Merchants And Manufacturers Building At 1 Main St.

[Fringe]

Anyone remember South Texas Junior College in the old Merchants And Manufacturers Building (M&M Building)? It was taken over by U of H in the mid 70's. Have great memories of that old place. PE was a required elective and since there were no outdoor areas available our PE was limited to playing ping pong in the basement. It was not air conditioned down there and we would raise the large roll up doors for air circulation. Train tracks ran right alongside the building and we would see the occasional hobo walking by. Can't say I received the best education there but I did become a very proficient ping pong player.

I would like to get more history about the old Merchants and Manufacturers Building. All I could find was this little blurb on U of H's site.

The address would have been 1 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002, or written as One Main Street.

M&M

[Subdude]

The M&M building was intended to be Houston's answer to the Chicago Merchandise Mart - a centralized hub for warehousing and distribution. It was a perfect location, since it had Main Street, bayou, and MK&T train line access. Originally it included boat wharves and a train station. On the negative side, it flooded out during construction and opened in June 1930 right at the beginning of the Great Depression. The owners filed bankruptcy in 1934 and the property was court-administered until 1952. It was acquired by South Texas Junior College in 1969.

[devonhart]

I was there 73-75 during the change to U of H downtown. Actually, liked it there. Also liked being downtown.

[Heights2Bastrop]

It used to be referred to as "Hershey High" (M&M Building) because it was so easy to pass, you didn

[devonhart]

It used to be referred to as "Hershey High" (M&M Building) because it was so easy to pass, you didn't even have to go to class. In fact, there were people who went there who didn't even have a HS diploma.

Ah, that's why it was so popular with "English as a second language" students. I remember a discussion in class with Middle Eastern students that all the unmarried women in their various countries were virgins, but all of the male students claimed not to be virgins. Obvious question I didn't ask, who'd you have sex with? Married women? Each other? Animals?

[JLWM8609]

PE was a required elective and since there were no outdoor areas available our PE was limited to playing ping pong in the basement. It was not air conditioned down there and we would raise the large roll up doors for air circulation. Train tracks ran right alongside the building and we would see the occasional hobo walking by.

Well, a few things have changed since then. Apparently, the building was renovated in the early 80's, when the Main St. viaduct was renovated, so things were modernized, the exterior was repainted, etc... The basement is undergoing some renovation, and contains the campus police department. There's some a/c down there now. The train tracks are still there, and at the same time everyday, you hear the diesel rumble and the classrooms shake on the lower floors on the south side of the building, newbies to UHD get a scared look on their face the first time they experience it.

We have more than the occasional hobo walking by now. There's lots of them now, hanging out around the light rail terminus point, some live under the viaduct or the bit of land between the I-10 onramp and the I-45 onramp to the west of the school begging for money. I tell them "Sorry, I'm a college student, I'm so broke I can't even pay attention!"