FilioScotia

It's also possible that the story was confused with Spring Creek Park and embellished. Spring Creek Park was the site of a Confederate gunpowder mill that exploded resulting in three deaths. An account of this is available from the Klein ISD site. Maybe this was the origin of the "battle"

Yes that is another possibility.

I think we agree there is a "myth" about a Civil War battle somewhere in west or north Harris County. Like most myths, there's a kernel of truth somewhere in it. And I also think we agree that in all probability, it was a minor neighborhood fight between one or more unreconstructed rebels and one or more unionists.

In the telling and retelling over the decades, it grew into a full scale Civil War battle.

To be blunt, I am familiar with this story and it is "supposedly" linked to paranormal activity on Patterson Road between Eldrich and Hwy 6 and the bridges across Langham Creek. I worked in that area for a good long while and drove down Patterson in all kinds of conditions and in day, evening, and middle of the night...in regards to the "ghosts" I would venture to say that the "spooks" that hang around out there aren't ghosts at all, but still QUITE dangerous! In regards to this "Civil War Battle", I find this story to be dubious and more of an urban legend than anything. If there was any fighting around there it would've been between the settlers and the indians or bandits! I seriously doubt ANY military conflict occurred in that area. The NEAREST actual Civil War battle was at Galveston.

I'm with you, but, it's worthwhile to remember that the surrender at Appomattox only ended the fighting between the Union and Confederate armies. For months, even years, after April of 1865, the war continued all over the south on an "unofficial" basis between scattered Unionists and scattered Seceshes. They didn't stop hating and killing each other just because Lee and Grant agreed to end it. In Texas, there were any number of people who never supported Secession. In fact I'm proud to say I live in an East Texas County that voted overwhelmingly against it. Where is all this going?

We know there are no records of an actual battle in Harris County. But I believe it's probable that at some point after 1865, there might have been a noteworthy feud and gunfight between some unregenerate unreconstructed Confederates and some Unionists. We know a large number of German immigrants lived in the area now known as Bear Creek and the Addicks Reservoir, and they never supported Secession. I'm theorizing that a drunk former Confederate picked a fight with one of those Germans one night. It led to shooting, and one or more people were killed. Over time as the story spread, and was told and retold, and amplified, it became a full scale Civil War battle.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Happy to know the mural will be saved, even if it's out-of-state. Would like to see other parts salvaged, as well. I just loved the design of those grounds. And that light stone.

For those who're wondering where the mural is going, it will be either the Wyeth-Hurd Museum in Santa Fe New Mexico, or the Hurd La Rinconada Gallery and Guest Ranch in San Patricio New Mexico. The Hurd and Wyeth families control both. Here's a link to the Museum: http://wyethhurd.com/index.html

Homes at the guest ranch are open to the public for short term rentals. And yes they are pricey. But it's an incredibly beautiful place to spend a few days, or a week, or two or three. http://www.wyethartists.com/guest-homes/guest-homes.htm

Marietta Marich went on the air at KPRC in 1955 as hostess of a late night movie program called "MGM Theater". MGM was one of the first studios to sell its library of movies to TV and KPRC was one of the first TV stations to buy them. It started at 10:30pm, right after the 10pm news, and Marietta was the live hostess, introducing the movie and appearing live in many of the commercial breaks.

Marietta proved to be so good on TV -- and popular with viewers -- she soon got her own show, one that came on after the movie. That was the beginning of Midnight with Marietta. It was in style and format a local late night talk show, with celebrity guests and Paul Schmidt and his piano trio providing musical accompaniment, often for Marietta herself, who was a very good singer. She was a band-singer with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra in the early 50s before "retiring" to get married.

I'm having serious second thoughts about the time lines in some of the info I put into the posting just before this one. I know that it was in 1955 that KPRC put old movies on after the 10pm news, to compete with the very popular "Late Show" with Jim Ross over on Ch 11, which was then KGUL in Galveston. (It moved to Houston and became KHOU sometime just after 1960)

But I'm forced to admit that I'm hazy on what time the movie started, and how long KPRC carried them, because I know that KPRC also carried the Tonight Show with Steve Allen, and later the Jack Paar Show from NBC in the same time slot they're still in. Both those shows came on after the 10pm news and were only an hour long. So that means KPRC's late movie must have started after the Tonight Show.

