Memories Of Afton Oaks

[dsickles]

I grew up in this area, but only recently became interested in its formation. I asked our realtor and he said it was a dairy farm at one point, i have checked maps and this seems to be the case. He also mentioned that the homes were built by Stahlman Lumber. That would make sense considering the extensive use of wood throughout the interior of these homes.

Anyone have any information on this neighborhood?

[VicMan]

Afton Oaks is a fairly pricey neighborhood west of River Oaks - it does not have the same status as RO but it is still next to all of the yuppie attractions such as the Galleria, Highland Village Shopping Center, etc.

[plumber2]

Had some friends that lived on Merwin St. back in the 60's. Their parent's house backed up to the feeder street. An older brother had built a water balloon launcher and set it up in the back yard. Us kids would get up in a tree that was near the fence and recon for cars on the freeway, while the older brother launched ballons at our command. It was great fun watching guys slam on their brakes and look around for the perpetrators.

I guess you couldn't get away with that today. You'd probably cause a massive pile up.

[isuredid]

Afton Oaks is just one of dozens of neighborhoods which sprang up in Houston post WWII. It was created in seven sections between 1951 and 1959. I think the Stahlman connection is simply that the Stahlman family owned some of the land in the area that was used to create part of the subdivision, most likely just one section. As far as that goes, a dozen or more other families owned the other parcels that became that neighborhood. I don't think the Stahlman family was either the developer or the builder. Perhaps the lumber from their company was used on some of the homes, but who knows? It took many small farms and parcels of land in the area which were then all cobbled together to form that neighborhood. Even after the neighborhood was built, much of the surrounding acreage was still farm and ranch land for time, but not too much longer.

Here are some of the names from the block books of the folks whose land became that neighborhood

Susan Wood Becker

Mrs Hannie Wood Daughdrill

Frank Larson

Geo. E. Ware

Rose Tamborello

Mrs. Dorothy McLeod

Frank F. Spata

H. Stahlman Stahlman Lbr Co.

Herbert P. Swisher

Bertha G. Boedecker

Mrs. Emma Koehn

W.E. Nierth

[Vertigo58]

The Tamborello's have been around Houston for decades. Had several business's in Near East end for years too. They were sponsors for several baseball little league teams at EE Little League. Very well like folks.

buono gente

[isuredid]

The Tamborello's have been around Houston for decades. Had several business's in Near East end for years too. They were sponsors for several baseball little league teams at EE Little League. Very well like folks.

buono gente

The neighbor behind my house when I was growing up was Lena Tamborello before she was married. This was in East End.

[isuredid]

A I think the Stahlman connection is simply that the Stahlman family owned some of the land in the area that was used to create part of the subdivision, most likely just one section.

I was wrong about Stahlman. H. I. Stahlman was the developer of Afton Oaks. He was the one that cobbled all of those parcels of land into the various sections. I missed one name too, Eloise O'Meara. Her land was probably the largest contributor to the neighborhood.