JR_Sunset

This would apply to the Heights area. It was a building requirement to have alleys in Houston and Harris county until 1911 when the requirement was dropped. Out houses backed up to alleys since early homes did not connect to any type of sewer. The out houses were cleaned out by men with mule carts. Almost all homes built after 1900 used city sewer so the requirement was not needed by 1911.

There are now 183 subscribers for the Northside Constable patrol. We just need 27 more to be fully funded.

To sign up online

http://houstonheight...hsidepaypal.htm

The flyer.

http://sunsetheights...patrolflier.pdf

There are now 168 subscribers for the Northside Constable patrol. We just need 42 more to be fully funded.

To sign up online

http://houstonheight...hsidepaypal.htm

The flyer.

http://sunsetheights...patrolflier.pdf

They failed to acquire the needed signatures.

Link

The program has not been officially killed yet. In fact, work is still going forward to get more sign ups. There are currently 122 people signed up for the service. The Houston Heights Association board will have a meeting this Friday to decide the out come.

We now have 84 people signed up.

I came across some clippings from the Heights Citizen newspaper from the 1940's. Does anyone know of any place that would have it on microfilm or digital format? I can't find it listed at any of the libraries.

We have 52 people signed up.

I think they have a typo on the Heights pages as they have two East side boundaries listed. I never caught that they had listed 5 boundaries rather than 4. I talked with Tracy Englet and East side boundary is Airline.

The Northside Constable Patrol program has been opened for people to sign up. The amount is $175 for the period from June 1, 2010 to Dec 31, 2010. The sign up area is on the Houston Heights Association's website http://houstonheight...tanlepatrol.htm. There are links there to pay over the internet via credit card. If enough people do not sign up then your money will be refunded. There is a slight charge for using credit cards, so the refund would be net of the charge amount which would be less than $5. To make this happen, the target is to sign up 300 people.

People can also send checks if they would like. Be sure to include your contact information like your address, phone, email address along with the payment.

Make Checks payable to HHA Northside Constable Patrol

Mail them to this address

HHA Constable Patrol

P.O. Box 70735

Houston, TX 77270-0735

What year is that Sanborn map from? It appears that there were a number of street name changes in the area, the most notable being "Houston Avenue Extension".

There are two sets of digital Sanborn maps both have the dates 1924-1951 on them. My thinking is that the first set is closer to 1924 (the one that I attached) and the second set is closer to 1951.

The Sunset Heights Bottling Works was in operation (or at least in the City Directory) from 1923 until 1931. It was located on the "ns Link ro 1 w Air Line" in 1923, 24, 25, & 26. In 1927 it was listed at 1202 Link. In 1928 it was listed at 409 Airline. In 1929-31 it was listed at 1607 Airline.

The 1202 Link and 409 Airline, due to numbering changes in the late 1920's, would correspond to the corner of Link and Airline. The location of El Bolillo Bakery contained two homes until a few years ago. Prior to El Bolillo being built, Caninos had a warehouse where the El Bolillo parking lot is located. This was, most likely, the location of the Sunset heights Bottling Works.

Since Alamo elementary was brough up, it is worth mentioning that it was originally named Sunset heights School. If anyone has the opportunity, and permission, drop by and look at the original cornerstone.

I noticed new "For Information" signs posted in front the school over the weekend. I guess the school or city is looking to off load it to raise some money. I wish I could get a tour of the place before they tear it down. Get some some nice pictures before it is lost for good.

The Sunset Heights Bottling Works was in operation (or at least in the City Directory) from 1923 until 1931. It was located on the "ns Link ro 1 w Air Line" in 1923, 24, 25, & 26. In 1927 it was listed at 1202 Link. In 1928 it was listed at 409 Airline. In 1929-31 it was listed at 1607 Airline.

The 1202 Link and 409 Airline, due to numbering changes in the late 1920's, would correspond to the corner of Link and Airline. The location of El Bolillo Bakery contained two homes until a few years ago. Prior to El Bolillo being built, Caninos had a warehouse where the El Bolillo parking lot is located. This was, most likely, the location of the Sunset heights Bottling Works.

Since Alamo elementary was brough up, it is worth mentioning that it was originally named Sunset heights School. If anyone has the opportunity, and permission, drop by and look at the original cornerstone.

Yes, you found it. After zooming in a lot I was able to find it on the Sanborn map. The building on the map actually says Bottling Works so I think this must have been it.

Houston+1924-1950+vol.+6-8%2C+1925%2C+Sheet+742.pdf

Keep in mind also that some of the people who owned those houses didn't live in them, they rented them out. My Dad and his family rented there on 29th street, and weren't there that long.

Perhaps an aerial photo would lend some clues in regard to the bottling works? How about the city directory?