At some point in the late 50s, KPRC stopped carrying the late movies when they gave Marietta her own show, Midnight with Marietta, which went on live right after the Tonight Show with Jack Paar.

I'm hoping someone whose memory is more dependable than mine can come to my rescue here. Bruce?

Maybe best known to people in Timbuktu from that film but if you were around Houston in the 50s you knew the name; it appeared regularly in the entertainment pages of the papers from her work in local theater (still can't remember which one she was with but it wasn't the Alley). She was on another Channel 2 show before she got her own, I think, but I can't remember which. It may have been Howard Hartman's The Guys Next Door or Gottlieb's Matinee. Her husband Bob Marich was a director at Channel 2 for a long time. I only stayed up to see Midnight with Marietta once; it was aimed at a mature audience so I found it very boring.

Marietta Marich went on the air at KPRC in 1955 as hostess of a late night movie program called "MGM Theater". MGM was one of the first studios to sell its library of movies to TV and KPRC was one of the first TV stations to buy them. It started at 10:30pm, right after the 10pm news, and Marietta was the live hostess, introducing the movie and appearing live in many of the commercial breaks.

Marietta proved to be so good on TV -- and popular with viewers -- she soon got her own show, one that came on after the movie. That was the beginning of Midnight with Marietta. It was in style and format a local late night talk show, with celebrity guests and Paul Schmidt and his piano trio providing musical accompaniment, often for Marietta herself, who was a very good singer. She was a band-singer with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra in the early 50s before "retiring" to get married.

Over time, in the late 50s, Midnight with Marietta also presented some serious news/interviews with political guests and news makers. I'll never forget the series of broadcasts she co-hosted with KPRC News Director Ray Miller, where they both went after a rabid ultra right wing group called The Christian Anti-Communism Crusade, a Houston-based group that saw Communists under every bed and behind every tree. Marietta and Miller invited the leaders of that group in to be inteviewed and debated by some well known politicians and journalists who opposed them, and the right wingers came off looking like the dangerous nut cases they were. They faded away into insignificance not long after that.

Marietta has always been known as an actress of considerable ability. She's done any number of small movie and television roles over the years, but the mystery is why she has never been a "star." Whatever, in the early 60s, she and her husband Bob Marich started their own local theater group on Main Street in Midtown -- Houston Music Theater. It was several blocks south of the intersection of Main and Richmond, across the street from that old Prince's Drive-in in fact. It specialized in Broadway musicals of course, all featuring the best local talent. I remember seeing a number of her shows there in the 60s and they were all very well done and worth the trip to midtown from the Clear Lake area, where I lived at the time.

Houston Music Theater operated at the midtown location until the early 70s. I think they had to close because they lost their lease, or something like that. At any rate, sometime in the mid 70s, she and Bob brought Houston Music Theater back to life at the Royal Coach Inn on the SW Freeway, where it became the Royal Coach Dinner Theater. I also saw a lot of their shows there too. That venture only lasted a few years, because the Royal Coach kept changing hands and new owners had no use for a dinner theater. I think that was the Marichs' last attempt at presenting "live" theater in Houston.

From what I understand, both MD Anderson and a museum in New Mexico finally found a donor who is willing to pay to have the mural removed and delivered to the museum in a single piece. Specially trained workers arrived at the building several weeks ago to detach the mural from the ceiling and floor, and encapsulate the entire mural in a gigantic crate that is 20 ft tall and 50 ft wide. The entire front doorway, vestibule, and porte cohere will have to be dismantled to make way for the crate. They will have to go down to the basement to reinforce the floor underneath the lobby to support the load of the crate as it departs the building. A crane will be brought to lift the crate onto a specially commissioned tractor trailer. The trailer will transport the mural to New Mexico with a convoy of bucket trucks to raise any obstructing power lines between here and there. Once the mural has been removed, the demolition of the building will begin immediately.

