The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 19

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1204

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The city was incorporated in 1837 and the first mayor was Dr. Frances Moore, Jr., who was editor of the Telegraph, which had been moved to Houston from Columbia by the Bordens who had been pub- lishing it first at San Felipe and then at Columbia. Houston has had a long line of mayors who have advanced the interests of the city. The adoption of the commission form of government in 1903 under Mayor Rice was one of the most notable events in the history of the city government.

The first marriage license issued in Houston was by Clark De Witt C. Harris to Hugh MeCrory and Miss Mary Smith. After Mr. McCrory's death, Mrs. McCrory married Dr. Anson Jones, last president of the republic, and she died in Houston in 1907. Although it was dangerous to be a Mason in terri- tory belonging to or adjacent to Mexico, Masonry preceded even the churches to Houston and in 1837 Holland Lodge, the mother of Masonic Lodges in Texas, was organized in Houston, and was followed in 1839 by the formation of a Temple Lodge. From that beginning the Masonic lodge has grown to its present great proportions in Texas.

Preachers gave Houston a wide berth for some tine after it was founded, no resident minister hav- ing been in the city until it had 3,000 population. Rev. Littletown Fowler, the noted Methodist pioneer, was elected chaplain of the senate in 1837 and paid visits to the city frequently. He obtained a gift from the Allen's of lots on Texas Avenue between Travis and Milan for a church site, and it became the location of the Shearn Methodist Church, the original Methodist Church in Houston, the forerun- ner of the present First Methodist Church and the mother of all Houston Methodist churches, of which there are now seventeen. The old site is now oc- cupied by the Chronicle building and Majestic Theatre.

The Allen's also gave the Presbyterians a site at Capitol and Main upon which lot the first Presby- terian Church was built, which was the forerunner of the Presbyterian churches in the city.

Christ Episcopal Church was founded in 1839 and occupied the site occupied by the present building at Texas and Fannin, the First Baptist Church was established in 1841 and the first Catholic Church, known as the Church of the Annunciation, in 1841. New churches have been built, until now there are 75 churches for whites and a large number for negroes in the city.

There was always a sentiment for education in Houston and various private schools were conducted until in 1877, when the Houston Academy was fail- ing, a public school system was established by the city, in spite of strong opposition from those who

feared public schools would be used for political purposes. H. H. Smith was the first superintendent of public schools, and he was followed by Superin- tendents E. N. Clopper, E. E. Burnett, Foute, J. E. Down, W. S. Sutton and P. W. Horn, the latter having been in charge since 1902. In 1887 the public schools began with 617 white pupils and 618 negroes or a total of 1,235 pupils, scattered in 14 small buildings. Today there are 25,000 pupils and 650 teachers, with 52 buildings valued at $3,000,- 000.00. A new $500,000 High School is in course of construction to replace the old building burned early in 1919.

Rice Institute, the seventh richest educational in- stitution in America, and the gift of the late William Morsh Rice, was opened to students in 1912. It has an endowment of $10,000,000, which has grown from the original fund of $200,000 given by Mr. Rice in 1891 for the establishment of the school. He grad- ually increased his gifts until at the time of his death he had placed at the disposal of the board of trustees over a million dollars. After the litigation over his fortune, the Institute received in all about $5,000,000 which has increased its value to its pres- ent figure. Work on the buildings which occupy a campus of 300 acres three miles west of the Rice Ho- tel, was begun in 1910 and the corner stone of the ad- ministration building was laid in 1911 on March 2, the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Independence of Texas.

Mr. Rice, the founder, came to Houston in 1838, conducted a store in a tent, and from that beginning built up his enormous fortune by business, and in- vesting in Texas real estate.

Houston has a score or more of newspapers in its life, the Telegraph running, with a few interruptions, from 1837 to 1878 in the city. The two principal pa- pers now the Post and the Chronicle, the Post hav- ing been established in 1885, by the late J. L. Wat- son, who had associated with him, Col. R. M. Johns- ton. A paper called the Post had been printed from 1880 to 1884, but had suspended before the present Post was established. The Chronicle was established in 1902 by Marcellus E. Foster. Both papers are now housed in magnificent buildings and are magnificently equipped. Roy G. Watson, son of the founder of the Post, is now President-Pub- lisher of the Post.

