Houston In The 1900s

[Gilder]

What was Houston like in the 1900s? 

Yeah, I'm taking it back, way back!

What type of information does HAIF have regarding Houston in the 1900's?

[enviromain]

This photograph image is the Reunion of Terry's Texas Rangers in 1908, Houston, Texas. There are 62 men and 9 women. The bottom says: "Terry's Texas Rangers Houston Nov. 10th 1908".

It appears that they are on a street corner. Does anyone know what building is behind the men and women?

[Mark F. Barnes]

This photograph image is the Reunion of Terry's Texas Rangers in 1908, Houston, Texas. There are 62 men and 9 women. The bottom says: "Terry's Texas Rangers Houston Nov. 10th 1908".

It appears that they are on a street corner. Does anyone know what building is behind the men and women?

Is there a source for a bigger picture of that shot? higher res so to speak.

[Gilder]

I have a feeling that building is gone now. Looks like it's right out of Mayberry!

I did manage to locate this link and if you look at the date, it's 1910. http://www.terrystexasrangers.org/newsclip...n/1910_248.html

And this is really interesting:

http://www.terrystexasrangers.org/newsclip...n/1902_208.html

[Mark F. Barnes]

I wish Enviro would answer my question about better quality pic, I have the people @ www.terrytexasrangers.org very interested. They have no record of a reunion on that day. Richard Brooks, Grandson of Royston Brooks, who was a Ranger with company D, is in this picture. He thinks the street looks very much like Harrisburg Blvd but can't be positive with the small picture provided, Paul Scott with the TTR archives is looking into it.

[enviromain]

I wish Enviro would answer my question about better quality pic, I have the people @ www.terrytexasrangers.org very interested. They have no record of a reunion on that day. Richard Brooks, Grandson of Royston Brooks, who was a Ranger with company D, is in this picture. He thinks the street looks very much like Harrisburg Blvd but can't be positive with the small picture provided, Paul Scott with the TTR archives is looking into it.

Sorry Mark, long work days this week! At least I am back in Texas again!

No I do not have a better resolution image. That's the problem. Maybe someone out there has a good photo application that can zoom in and increase the sharpness as well.

Also, I thought Houston was Company A. Maybe this was a statewide reunion that happened in Houston.

[enviromain]

Could it be the Second National Bank Building (806 Main)?

[tmariar]

Thought some of y'all might be interested in this, if you hadn't seen it already: Google Books has uploaded a copy of a 1906 cookbook published by the Houston Civic Club. It gives some great insight into how Houstonians were cooking and eating a century ago. If you don't want to click through all the pages, there's a summary of the different recipes included here.

I was a little surprised - but only a little - to see things like chili, jambalaya, and gumbo appearing in a Houston cookbook that early.

[rsb320]

Yum, opossum and potatoes and stewed brains. There're enough possums running around this town to feed all of the homeless. I read something last week that said coons are making a comeback. Preparing and cooking them was very time intensive though.

[FilioScotia]

Thought some of y'all might be interested in this, if you hadn't seen it already: Google Books has uploaded a copy of a 1906 cookbook published by the Houston Civic Club. It gives some great insight into how Houstonians were cooking and eating a century ago. I was a little surprised - but only a little - to see things like chili, jambalaya, and gumbo appearing in a Houston cookbook that early.

And I'm a little surprised that anyone could be even a little surprised to see chili, jambalaya and gumbo in a Houston cookbook of only 103 years ago.

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but I'll say it anyway. Chili has been a Tex-Mex delicacy in these parts for longer than Texas has been here. Gumbo and jambalaya are VERY old Creole and Cajun concoctions that have been popular around here for centuries.

Thanks hugely for posting the link to that cookbook. Excuse me whilst I check out those recipes. I think I can see a gumbo dinner from here.

--------

I'm back. I have to say that as interesting as some of those recipes are, I find the old advertisements absolutely fascinating. Talk about a glimpse of Houston's business community just after the turn of the 20th century. Among others, there's an ad for the Jesse H. Jones Lumber Company. That is how Jones made his first fortune.

Then there is this priceless ad for the

C. Jim Stewart and Stevenson Shoeing Parlor.

Where they shoe horses right.

Will call for and deliver your horse.

Now there's a company that knew how to change with the times.

This cookbook is full of old ads like these.

[Porchman]

Awesome! Mrs. P. will particularly dig this. I can't remember the last time I had oyster loaf.

[rsb320]

I was suprised to see Redfish on the menu. I was always told that Redfish was considered a trash fish until Paul Prudhomme popularized it with the blackening technique. Maybe it fell out of vogue sometime between then and now. Who will be the brave one that brings back opossum and racoon?