Wow. That is going to be one gigantic crate all right. The mural itself is 15 feet by 47 feet, but its size is just part of the problem. You have to remember that the mural wall makes a 90 degree curve around a corner there in the lobby. Removing that entire curved corner in one piece, getting it into the custom designed curved crate, and getting it out of the building is going to be a major feat of careful engineering.

Now we're getting a clear picture of why this is costing so much, and why it's been so hard to find anyone willing to foot that cost.

I do hope one or more of the Houston TV stations is following this to get video of this removal.

Word on the street is that October 1 is the goal for the beginning the demolition and conclusion is January 2011. We shall see.

I retired recently and moved far away from Houston, so I'm not up to speed with the status of the Hurd Mural in the old Prudential Building. The last time I heard anything about it, they couldn't find anyone willing to pay the steep cost of removing the mural and storing it, and they couldn't find an art venue willing to create a space for it.

Everybody was wringing their hands saying "oh what a artistic shame this is", but no one was willing to do what is needed to save the mural.

That was the situation as of the first of this year. Has anything changed? Is the mural still doomed?

I'm a little disappointed to hear that there will be more talk and not an aggressive expansion of news on the main channel. But full-time classical on KTRU is a good thing. Here's an idea -- UH should throw the Rice die-hards a bone and run KTRU's internet stream on KUHC's HD-2 or HD-3 channel.

When this change is made, KUHF will be putting NPR's entire schedule of programs on the air. Not including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, all these programs are now heard on the HD-2 Channel. I'm guessing all those programs will be moved to 88.7 FM and HD-1. All the classical music and arts programming will move to KUHC, formerly KTRU, and the HD-2 channel.

In between the two news programs, after ME, comes Diane Rehm, a 2 hour news and interview show, then Fresh Air with Terry Gross, known for her interesting interviews. At noon, who knows? There are a couple of NPR programs not carried right now that could fit in there. At 1pm comes Talk of the Nation, a 2 hour news, interview and call-in program. At 3pm, they will either keep the BBC News Hour, or go to All Things Considered and stay with it, probably till 7pm. At 7pm, there's The World, from the BBC and PRI, news from Europe from Deutsche Welle Newslink Plus, and NPR's Tell Me More till midnight. Then it will carry BBC World News from midnight to 4am or 5am. That sounds like a solid 24 hour news/talk clock to me.

KUHF's website says it will also be expanding its coverage of local issues, with live broadcasts of town-hall meetings and other news worthy events.

You also wish for an aggressive expansion of loala news on the main channel. I predict you'll get your wish. I've heard that local news will be expanded, possibly with a half-hour or even one-hour evening local and state news roundup. I predict we will be hearing a lot more news from around the state, with reports from the Texas Public Radio Network, and other public radio stations around the state, including KUT in Austin and KERA in Dallas. I can tell you there is more than enough local and state news available from all those sources on any given day to fill a full hour, and I'm sure it will come to pass.

And, don't hold your breath waiting for KUHF to put KTRU on an HD channel. Never happen. But, maybe you haven't heard this, but Pacifica KPFT FM is already offering KTRU people free rein to program its HD-2 Channel.

Taste in music is possibly the single most subjective (and contentious) thing in which to have an opinion about. I won't argue the merits of the music, but I will say I frequently tuned in and would be aurally raped by the sound of fingernails on chalkboards or a continueous cacophonous sound looped without deviation or additional noises for five to ten minutes. When they played music, I typically enjoyed it, but when they used the station as a laboratory, I often changed the channel. Now, I'm hearing none of the stuff that turned me off, and I'm hearing much more of what I think they do right.

As a retired radio professional, I've always believed that giving students complete free rein to program a radio station is the worst possible way to run a radio station. It works ONLY if you don't care whether anyone but students listen to it, and that's how it has always been with KTRU. The Rice Administration has allowed students to do anything they want at KTRU for so long that the students have the attitude that they own it. Now they're acting like a bunch of children whose favorite toy has been taken away. I hate to break it to them but they DO NOT own it. It belongs to the school. The Rice Admins are selling something that contributes absolutely nothing to the mission of the school, and will put the money to constructive uses around the campus.