Railroads early sought to enter Houston, The Gal- veston, Harrisburg and San Antonio having been planned as early as 1842. The road was completed from Harrisburg through Houston to Brazos, a dis- tance of 32 miles, by 1852. The G. H. & H. and the H. & T. C. were next to come into the city and the development continued until Houston has seventeen lines of railway and an interurban to Galveston. Houston is now one of the greatest railway centers of the South, with connections with roads to all parts of the continent.

Street car traffic by means of mule drawn cars was inaugurated in Houston in 1870 and in 1890 the lines were electrified. Before taking over the Hous- ton Heights Line in 1892, the system consisted of 2> miles of track, which was increased to 35 miles with the Heights line. In 1901, Stone & Webster secured control and rebuilt the system. There are now more than 60 miles of trackage, hundreds of employees and a pay roll of half a million annually. In 1911 Stone & Webster completed the interurban line from Houston to Galveston at a cost of $2,000,000, and its

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

tains are in operation hourly between the cities. As Houston was selected for its location on Buf- 's .. bayou, so its development has been bound up s.th the development of the stream for navigation, !! >t for small boats, and later for ocean going ,camers. As early as 1841 Houston secured the : cht to be called the Port of Houston and wharves were built at the foot of main street for traffic be- : aven the city of Galveston. Improvements of the Bayou began immediately by the pulling of stumps and snags and removing obstructions of all sorts.

In 1869 the Direct Navigation Company was Armed and began to improve the bayou, initiating . work of cutting the channel across Morgan's Pant. Galveston having declined to grant favor- able rates to Charles Morgan, the New Orleans steamship king, he decided to pass up Galveston, :"i buying the controlling interest in the Direct "avigation Company, completed the cut at Morgan's Point, spent $750,000 in deepening the channel to + linton where his ships docked to take on Cargoes. !!. Ils having been introduced in Congress in the sev- «ties to have the United States to buy the channel, the deal was closed in 1892 and Morgan sold out, thus opening the channel to the public. In 1910 the Government appropriated $1,500,000 and Houston a .... amount for deepening the channel to 25 feet and :hu work was completed in 1914, while in the pres- ent year the government has entered into a similar arrangement with Houston to deepen the channel to :0 feet and another $2,500,000 will be spent on the waterway. The city of Houston has spent $3,000,- ««M) in building modern docks, warehouses, and rail- ruads and Houston is now an established port with erkular ship lines. The fondest dream of the pion- ser has been fulfilled.

The ship channel shores have become lined with more than $600,000,000. Included are half a dozen many individual plants, representing investments of e ant oil refineries, and a million dollar cotton estab- +hment.

From the first, Houston grew as a business center. From the time when ox teams drew cotton to the Houston market from as far north as Waco, until the present time, cotton has been a chief trade com- " ality. The cotton exchange was formed in 1874, "} the building completed in 1884. There are now members of the exchange and shares sell at 1\.000 each. Houston handled last year 1,000,000 '1, 4 and more of cotton valued at $160,000,000. It A av twenty-five ware houses with capacity of 500,000 'a rs, and eight compresses.

in addition to being a cotton center, the exploita- of Texas Forests has pushed Houston to the ''nt as the great lumber center of the Southwest, " in an annual business of $75,000,000.

The first bank in Texas was established in Hous- m. the Commercial and Agricultural Bank of Texas 'wing been chartered by the Congress of Coahuila **: Texas to S. M. Williams and associates in 1835. authorized capital was $1,000,000 and $100,000 & sa pand up. No more chartered banks operated in Vrtax until after 1870, as there was opposition to A"Aa in those days, and the Williams bank finally tut 's charter annulled in 1859. T. W. House and \. Shepher as early as 1850 had begun private

banking in Houston and their institutions were the forerunners of some of the great banks of today. Houston today is one of the the largest banking centers in the state, with six National banks with a combined capital of $5,900,000, and six State Banks with a number of trust companies, the total deposits on September 12, of this year reaching approxi- mately $77,000,000, and the clearings for the first eight months of 1918 totalling $574,438,033.00. The Federal Land Bank for the district is here and it has made loans of $27,000,000 since it was established, while the Houston branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of the Eleventh District was opened in 1919.

