Ross

7 hours ago, Triton said:

Exactly. With so much concrete wall everywhere, it will eventually start looking like this crap that was demo'd. We all love infill on this site, we can agree about that, especially when it takes a parking lot away. But we absolutely must accept when there's an eyesore being created that we're going to have to live with... Just like we've been talking about the eyesore that is the Mercer Condominiums in the Galleria on this site for almost 2 decades now on HAIF. 

 

When that building(the old Shell Services/computing center) was built, it was the epitome of current thinking. It was definitely a good example of Brutalist design. Tastes change.

It is a fact that any high-rise residential structure in Houston is going to have a parking podium. There just aren't that many people who would rent in a building that does not have parking.

6 minutes ago, Highrise Tower said:

Never knew there was a base ball field here! Looking on Google Earth and HA I cannot see the formation of a diamond.  However, skipping many decades, I see an outline of a diamond field today.

From the newspaper The Jewish Herald-Voice dated December 15, 1949.

Jewish Community Center Athletic and Social Events

Sports Schedule for the Coming Week
JCC Extension Football
Sunday, December 18, Johnston field (Almeda at Wheeler)

2023:

The baseball field appears relatively new. Note that the events on the listing are all football, which would not have required a baseball diamond.

Fun fact. A friend of my mother grew up in a house on the South side of Wheeler opposite the baseball field, where the townhouses are now. She attended St Agnes which wasn't far away at 3901 Fannin at Truxillo, where the Ventana Apartments are now.

Looks like 6500 Main. From the 1935 directory

10 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

wow!!

Look at this beautiful mansion! I wonder the architect and address?

Residence of W.T. Carter
1908
Geo. Beach

From the 1907 directory that is 2310 Main

10 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

wow!!

Look at this beautiful mansion! I wonder the architect and address?

Residence of Judge Sam Streetman

From the 1907 directory, that would be 2016 Travis

I think the outlined area with Bellaire in the middle was the entire 10,000 acres.

There is a more detailed map in this Rice History blog https://ricehistorycorner.com/2013/01/07/the-intersection-of-reynolds-avenue-and-westmoreland-boulevard-1912/

Additional maps at this link https://ricehistorycorner.com/2012/12/14/maps/

DuPont was the largest gunpowder company in the US for some time. It was founded in 1802 in Delaware. It later expanded into explosives and a wide range of chemicals.

Making gunpowder is inherently dangerous, and the buildings are spread out so that an explosion in one doesn't destroy the others. DuPont exited the black powder business in the 1970's and sold the smokeless powder business in 2003.

10 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

I never knew you went to Rice University! Very cool.

Enough maps, I found a cool photo! 1950 aerial of Rice Field.

When that picture was taken, Rice was the only game in town for football. Which is why the new stadium had 70,000 seats and sold out for many games. At the time, Texas A&M was a male only school with mandatory participation in the Corps of Cadets. UT-Austin was the main State university for most students.

The stadium in the picture is now the Rice Track and Field stadium. If you look closely at the track on the right side, you can see it extends all the way to Main Street. Rice was one of the few places that could run the 220 yard dash in a straight line.

35 minutes ago, Highrise Tower said:

I was researching the Harris Gully this week. Found lots of photos and map outlines!

Here's a cool one that you can clearly see Harris Gully going through the Rice University campus.

If I was to affix an address to this topic, could I put South Main? The Rice campus has a SM address

Harris Gully is very near the early Rice Institute Athletic Field.

Hand drawn campus map with the title Campus Survey by Freshman Class 1916-17 Rice Institute. May 26, 1917

That was a major driver for the flooding of the Rice campus in 1979. There's a page in this link https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/47726874/rice-flood-protection-strategy-rice-university showing the extent of the 1979 flood. I was living off campus then, but had parked in a faculty space at the gym after being cut off from a legal space by someone else. I got lucky, and had a water mark about 6 inches up a rear tire. The other guy's car was underwater.

The old topo maps on the UT Library site show the feature running through the Rice campus and what is now TMC.

30 minutes ago, Highrise Tower said:

Looks like the industrial building, once a club hall, is still standing!

That building wasn't there in 1953. From HCAD, I think it's more like 1970. The current building goes almost to the next street to the West, Allegheny Street.

1 hour ago, Highrise Tower said:

I guess I'm a Rice University novice. I didn't know there was a tunnel system! Was this actually a tunnel or more for water management?

I know of the following Houston tunnels:
Downtown
St. Johns School on Claremont/Westheimer
Texas Medical Center

Rice Institute tunnel construction, view of Tunnel near Power House looking north.
1911

There is a huge(sort of) network of tunnels under Rice University. In the 70's they were called steam tunnels, as they distributed steam and, later, chilled water from the central plant to the various buildings. Students would explore them, but if you got caught you could be punished. These days they would probably be called utility tunnels.