For those who say Rice is a wealthy school, and can afford to do anything it wants without selling the radio station, let me remind those people that in the past two years, every stock portfolio in every private endowment in the country has lost value in double digit percentages because of the recession. Every private university in the country is hurting financially, and Rice is no exception. Rice is feeling financial pinches it's never felt before. Rather than tap the shrunken endowment for campus projects, it's selling something that's useless to pay for things that will be very useful, and I applaud this decision.

Besides, it's worth remembering that KTRU will not out of existence. It will live on, on the Internet. Every person who now listens to KTRU -- and has Internet access -- will be able to continue listening to their favorite station. It's also worth noting that this will make KTRU available worldwide. They can program to the entire world. Internet radio is already showing signs of being the next big thing, and I think that's more than a fair trade-off.

Taste in music is possibly the single most subjective (and contentious) thing in which to have an opinion about. I won't argue the merits of the music, but I will say I frequently tuned in and would be aurally raped by the sound of fingernails on chalkboards or a continueous cacophonous sound looped without deviation or additional noises for five to ten minutes. When they played music, I typically enjoyed it, but when they used the station as a laboratory, I often changed the channel. Now, I'm hearing none of the stuff that turned me off, and I'm hearing much more of what I think they do right.

As a retired radio professional, I've never believed giving students free rein to program a radio station is a good idea. It works only if you don't care if anyone listens or not, and that's how it has always been with KTRU.

The Rice Administration has allowed students to do anything they want at KTRU for so long that the students have the attitude that they own it. Now they're acting like a bunch of children whose favorite toy has been taken away. I hate to break it to them but they DO NOT own it. It belongs to the school. The Rice Admins are selling something that contributes absolutely nothing to the mission of the school, and will put the money to constructive uses around the campus.

For those who say Rice is a wealthy school, and can afford to do anything it wants without selling the radio station, let me remind those people that in the past two years, every stock portfolio in every private endowment in the country has lost value in double digit percentages because of the recession. Every private university in the country is hurting financially, and Rice is no exception.

Schools like Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, AND Rice are all feeling painful financial pinches they've never felt before. Harvard, the wealthiest university in the United States, saw its endowment drop 30 percent from June 2008 to June 2009. The Rice Endowment lost about 20 percent. The national average loss was a little over 17 percent.

So, Rice is faced with either tapping the shrunken endowment for needed campus projects, or selling something that's useless to pay for things that will be very useful. That's a no brainer, and I applaud them for this decision.

Besides, it's worth remembering that KTRU will not go out of existence. It will live on, on the Internet. Every person who now listens to KTRU -- and has Internet access -- will be able to continue listening.

It's also worth noting that this will make KTRU available worldwide. Internet radio is already showing clear signs of being the next big thing, and I think that's more than a fair trade-off.

Hey kids. Wake up and show some appreciation for what you've been given. The whole world is now your playground. Today Houston, tomorrow the world.

Walnut Bend was developed in the late 1950s-1960s and at that time there wasn't much west of it other than ranch land. A few exceptions I remember: 1) About where Hayes Rd. is now, there used to be an oyster shell or gravel road north of Westheimer that led to a series of baseball fields. This was Voss West Little League. 2)Beyond Kirkwood, in the West Houston Medical Center area, was an airport for small planes and corporate jets. That was Andrau Airport (Hobby family). My memory is fuzzy beyond that.

A minor correction to your info. Andrau Airpark wasn't owned by the Hobby family. It was built, owned and managed by Mr and Mrs H.B. Andrau. The airport was closed on December 23, 1998 when a Houston real estate firm paid Mrs Andrau 53 million dollars for the land. The airport was quickly demolished and the Royal Oaks Country Club subdivision and a golf course replaced the field.

Marmer, you're correct. KUHF gave the jazz library to KTSU; I believe in 1988. Maybe 87.