Replacing the tents and log huts in which business was done in the early days, there are today many magnificent and commodious business houses, some 2,600 retail firms doing an annual business of nearly $100,000,000, while the annual wholesale trade of the city reaches almost $1,500,000.

The era of sky scraper building began in 1907, and continues, with contracts now pending for several new buildings. The Rice hotel of 18 stories, the Carter building of 17 stories, the Union National Bank building of 13 stories, the Scanlan Building of 13 stories, the Texas Companys building of 12 sto- ries are among the tallest structures built within the last ten years, but there are numerous other buildings ranging from six to ten stories in height. The business district has spread south from the orig- inal center of business, the old section now being oc- cupied by wholesale houses. The city limits have been extended, many additions made to the original sight and area of the city being now some 16 square miles. The assessed valuation of property exceeds $300,000,000 and the population, which has doubled in every decade since the city was founded is now about 165,000, according to conservative estimates.

If the Allen Brothers could return to look upon the community they established they would rejoice to see how splendidly their successors have wrought to carry out their ideas of making Houston a me- tropolis. They would find the little straggling set- tlement in the mud on the bayou transformed into a great modern busy city, reaching for miles in every direction from the bayou landing, with eight or ten bridges spanning that bayou, one of which cost $500,000 to build, a city with the greatest auditorium in the South, churches and schools costing millions, miles of paved streets, and elaborate telephone, gas, electric light and transportation system.

Their little trading post for which they paid $5,000 they would find transformed, just as they in- tended, into the cotton, the lumber, the rice, the oil and the financial center of the state, and its scores of wholesale houses serving the very territory they expected Houston to serve.

Faith in the future has been one of the principal factors in all the growth of Houston, and it is a striking trait in the present generation. They are going on ahead today with plans for a city twice as large and they are encouraged by the fact that the city is entering upon a new era of development and growth. Loyalty, enterprise and visions are still the characteristic of Houston people, who expect to make their city, with its port development, the real "Chicago of the South", within the coming decade.

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FUTURE OUTLOOK OF HOUSTON By THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE

N O Houston essayist has turned out a New Zealand prophet to come back and moralize over the ruins of the city in the dim future, but every Houstonian has a vivid conception of Hous- ton as it is going to be. This conception may not be expressed in the language of the classics but it is a conception founded in the sincerety of Houston's ex- pectations.

The Houstonian, once started, will paint glorious pictures of a great seaport, where mighty railroad lines connect with ocean steamships; of vast indus- trial community stretching for 30 miles down each side of its ship channel, acquired after years of la- bor and great expense, and a channel already famous nationally; for a back- ground of tremendous oil re- fineries and great producing plants, and finally, of a city which, in its civic pride and its responsiveness to the demands of progress, will be a fitting for hundreds of thousands of workers who will profit by its great in- dustrial development.

This vision of the future of Houston has its basis in fact, not in the perfervid dreams of some rabid press agent. Houston is dealing in facts, generally, and in futures, only insofar as they can be seen from the present day facts.

The city is served by a great waterway. It is the logical railroad center of the state. Its renown as a cotton market is a byword throughout the world. Its oil industries are attracting wide spread attention. It is building rapidly on what it has already, and a recital of the achievements of the last ten years alone would be enough to indicate what it will do in the future.

Already its ship channel is in service. For four years coastwise steamers have plied the stream. In the fall of 1919 the first Trans-Atlantic vessel is scheduled to steam out of the city with a cargo of cotton for Liverpool.

Wherein lies a magical forshadowing of the days to come. Houston has already boasted being the greatest inland cotton market in the world. Now it is ceasing to be "inland." It is sending its own cot- ton out through its own port to the four corners of the earth.