[tmariar]

And I'm a little surprised that anyone could be even a little surprised to see chili, jambalaya and gumbo in a Houston cookbook of only 103 years ago.

My surprise was really more that those recipes were included in a cookbook of that era... I knew Mexcian and Cajun/Creole foods had their place in Houston from the get-go, but to the extent I'd thought about it, I guess I'd always thought of those dishes as being made by restaurants or street vendors back then. Nice to know they were being served at home as well, and not just in Mexican and Cajun/Creole homes.

I noticed a number of German dishes, too.

[NenaE]

The recipes are nice, but the ads are what I was glad to see, the addresses are good to have when wondering about a bldg. I need to make some notes. Thnx for sharing.

The phone no's were just 3 or 4 digits. Wow.

[FilioScotia]

My surprise was really more that those recipes were included in a cookbook of that era... I knew Mexcian and Cajun/Creole foods had their place in Houston from the get-go, but to the extent I'd thought about it, I guess I'd always thought of those dishes as being made by restaurants or street vendors back then. Nice to know they were being served at home as well, and not just in Mexican and Cajun/Creole homes.

Good point. You're probably right in thinking those delicacies were more common in restaurants than on the table at home. Still are to some extent.

Back to the ads, I see that many of the old 1906 ads list phone numbers as "New" and "Old". Many businesses had an old phone and a new phone, and each had its own number. Many with both phones had managed to get the same number for both.

New and Old phones in 1906? Now that sounds interesting. Anybody have any idea what was going on the Houston phone business right after the turn of the 20th century?

[tmariar]

Phone numbers: Both Houston and Galveston got a new telephone system around that time. The telephone system that Galveston had in 1904 required users to call the operator in order to make a call, whereas the new system just required the user to lift the receiver. The new system also used "composite wires" that would carry multiple calls, so that calls would not be interrupted or blocked by other users on the same wire. The article I saw said that the new system would require all new equipment at every point from the central exchange to the phone itself. No mention of new telephone numbers, but it wouldn't be that strange for that to be part of it. And if the equipment was all new, it makes sense that the old numbers could/would be left in place during the transition, as long as they were identified as old numbers. I bet they'd know for sure at the telephone museum.

Ads/Addresses: There are tons of old advertisements in the online archive of the Galveston newspaper (at newspaperarchive.com), which displays as OCR'd pdf's. There are usually a few Houston ads as well, but when I do address searches I tend to find them more often in news articles (the Galveston paper had a Houston office and had a page for Houston news). You can also get addresses from the city directories in the library, of course.

Don't know if y'all saw it, but the cookbook included an ad for Otto Vogt's Lone Star Market, which someone asked about a month ago. I thought that was a funny coincidence.

Food: One thing I'd like to know is what is "wenget", one of the recipes in the cake section. I haven't gotten anywhere trying to find out. I mean, the recipe is in the cookbook, so I know what goes into it. I'm just wondering if it was a made-up name or a recognized dish of some sort.

I was also surprised there weren't more fish recipes, especially (but not only) given there were so many oyster recipes.

And I found it interesting that pecan pie had not yet made its mark in the area, despite the apparent popularity of pie and abundance of pecans.

I didn't put this in the summary, but in doing a little research, I saw that in that time period Lap Cake orders were often taken by Catholic churches around Thankgiving, so that people could pick up their cakes at church a few weeks later in time for Christmas.

Glad others found the book as interesting as I did.

[Earlydays]

Fascinating ads....

- James Bute Paints

- Earthman-McCarty Undertakers

- P. Battlestein Tailor

- Henke-Pillot

- John J. Foley Retail/Wholesale Grocer....one of the Foley brothers?

[sevfiv]

I think the Foley brothers were Patrick and James, and they sold Foley's by 1920. Maybe they had another brother?

[FilioScotia]

Fascinating ads....- John J. Foley Retail/Wholesale Grocer....one of the Foley brothers?

Probably not. The first Foley's store was opened by William Foley in 1876, on Travis Street.

In 1900, his brother died in Ireland, and his nephews James and Patrick Foley immigrated to Houston to work at their uncle's store.

Not long thereafter, James and Patrick went into business for themselves, with a store of their own at 505 Main.

They're all up to about a hundred RPM inside their caskets, wondering how somebody named Macy got his hands on their stores.

(info gleaned from Marguerite Johnston's wonderful book "Houston - The Unknown City." I highly recommend it.)