Back to KTRU...Blues in HiFi is having a going away party at Cactus this Sunday 2-5.

They may be "going away", but they won't be going far. Word is they'll just move to the KPFT-FM studios, where they've been offered free rein in programming KPFT's HD2 Channel. This comes from an item on a national radio website. And I quote:

"KTRU owner Rice University is selling KTRU (91.7) to the University of Houston for $9.5 million, which will put many station volunteers and programmers on the street. Now Pacifica’s KPFT (90.1) offers them a home. GM Duane Bradley and PD Ernesto Aguilar post an open letter to “KTRU DJs and friends”, offering them “full autonomy” to program the soon-to-re-launch HD-2 channel of KPFT. Pacifica says “it is with great sadness that we observe the fate facing KTRU, a Houston cultural institution that blazed trails.”

I wish them well. But I have to ask how a radio station with an audience so small the Arbitron Rating Service couldn't measure it could be described as "a Houston cultural institution."

BTW: that national radio website is http://www.radio-info.com/news/displaced-ktru-houston-personalities-get-an-hd-2-offer-from-pacificas-kpft

A little off-topic:

Isn't KUHF suppose to be celebrating a big anniversary this year? I have not heard much about it overall, and it was not mentioned in their press release yesterday. Did tier one aspirations smote 60 years of history? I'm not a PR guru, but it seems something is missing.

Clearly you haven't been paying much attention to KUHF. The station's 60th anniversary HAS BEEN a very big deal all year. There have been several large station events -- including a big anniversary dinner -- celebrating the fact that KUHF was the first public radio station in the United States and it's still on the air 60 years later.

The station's website http://app1.kuhf.org/main.php prominently displays a sharp looking 60th anniversary logo, which is also emblazoned everywhere it can be emblazoned, including T-shirts, coffee mugs and a lot of other stuff that's given away at promotional events the station holds around town.

The Spring Membership Campaign in April was built around the anniversary. 60 years and counting. We need your help to keep a good thing going. I'm sure the Fall Campaign in October will also mention the 60th anniversary a few times. And look for the station to pull out all the stops on the actual anniversary of the first broadcast on November 6th.

In the words of Foghorn Leghorn, pay attention son.

Yeah, but not everyone has HD radios.

You are correct, but a lot of people do have PC's, and they can and do listen to the full schedule of NPR programs on the KUHF website. I have retired to East Texas, but I listen to Fresh Air and Talk of the Nation during the day online. I can't take more than 5 minutes of Diane Rehm.

It is true that not many people have HD radios because they are so expensive. 50 to a hundred dollars depending on the make. You also need an antenna. TV rabbit ears work well, but even then the reception often leaves a lot to be desired. But I've been told that's why large numbers of people listen to KUHF HD programs online. That's why I don't think HD radio has a future at KUHF. Who needs it when you can listen on the Internet?

I predict when KUHF finally has news programs on one station and music on the other sometime in 2012, and both stations are functioning as hoped on all cylinders, they'll drop HD and file it away under Bad Memories.

Well in all fairness NPR does have additional programming throughout the day that doesn't make it into Houston. That said, I take your point that multiple airings of "Prairie Home Companion" would drive anyone to madness.

KUHF does carry most of NPR's entire daily schedule. Morning Edition and ATC on 88.7 FM, Diane Rehm, Fresh Air and Talk of the Nation on HD2. Only two programs are not heard, right now. On Point and On The Media. I think we can expect both those programs to join the schedule once KUHF goes "all news", and the music is moved to the new station.

This might be a shock to some people, but NPR isn't the only public radio network out there. There's a bunch of them. KUHF buys most of its programs from NPR, but some of its most popular programs come from American Public Media and Public Radio International. APM produces A Prairie Home Companion, Writer's Almanac, Market Place, Performance Today, Pipe Dreams, Saint Paul Sunday, and some others. PRI produces This American Life, Living on Earth, The World, BBC Newshour, BBC World Have Your Say, Bob Edwards Weekend, and some others. And don't forget Latino USA and the BBC, both of which are carried on the HD3 channel. All those networks produce more than enough programs to fill out a 24/7 program schedule.