The census counters went to each house and got information on all the people living in the home. All the kids, boarders, and even servants. I counted at least 2 homes that had servants in the 1930 census. So it's a snapshot. Now if people were not home or available then they may have not been counted. It was amazing to see how many people could live in a 2 bedroom bungalow. It was not uncommon to see 6 to 9 people in a single house.

I would be interested if you have any more stories like the pickle one. I am trying to put together a collection of history for the up coming 100th anniversary of the neighborhood.

Booths or tables and chairs? - Tables and chairs. This is a necessity if my grandmother is with us, she cannot get in and out of booths. If it's just us we still prefer chairs.

Counter service or full service? Full service. We love the Shepherd location, it really works, we really enjoy going there for lunch. We still prefer full service.

Should we close at 10pm or 9pm? 10.

What time should we open on Sunday noon or 11am? 11.

How many high chairs will I need 4, 6, or 8? N/A we have no kids, will leave this one for the people with children.

Will the neighborhood walk or ride their bike? Yes, depending on the weather. We like to bike and walk when it's nice out, but drive when it rains.

How many bikes should the bike rack hold? If we come with one other couple that's 4 right there, so I would think at least 8 bikes.

Patio out front under the awning or in the back with a big grassy play area? If the idea for a grassy play area is setting aside some space for children that's good for us adults without kids because we can dine inside in the quiet while the kids are outside playing in the back. Alternatively you could go the direction of Daily Review Cafe, we enjoy dining in the outside seating on the lawn. Whether you go the direction of Lupe Tortilla off 59 which has that great play area where the kids run around while the adults are inside at the bar, or the direction of additional seating, once people discover the yummy food and business is booming you can add a front patio under the awning and have both. Keep up the good food and people will come!

Coke or pepsi? Coke. None of our dinner friends drink Pepsi products and one of our closest friends is addicted to Diet Coke.

Access to water for dogs outside and free dog bones? Y or N. No dogs, we like dogs but don't want to have them at dinner. We love our cat very much, but no cats either please. No parrots, iguanas, snakes, etc. Our good friend is allergic to dogs and cats. She lives in Timbergrove and we eat in the Heights together very often.

Will the restaurant allow BYOB with a corkage fee? One of the things we like about Collinas, Dry Creek, Vietnam, etc is that we can bring in our own wine.

<br />Thanks, you also answered another long-time question I had regarding the boundary between Sunset Heights & Independence Heights.  Were Blacks allowed to buy in Sunset Heights, or was it a segregated neighborhood with a formal boundary at 30th St? (similar to the manner in which Alabama St divided the 3rd Ward from Washington Terrace)<br />

I think there was something in the deed restrictions. I need to verify that. Looking through the 1920 and 1930 census records, there were no blacks in Sunset Heights.

Thanks for the information! I've always wondered why the neighborhood was initially platted with 3000 SF lots for shotgun houses, but it appears to have been built-out with bungalows on 6000 SF lots?

When Rodgers created Sunset Heights, Independence Heights had already been around for a while. Inpendence Heights started at 30th and had been platted with 3,000 sqft lots. Rodgers was unsure how the neighborhood would develop and platted the neighborhood at 3,000 like Independence. Sunset could have been more like Independence or it could have been more like the Heights. Platting at 3,000, but developing at 6,000 or more was really just Rodgers being a prudent bussinessman. Sunset Heights ending up becoming a heaven for a lot of blue collar workers. These people were railroad workers, auto mechanics, workers for the ice factory and oddly telephone operators. Most of them were from Poland, Germany, or Checkoslovakia or were decedents of people from there. The people buying into the area could afford the double lots, so very few single 3,000 sqft lots were ever sold. The upsell was to buy an additional lot to give you 9,000 sqft. The 3rd lot was usually sold at a discount too. Something like 30% more money yeilded 50% more land. That is why a lot of blocks had houses that sat on the 9,000 sqft lots (not so much anymore).

The bottle is an interesting find. My Dad used to live on 29th street, and told stories about the old pickle company. He described how they went out of business during the depression, and just left big jars full of pickles there in the vacant building. According to him, everyone used to go over there when they needed pickles, and just walk in, and get what they needed. He also stated that they used to play on the freight elevator, which was a hand-drawn elevator with a rope you pulled to go up, or down.

They moved to Sunset Heights in 1927, just after the riot there. He stated that he never remembers a bottling company there, so maybe it was prior to 1927, or could have been destroyed in the riot, and never rebuilt. Also, he stated that the Heights was first, and then Sunset Heights, so it could be that the Sunset Heights Bottling Compnay folded, and a developer bought the building, and converted it to a housing district.

Have you checked the Texas Room for info?