On this one staple alone, this crop which means more to the hundreds of thousands of farmers of the state of Texas than any other single item, Houston has enough to build a future. Houston is the natural center of distribution for this commodity. From the farthest reaches of the state, direct rail lines will rush into port, and from this port it can go to the mills of the East, to England, to the Continent.

Rice Hotel, Houston, one of the Largest and Most Luxuriantly Furnished Hotels in the South

The future that is already unfolding in the cotton industry is indicative of what Houston may expect in other lines. Already, trade commissioners from Nicaragua, Porto Rico, and other South and Central American Countries, have been dicking with local interests with an eye to "getting in on the ground floor" or the port of this city.

Armed with this Channel as an entering wedge to the commerce of other great nations and the far coasts of this country, Houston Has an equally pow- erful weapon of distinction in its rail lines. It is admittedly the headquarters of the railroad life of the state. The best systems are entered here, sys- tems which tap the Brownsville country with its cot- ton, its great fruit and truck garden plots, that reach into the cotton fields of the central part of the state, that connect up directly with the oil producing ter- ritory. With admirable freight rates, based on a 50 mile inland seaport's ad- vantages, Houston can take her place easily as the dis- tributing center of the state. She claims that place now. Future years will demon- strate her right to it still more. Houston, will, there- fore, reap all the benefits of a rapidly growing state with a magnificently ex- panding commerce.

In the coastal oil fields spread out from Houston. Goose Creek, Blue Ridge, West Columbia, the prin- cipal hope of this section in petroleum, are only a short automobile ride away. Great refineries are center- ing on the channel. Pipe lines are being run to the great storage plants which follow each other down the lines of communication from Houston. Oil tankers ply the channel, bringing crude oil from Mexico to the refineries here.

Within 30 days, two new companies have pur- chased land along the channel for the purpose of es- tablishing refineries. Hardly a company but wha: is represented either in a big refinery or in a land option.

Oil and cotton are not the only household goods of the Houstonian. The channel frontage is not limited to these industries alone.

Houston-or rather the port of Houston, has a prospective Channel frontage 60 miles, about 30 miles along each bank of the stream that is the mai! artery of its future growth. On his frontage al- ready have been build a great cement plant, mans oil refineries, an outomobile factory, and numerou other manufacturies.

Hardly a month passes but some industry, sma !: perhaps, but destined to grow, crowds its way i: Drugs, clothing, food products, all of these essentia !.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

of life are manufactured here. Only a few miles sway is one of the largest sugar refineries in the United States.

These are all actualities. It is inconceivable that the future with the rapid development of traffic through the port can fail to attract scores of new enterprises. Success breeds success.

Some cities, however, fail to achieve their best 'cause they are not prepared for success. They are overgrown villages. They do not know what to do with themselves. They can not assimilate their cew growth. They make mistakes that it takes decades to overcome. Houston is prepared to guard against this.

The first step that Houston has taken that shows the farsighted manner in which it views its future has been to acquire a large frontage on the Channel for the municipality and begin the construction for a vast unity of municipally controlled docks and cotton warehouses, to be open to all on equal terms. In the same characteristic way, it has involved a comprehensive city building plan. It has made arrangements for Parks, boulevards, residence sec- tions, industrial communities.

One of the most significant developments of rec- ent years is the preparation by a big oil concern to expend $1,000,000 in building a model industrial village back of its plant on the channel. Another big oil company is undertaking the same type of work at Baytown, farther down the stream.

Other firms will follow these examples. The thing will be done well. There will be no useless haphaz- ard growth along the old destructive lines. Houston :s building well. Good substantial business houses, structures that attract favorable attention from the whole country, are continually going up, here. New corporations come, study the field, establish their headquarters and "dig in" with fine buildings, to stay.

As a civic entity Houston is working to meet its growth. It has developed a public school system that serves as the model for systems in cities much larger. It has become a convention center. It is the amusement center of this territory, and each yrar it is able to back more pretentious musical and theatrical offerings.