[tmariar]

Interesting... in checking to see who all was part of the Foley family, I found this mention - which I'm going to cut liberally so I don't have to type out a lot of hard-to-read names:

9/29/06, Houston - Thursday evening there was a delightful automobile ride arranged for the pleasure of Miss Estelle Dunlap of Waxahachie, who is the guest of Mrs. Ray Weiss. A Dutch supper supplemented the enjoyment of the occasion, those participating being Miss Dunlap, . . . and Mr. Howard Hughes.

The list of those participating in the automobile party given by Miss Rose Foley and Miss Blanche Foley Thursday evening included . . . Mr. W.L. Foley, Misses Foley . . . Messrs. . . . Henry Stude, . . . Pat Foley, . . . John Foley . . . .

I think they were two different automobile rides, but it was interesting seeing Hughes pop up. Anyhow, the above isn't conclusive on the Foley issue. I'll look more.

UPDATE:

So the next article I found suggests that the John Foley mentioned above was not necessarily John J. Foley - there was at least one other John Foley in town (sadly, the Galveston paper archive ignores middle initials in name searches). It was an article I'd already seen researching the Donnellan crypt. In January 1900, Bishop N.A. Gallagher sued to recover property at Caroline and Franklin that had been claimed "by the Donnellan heirs." The defendants named in the suit included some Donnellans, some Kennedys, John Kennedy Foley, Rosa Lee Foley, Blanche Foley, and some others. The disocese was challenging a deed by which the Donnelly heirs claimed possession. The article noted: "This case will resurrect some musty old records that have slumbered in the county clerk's office for about half a century. This property was once operated by the buildings of St. Joseph's Infirmary, which was destroyed by fire."

Still looking. Saw a February 1901 reference to John J. Foley in a jury list.

Nope - never saw anything beyond what's listed above suggesting a connection between John J. Foley and William L. Foley or the Foley Brothers.

[Fringe]

Loved seeing the ads. Probably none of the recipes would taste as good today without good old lard.

[rsb320]

I always knew that it was against the law to spit on the sidewalks downtown, but I never knew that it was called the anti-expectoration ordinance. We can thank these ladies for this (pdf page 18).

Gotta love the ad for paint (pdf page 37) "Strictly Pure and Combination LEADS".

[FilioScotia]

I always knew that it was against the law to spit on the sidewalks downtown, but I never knew that it was called the anti-expectoration ordinance. We can thank these ladies for this (pdf page 18). Gotta love the ad for paint (pdf page 37) "Strictly Pure and Combination LEADS".

I'm wondering about the ads in which stores and drug stores specify "We do not sell liquor".

Houston had plenty of saloons in those days, and I"m assuming beer and liquor were sold almost everywhere. Why would a retail enterprise go to some length to let people know they didn't sell the stuff? Anybody know what that was about?

My theory: The Temperance Movement was a large and growing force all over the country in 1906. Remember, it would be only 14 years later in 1920 that it would succeed in outlawing alcohol sales everywhere with the Prohibition Amendment.

Is it possible that -- in 1906 -- the movement had enough clout and influence to get retail stores to stop selling liquor even though it was legal? And let the world know it in their advertising?

[tmariar]

I think it was absolutely the temperance movement, which was very much (though of course not exclusively) a women's movement. And the advertisers knew that the readers of a cookbook were going to be mostly women. Who could not vote in an election, but could vote with their household allowance. I'll look later to see if I can find anything about the status of the temperance movement in Houston at that time.

EDIT:

January 1905: "In Texas, our local option law has given us 'government by injunction,' 'blind tigers' and a 'jug trade,' which even enemies of the liquor traffic consider about as bad as the well regulated saloon. Not only so. The local option law, which we agree is essentially democratic, is said to be driving population and business away from the smaller places to the larger cities."

June 1905: "During recent years the brewing industry has been the objective point of attack from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and I was requested to give the result of the campaign of education commenced two years ago by the Texas Brewer's Association, which undertook to prove the inefficiency of prohibition and local option as a temperance movement. It was an easy task, as there are numerous indisputable proofs of large increased consumption of alcoholic liquors in all local option districts."

August 1905 (Fort Worth): "A temperance mass meeting, attended by probably 250 persons, about half of whom were ladies, was held in the auditorium of the City Hall this afternoon."

The women's page of the Galveston paper at the time (called "The Woman's Century") included a regular column called "W. C. T. U." A sample piece from 1907: "One of the most important resolutions adopted by the National [WCTU] at the recent convention was one protesting against the custom of many magazines of describing their hero in glowing terms as holding between his lips an elegant cigar or cigarette while a charming woman sits by casting adoring glances at him as he holds the glistening glass filled with wine. They fail to say that at one end of the chain there is the cut-glass goblet and at the other the drunkard's grave."