The Texas room at the Metropolitan Research center is still closed for renovations. I am looking forward to using it.

What I have found out so far about Sunset Heights is that most of land was owned by the Houston and Texas Central Railway. Part of the eastern area was owned by the Fredric Olcott family. In 1910, Richard Rodgers created the Sunset Realty and then created the Sunset Heights neighborhood from that land he had bought. He had previously created a small addition to Woodland Heights in 1904 called the Rodgers Addition. It doesn't appear that the land was used for anything prior to the subdivision. The railroad land had been tied up in litigation for years until the courts demanded that the land be sold for the railroad to cover it's mounting debt. A interesting side note was that land for what is know as Alamo School was sold to the county several weeks before neighborhood plat got filed. Maybe it was a condition of the plat.

The other stuff I have found was the Water and Power station located on 716 E 27th. The concrete water tank still exists on the property. The old post office was located at 419 E 27th (since torn down). It was in operation until 1951. A barber shop ran out of it after that. There was also on the trolley path that came up Main, turned West on E 27th, turned North on Columbia, turned East on 31st, then headed back South on Main.

My dad drove me by an old factory building in the Heights that he said bottled pickles when he was a kid. I remember it being somewhere north of Hamilton Jr. High School, and east of Kaplans a bit.

I wonder if that would have been the building behind the Alabama Furniture store? That building has been renovated recently but seems to be in the area you described.

Anyone know where I can look for my home in old photos or abstracts? I recently bought Houston Heights, Images of America by Anne Sloan and saw that there are homes very very close to me that are featured which gives me small hope that mine might be somewhere as well. Also, I am originally from Eureka Springs and they actually have an architectural archive that has a lot of photos or abstracts of the homes when they were first built. Can anyone help me out with this?

Thanks

D

You could try the Houston Metropolitan Research Center http://www2.houstonl...mrc/index.html. I believe it is currently closed, but it is suppose to reopen soon.

I found a glass bottle that says Sunset Heights Bottling Works on one side and Houston Texas on the other side. Does anyone know anything about a bottling works in the Heights/Sunset Heights area?

I am trying to compile some history for the Sunset Heights neighborhood. I am looking for photos of any time period. Of course, the older the better.

Just emailed one of the organizers to ask for additional info on this calculation. Here is the response...

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The new cost of the Constable Patrol Program is $70,277 per year. The brochure needs to change to reflect this cost. We did not want to raise the fee since the East Side had already agreed to $255. The 70,277 figure is after the 20% amount that Harris County has contributed.

If we get more than 300 households then we will lower the cost.

The administrative cost for this program has been kept to a minimum. This is why we are asking for volunteers to help. The major amount of administrative costs have been for the mail out.

Some of the bookkeeping costs are being handled by volunteers keeping track of the names etc....

Chris did speak to the Constable Program Captain to see if we could lower the cost, and we are at the minimum.

The admin costs ae covering items such as the 1900 mail out to everyone on the westside. But we are working hard to keep those cost down. As of noon today we ahve 85 subscribers.

- Lanna vonBaden

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Perhaps another forum topic should be created to discuss the fact that the salary of a deputy increased so dramatically in a recession. But it sounds like the portion of the Constable Program that is overhead is pretty small ($76,500-$70,277= $6223)

Thanks for the clarification. When and if the North area gets started then I will definitely sign up. The $255 amount is really a good deal to me. The problem that some of the people I know have is the idea that a few people end up paying for something that benefits the entire area. So they are less concerned with the amount of money as to the fact that some of their neighbors may not end up paying.

We just received a letter from the Heights association that says if 300 families donate roughly $300 each, we can pay a constable to patrol the area five days a week for eight hours per day.

That makes me nauseous. My math is horrible, but isn't that $90,000 for five days a week, eight hours per day? What happend the other two days, not to mention the other 16 hours? Hopefully this means it would be fulltime, round the clock protection. Also, isn't the constable part of the existing law enforcement team that is supposed to already be protecting us?

What do you guys think - do I write them the check? I want to do my part to keep the Heights safe, and I actually like the law enforcement folks I've met in the neighborhood, even the one who wrote me the ticket was professional enough. But has it really come to this? Can't we hire someone like Chuck Norris to come in and keep us safe? Chuck would would bring the arsonist to his/their knees! A constable? Maybe not so much.....

The $90,000 sounds high, but remember that is just not the officer's salary but other things like the health benefits and cost of the equipment like the car. There could even be a cost for the support personnel (dispatchers, mechanics, etc) in there too. As for the hours, the areas were supposed to be able to come up with a schedule they wanted. One idea was that once the East, West, and North areas all got constables then it would be possible for the 3 constables to have staggered shifts covering the entire area.