As for repeats of APHC, that's been done for years. I share your disdain for that program, but a lot of people out there seem to like it. For years the station was besieged with complaints from listeners unable to catch the "live" broadcast at 5pm on Saturday, so, for the benefit of those people, they started repeating that broadcast at noon on Sunday. It's called "responding to your listeners." What a concept.

I think it's probable that at least some of the "undated" feature oriented daytime programs could also be repeated overnight for people who sleep days and work nights. It's worth remembering that millions of people fall into that category.

(***I suppose they will have to ramp up the fundraising even more, now that they'll be buying more content from NPR and maybe APM.***)

As for fears the fundraising effort will ramp up, KUHF has actually been "ramping down" its semi-annual on-air campaigns in recent years, and raising the goal at the same time. It's now a million dollars, and it's had no trouble making and beating that goal. We can expect the goal to increase even more with the addition of another station, but I don't think the on-air campaigns will change noticeably.

For several years now, KUHF has been raising a sizable portion of its funding outside the on-air campaigns, focusing on people and companies who can make large donations. Gold Circle Contributors. As we all read in the paper, all of the $9.5 million dollars needed to buy KTRU will come from private donations. A lot of them.

if a little ktru-ness were honored in the new station, i'd be behind that completely!

Don't count on that. KUHF will continue to be KUHF, and KUHC will become its twin. KUHF will have News and NPR, KUHC will have classical music. You won't notice any difference.

Some people here think student-run media is a good thing. Student-run media is fine, if you don't care whether people listen or not. The truth is that almost nobody outside a handful of Rice students and young alumni listen to KTRU. I say "young alumni" because at some point, adults out-grow the campus radio they listened to in school.

KUHF is the huge success it is precisely because it is not run by students and volunteers, and it does not program to the campus community. KUHF is a viable radio station that's competing head-to-head for ratings and revenue with every other station in town, and its audience is phenomenal. It's accomplishing this because it's aiming its programming to the general public, and it's doing it extremely well.

With the largest full time News Department in town, KUHF is now -- officially -- the only "News-Talk" radio station in Houston. KTRH has abdicated that title. KUHF has achieved this because it has a full time news staff made up of paid radio professionals with many years of experience in commercial and public radio.

The only students at KUHF are carefully selected interns learning from the pros how to cover, write and report radio news. And their News managers have a knack for picking very talented and committed young interns who are going to have a future in the radio business. In fact, many of KUHF's interns have moved on to full time radio jobs around the country.

And those people pushing a petition to stop the sale of KTRU, are they serious? Do they actually think a petition will change the Rice Regents' mind? Most discouraging is the fact that more than 800 people have signed it.

It appears big changes are ahead for public radio in Houston. The University of Houston is making plans to purchase KTRU from Rice University for just under ten million dollars, change the call letters to KUHC, and move it into the same studios with KUHF Radio. The plan is to put all news and NPR programming on KUHF 88.7 FM, and put classical music and arts programs on KUHC 91.7 FM.

They haven't announced a timetable for this change, but it's going to take well into next year for all these changes to be made. As someone who worked at KUHF for many years, and retired just recently, I can testify that things move very slowly there. I will be surprised if this brave new world comes to pass before the end of 2011.

When the change is finally complete, this will resolve one of KUHF's longest running problems: trying to keep two very different audience groups happy. There are a lot of people in Houston who would listen to NPR programs 24/7 if it were available, and they've complained long and loudly for years about the paucity of NPR programs on KUHF. It appears KUHF is going to grant their wish.

At the same time, there are those who love the classical music, and they've complained long and loudly for years that they don't get enough of it on KUHF, and that KUHF should be all classical 24/7. These people will also get their wish. Glory hallelujah !

KUHF is now taking a bold step in the direction of making both those groups happy. It's true that KUHF does now offer all of NPR's daytime programs on its HD2 channel, but almost nobody listens to HD radio because HD radios are so expensive, and those who have them complain that their reception is so spotty and uneven.

