1 an acre.
In his later years, Amos Mahaffey, Jr. served on the School Board for the Willow Creek School which became one of the founding rural schools of Klein ISD. At the time of his death, he was known to many as a pioneering member of early Harris County.
Other notable Mahaffeys include Charles Mahaffey, who was the first postmaster in Tomball, Robert Oran Mahaffey, who owned one of the first general stores in Tomball and whose daughter was the first baby born in Tomball, and Charles Bryan Mahaffey, noted family and local historian.
Descendants of the Mahaffey family have lived in the Klein area for the past 150 years and continue to do so to this day.