Along with this progress, it is rapidly developing into one of the real intellectual centers of the Union. The Rice Institute, magnificent gift of a former Houstonian, in seven years has leaped into the front rank of colleges and with practically unlimited funds will make this city the cultural center for this entire section of the south.

Small wonder that the Houstonian, telling of the future, counts his blessings and asks, "What more would you have?" It is only a question of normal + rpansion.

. Streets and bridges are all in good condition, al- ·hough little extension work in this department has `.vn done recently owing to lack of funds. Street maintainance, however, is generally satisfactory.

Our chief complaint has come from citizens who '"lieve that Houston should have an elaborate drain- "o system for its flood waters. During 1919 the un was unusually heavy and the present drainage ** tem was not equal to the task imposed upon it '> the elements. The city engineer has drafted plans for a drainage system that will cost in the "righborhood of $7,000,000. Funds for this system would have to be raised through the creation of a

local drainage district and the issuance of bonas for drainage purposes. It is up to the people to decide. The drainage is needed. It is only a ques- tion of finances, notwithstanding the fact that in normal years Houston experiences very little diffi- culty with its drainage.

In October the citizens of Houston voted a special school tax of 50 cents on the $100. This tax will bring in a revenue of about $750,000, which will be used in increasing the salaries of teachers and plac- ing our public school system on a better basis gen- erally. This special fund will release the general school fund for municipal purposes, and will enable the city to increase salaries in different city de- partments where increases are most needed.

Houston's fire department is giving efficient serv- ice, and there is very little loss from fires. Very few fires have occurred during the last year which en- tailed any considerable loss. This has been due in large measure to the prompt action of the fire de- partment in meeting every emergency.

The city owns 10 public parks, ranging in area from a few acres each to 250 each. Harman Park is the largest and is beautifully located for park purposes. All parks have been improved with build- ings and playgrounds and are the centers of much out door life during the summer months. The series of outdoor amusements, games and contests is a feature of the outdoor program provided by the city government during each summer .. Municipal band concerts have been given in the past, and have proven a popular attraction for outdoor gatherings in our city parks.

The health of the city is good. It is the custom for the citizens of Houston, under the direction of the City Health Board each year to hold "clean up" campaigns, in which all refuse and decayed mat- ter is removed from premises and destroyed. Every civic organization in the city takes part in these campaigns and the results have been very satis- factory. No epidemics of any kind have visited Houston the past year.

The city owns and operates a municipal market where it sells fruit and produce at from 12 to 20 per cent below prevailing retail prices. After charg- ing itself with all overhead expenses paid by other dealers, it clears from $100 to $200 per week.

Houston's population is growing very rapidly, the estimated increase during the past 10 years being 120 per cent. Of course the population was swelled slightly by the taking in of Houston Heights, but the great demand for housing facilities is a sure index to a rapid and permanent growth. Notwith- standing the fact that the value of building permits totaled $4,500,000 from January to October, 1919, and most of these were for residence buildings. One of the most difficult tasks in Houston today is the finding of living quarters for newcomers. Of course building operations were practically suspended dur- ing the war, which accounts, in part, for the short- age in housing facilities. .

Improvement has been made in transportation and traffic and a noticeable falling off in accidents is the result. Street platforms for the accommodation of passengers boarding and alighting from street cars have been placed on the principal street inter- sections and have proved very successful in handling passenger traffic. An ordinance has been passed regulating the parking of automobiles in the con- jested districts, which will help the situation also.

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HOUSTON'S MUNICIPAL PROGRESS By A. E. AMERMAN EX-Mayor

H OUSTON has the commission forin of Govern- ment. The mayor and four city commis- sioners are elected by the people and are responsible for the City's administration. The Com- missioners administer the Fire, Water, Tax and . Street and Bridge departments, Each Commissioner is responsible for the conduct of affairs in his own department. The Mayor and four commissioners con- stitute the City Council Board and are empowered by law to pass and repeal ordinances.

Houston is growing so rapidly that it is difficult to keep up with the municipal needs. Every year we must revise our budgets and the call is always for · more money for taking care of the ever expanding needs of the mu- nicipality.

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The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 19

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau Number of Pages: 1204

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1204