Hmm, they have tours https://facilities.rice.edu/resources/tour-information

I wish this one had pictures https://sustainability.rice.edu/exploring-rices-steam-tunnels

Do a search for rice university steam tunnels

Video of the tunnels 

11 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

I didn't see this in the thread. This GS advertisement includes a new identifier, a R.F.D. Box number. From what I recall, suburban properties used to have an RFD box in a certain area of town.   Was it a modern day mailbox?

From the publication Diseases of the Nervous System 1941-10: Vol 2 Iss 10.

Dr. Greenwood's Sanitarium
For Nervous and Mental Diseases
R.F.D. 3 Box 98 Houston, Texas

Dr. James Greenwood, Supt. and Resident Physician
Dr. James Goodwood, Jr., Assistant Supt.

Rural Free Delivery was set up by the Postal Service to deliver mail directly to people living in rural areas instead of requiring them to go to town to the post office or have a private service bring the mail. The RFD 3 Box 98 in the address above means Rural Route 3 Mailbox 98. The route determined which mailman to use, and the box was the specific customer mailbox, typically the traditional box you see all over.

The RFD route and box system disappeared when the laws requiring every residence have a street address for 911 purposes were passed. A friend who lived in a rural area was annoyed by that because it meant people could find his house when his address changed from Route X box y to 1234 Some Road.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Free_Delivery

Those were solidly built buildings, and were built to hold a large amount of telephone switching equipment. That one is the JAckson exchange, the 52x-xxxx numbers back in the days when all phones were connected to an exchange.

3 hours ago, strickn said:

https://www.houstonpress.com/media/pdf/nixon_meyerland-sept11.pdf contains the extensive brunch documentation 

have you ever found any photos of the demolished Blaffer home at 2 Briarwood?

I couldn't find any pictures, but the property is now owned by Charles Duncan. Traipsing through the property records for folks like the Blaffers is interesting. They owned a lot of stuff in Houston.

1 hour ago, Highrise Tower said:

Another business advertisement in The Roar.  This time there is a P.O. Box listed, as well as the owner's name.

Phone 353-7090
Doyle's Hardware
Hardware, Sporting Goods, Housewares
21419 Highway 75
Doyle McTigrit
P.O. Box 145
Spring, Texas 77373

 

That address would be North of Spring-Cypress Road on the US 75, now I-45, feeder. That's all been changed by the various I-45 expansions.

More info that implies the store was in Spring https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/m/c/t/Doyle-Mctigrit-TOMBALL/GENE19-0017.html

1 hour ago, Dave W said:

Wasn't that in Tomball?

That was the result I got when I did a search.

Dr. Denton Cooley was the grandson of the Cooley that built the Cooley house  on Heights and 18th https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/history/article/In-the-Heights-the-past-is-not-that-far-off-7723357.php#photo-10105660

Dr. Cooley lived on Del Monte from 1962 until his death https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Cooley-house-on-market-for-cool-4-5-million-11143380.php

House at 1037 Lawrence is gone. Those 6000 sq ft lots look much larger when they are empty. 

1 hour ago, editor said:

Short term, I don't see any change coming.  Neiman Marcus and Saks have different customers. 

But I could Hudson Bay eventually eliminating one brand simply because Hudson Bay is a terrible company that in recent years has ruined Saks in so many ways.  (One example: many Saks stores don't even have HR people in them anymore.  If an employee needs something, they have to make an appointment to have a video chat with someone in Toronto.)

Following the old "keeping employees happy is overrated" mantra that has brought many companies to their knees.

Looks like it might still be there https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7384116,-95.3780727,3a,75y,60.79h,86.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1spvODVLBCRN1KZq0PHbDdsw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

11 hours ago, august948 said:

 

 Now we pretty much have to elect Trump in 2024, whether we like it or not. 

Democratic party operatives have already shown that impeaching during a election year and burning and rioting in American cities in the run up to the election can influence the presidential election.  Now, if they are successful with this they will prove that weaponizing the legal system and pursuing political prosecutions can also influence the presidential election.  If they are successful with that you can be sure that you will be seeing these tactics used over and over and over again every election cycle from now on.

Good job Dems, I'm sure y'all thought this all the way through.

If Trump had not committed crimes, he would not be indicted. It's really that simple. I would hope that any politician that did what he did would be indicted and tried.

9 hours ago, Rex said:

I've wondered the same thing too...it seems to have stopped when Enron fell

It stopped when the owners' daughter died in July 2002 at age 17.

Turnverein is a German athletic club. Here's a article on the one mentioned above https://www.heritagesociety.org/turnverein

47 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

I think what Chicago "offers" is merely the federal (IRS) allowing pre-tax payroll deductions of up to $300 per month to be used for transit.  The same program is available in Houston.

Yep. I used that when I was in a van pool.