Personally, and this is just my opinion, I think KUHF's large investment in HD technology has been a huge waste of money. It's just not working out the way they hoped. Yes there are people who listen to the HD2 programs, but not in numbers large enough to justify the cost. In fact, most of the people who DO LISTEN to the HD channels are listening on the station's website.

Unless HD technology is improved drastically, and the cost of receiving it comes down drastically, I don't think it has a future. It will end up on the scrap heap, along with other gimmicks that didn't work out. Remember AM stereo? And Quadriphonic Sound?

It would appear that KUHF managers are finally accepting this reality. Dividing the news and music formats between two FM stations is the most logical, the most simple and most workable solution. I applaud them for having the courage to make this decision and move forward with it. Somewhere, Friar William of Ockham is smiling.

Here's a link to this story in today's Chron. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7156105.html

i've always admired this building but never been inside. can anyone just "pop in", or do you have to attend a service, i wonder?

When I was there in the 80s and 90s, it was possible to come in the daytime during the week, and get a guided tour of the church's collection of historic stained glass windows in the main sanctuary, and the artwork in the Morrow Chapel. I don't know if they still do that. Pop in some time and ask. Or call the Church office. 713-528-4100

If you do get in, make a point of going into the adjoining parish hall off the sanctuary. There's a collection of parish photographs that have always enthralled me. They are the annual big outdoor group shot of everybody in the parish taken on Easter Sunday. Like your old high school class picture. It's taken with one of those old long exposure wide-lens cameras the photographer has to pan from one side of the group to the other.

What's fascinating about these pictures lining the walls is that they start in the early 1920s and come forward, year by year to the current year. Look at them and watch the children grow up, and the adults get older. Then in the war years, the only men in the group are the old men, too old to fight in the war. Then after the war the young men who survived are back. By the 70s, 80s and 90s there are old people who were children in the earlier photos. A number of Trinity's senior members today were baptized there many decades ago.

Watch the fashions change over the years, and in the background you can see the the area around Trinity changing. Photos like these provide a visual history of that spot in mid-town, and they reveal a continuity of community one almost doesn't find anywhere anymore.

Glad to see you're open for more info. As a former member of Trinity Church, I can tell you that WW Watkin designed more than the bell tower. He designed the entire church from top to bottom. The off-set bell tower is in keeping with the traditional design of Anglican churches in England. Designing this wonderful building wasn't enough for Watkin. His crowning achievement at Trinity was the high altar, complete with Biblically themed statuary from one side to the other. Here's a link to it: http://trinitychurchhouston.net/index.php?page=historic-church

One of the benefits of being wrong a lot is that you get very good at apologizing and issuing corrections. Since I made the previous posting, I have learned that Watkin didn't design the whole structure. He only designed the bell tower and the high altar inside the church.

Please forgive me for being so gushy about Trinity Church. Places as beautiful as Trinity exert a powerful spiritual and emotional pull on me. If I lived anywhere near Houston I would make it my church home again.

Oops.

You are, of course, correct. Thanks for the additional info.

Glad to see you're open for more info. As a former member of Trinity Church, I can tell you that WW Watkin designed more than the bell tower. He designed the entire church from top to bottom. The off-set bell tower is in keeping with the traditional design of Anglican churches in England.

Designing this wonderful building wasn't enough for Watkin. His crowning achievement at Trinity was the high altar, complete with Biblically themed statuary from one side to the other.

Here's a link to it: http://trinitychurchhouston.net/index.php?page=historic-church

Wow. Judging from that map, Eden's was an amusement park that took up the entire south side of the 6400 block of Harrisburg, between what was then Baker St on the west to 1st Street on the east.

Sidebar to the Eden's Amusement Park story:

I'm fascinated by the fact that a street once named Baker St is now named Hughes St, in the area where Howard Hughes Sr started his oil drilling bit company in the early 1900s.

Today the company is named Baker-Hughes, and after a little Googling, I learned why.

Here's what the company's website says:

In 1907, Reuben C. Baker developed a casing shoe that modernized cable tool drilling. In 1909, Howard R. Hughes, Sr. introduced the first roller cutter bit that dramatically improved the rotary drilling process. Over the ensuing eight decades, Baker International and Hughes Tool Company continued to lead the industry with innovative products in well completions, drilling tools and related services.

Now we know why that street on the east end was once named Baker.

Eden's Amusement Park was on Harrisburg and Baker Street. Here is the Sanborn 1917 map for it.

Wow. Judging from that map, Eden's was an amusement park that took up the entire south side of the 6400 block of Harrisburg, between what was then Baker St on the west to 1st Street on the east. It also extended southward on land that's now crossed by streets that weren't there then. Texas Ave and Capital apparently didn't extend that far into the east end at that time.

Baker is now Hughes, and 1st is now 65th street. It helps to remember that the town of Harrisburg was an incorporated municipality until sometime in the 1920s, and it had its own names and numbers for its streets.

The Sanborn Map shows Eden's Amusement Park had most of the usual attractions one finds in amusement parks. It appears it was about the same size of the old Playland Park on South Main, more or less.

I used to live in the 6700 block of Sherman back in the 50s, just a few blocks away from this site, and I was friendly with some of the older people who had been living there for many years. But, I never heard anything about an amusement park once existing within walking distance of where I lived.

I'm guessing Eden's Amusement Park probably did well in the prosperous Roaring 20s, but disappeared in the Depression Era 1930s. There's been no trace of it for a long time now.

It would be interesting to do some serious archeological digging in that area. I bet it would turn up some interesting artifacts from those times.

In 1917 there was an entry for Bismark Park that reads "see Eden Park" -- I can't find anything about a Bismark Park from prior years (maybe it was just a short-lived name).

Short-lived indeed.

In 1917, a lot of German names were short-lived. When the U-S declared war on Germany in 1917, anything and anyone with a German name got very unpopular overnight. German Street through Houston's east end was renamed Canal Street. It appears that a Bismarck Park in that area lost that name, and perhaps became Eden Park. Even though Otto Von Bismarck died in 1898, he was remembered as one of the architects of the German Empire -- the Second Reich -- that started that "Great War", as it was known then.

All over the country, many people of German extraction changed their names by simply "Anglicizing" them. Braun became Brown. Schmidt became Smith. Stein became Stone. Heinrich became Henry, etc. Even the English Royal family changed their last name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, because there was so much anti-German sentiment. King George V renounced all the German titles belonging to him and his family and adopted the name of his castle, Windsor. One of George's cousins, Prince Louis of Battenberg, a grandson of Queen Victoria and in line to the throne, changed his family name to Mountbatten. Just a few examples of the anti-German turmoil that was going on in 1917.

Of course, a lot of people with German names refused to change them, and they had to endure a lot of public and private scorn and discrimination for a few years. They are to be admired, because most of the anti-German feeling dissipated in the Roaring Twenties. The same sort of thing, on a much larger scale, happened to Japanese-Americans during WWII.

I think I’ve read Lee Gordon is gone but do you know about Dundas? I think I understand he went in to sales. From what I’ve read in the course of my research, he was the recipient of quite a bit of fan mail from the ladies. Also, do you know if he was related to the Bob Dundas of Foleys in that era.

From the website of the Houston Chapter of the American Advertising Federation:

"Bob Dundas, Jr. died on May 12, 2007. Bob was born in Houston and graduated from Lamar High School, attended Texas A&M and served in the U.S. Navy. He began his career at KPRC Radio and Television and then spent many years at McCann Erickson Advertising Agency working primarily on the TSO account.

Bob was President of HAF in 1972 and was a longtime supporter of the Ad Club's activities. Bob's father, Robert Dundas, Sr. was also an HAF president in 1938 and a Silver Medal winner in 1967. Bob often brought his father to those ad club meetings at which past presidents and Silver Medal recipients were recognized."

I'm guessing Bob Dundas Sr. was the guy you mention who was connected to Foley's way back then.

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