Meadowbrook Arches

[NenaE]

I sure never saw any similarity with River Oaks. When I was a kid it was just a lower middle class working neighborhood. By the early '60s, the neighborhood had gotten pretty rough & Dogpatch was borderline slum area (in my opinion).

Oak Meadows (other side of tracks & OGR) was several steps up from Meadowbrook, while Glenbrook Valley & Meadowcreek Village were where the "rich folks" lived. Seems amazing that Glenbrook Valley is now "historical", since I remember when much of the neighborhood was "under construction".

I think maybe the Glenbrook Country Club promoted that idea.

Your perspective is interesting, I never thought Oak Meadows was considered nicer that Meadowbrook. I grew up in Oak Meadows, years - 1960's.

They felt like they were closer to the chemical plants, all the same tract homes, maybe they were desirable because they were newer construction.

The ones in Meadowbrook ( two-stories on Howard Dr. & all homes on north side of neighborhood) fascinated me, they were all so different.

I, too, grew up thinking the rich kids lived in Glenbrook & Meadowcreek.

I love the aerial shot I posted recently, above, due it's green space.

As for Glenbrook, was glad to see any SE Houston neighborhood architecture get some recognition.

[NenaE]

These photographs were taken of the military housing in the "Sam Houston Gardens" area (SE side) of Meadowbrook subdivision. My grandfather was in the Army, in Hiroshima, after the attack. I'm guessing that these pics were taken in the mid - to late 1940's. My mom & her brother are pictured, playing in the snow.

[ernie5823]

I grew up in Meadowbrook, 1945 to 1963, and my mother lived there until 1975. Your pictures look like similar construction to houses in "Dogpatch", but building orientation to the street looks all wrong, based on what I remember. What street would that have been? Only Elrod or Garland are long enough. Is it possible that some or all of these houses were torn down & something else built in their place?

[NenaE]

I'm still working on the orientation. Bear with me. For now, I'm guessing that the long street is Garland. I've driven down Garland St. in recent years, and know that at least some of the houses remain, all w/ longer lengths of temp. bldg. residences facing the road, on both sides (aerial maps confirm this). I agree, very disorienting. Barrack-buildings (in the old photos) seem to be facing all directions, unlike maps. It's a mystery. I could be wrong, but I believe that the long road in the photo is Garland St., due to it's length and the low elevation of the land, and my belief that it is very close to Berry Creek. The trees in the photos are large. Previous experience with aerial maps tell me that trees were almost always near water. The elevation to the south of Lantana St. slopes considerably, due to the creek. I noticed this on my visual inspection. I'll have to look for an address in my mom's box, where I found these photos. Don't think she will remember. But I do have photos of her at Bonner Elementary. I'll have to note the years. Yes, I agree...temporary bldgs, on blocks, easily moved. The empty space has always intrigued me, such a large area for a children's playground. Can't see them just ignoring all that space, when enlisted men's housing was in short supply.

One detail I've noticed on the Sanborn maps is that the shorter road (Lantana) had a combination of single (square homes) and longer duplexes (rectangle) ones. This still doesn't account for the jumbling of orientations, one behind another. Confusing...but I like a challenge. There is also a very wide ditch west of Lantana behind houses that sat on culdesacs (believe officers quarters).

[ernie5823]

I looked at the 1944 aerial that's on Google Earth & it is same as current, so pictures must have been before then. My memory (& Google) indicate that all but one or two units on both Elrod & Garland were duplexes with long side parallel to street.

I always heard that, at one time, "Dogpatch" was military housing for Ellington Field. By the time I was running around in Meadowbrook (early '50s) there was nothing military about it - it was mostly all run down, low cost rental units. As time went by, a few people purchased duplex units, fixed them up & changed them to single family units to live in. I don't know much about the area after the early '60s.

[NenaE]

Guess what Ernie5823...I was wrong about the location of the photos, post #122 Tough to have to admit so early in the new year... Had lesson, don't assume, get real proof.

I assumed the barrack-looking homes were the ones in Sam Houston Gardens, but they were (per my mom) actually located in Denver Harbor (two neighborhoods that merged - Denver & Harbor). I do think they are very similar in construction, though.

My mom was living in Forest Oaks when she attended Bonner Elementary School. There was no Rucker Elementary.

I'll move the pics when I figure out exactly where (address) they were. Aerial maps don't help. Mom mentions Kress St. Hahlo St. and Elliott Elementary. It looks like a huge place, puzzled as to why they don't show up clearly, in the 1944 or 1953 (?) aerial maps.

Does anyone know where exactly they were?

[ernie5823]

The "barrack-looking homes" might well be the same as the ones across the street, just oriented with long side at a 90 degree angle to the street. The Army typically did not mix single enlisted housing (barracks) with married enlisted or officer housing.

When did your mom go to Bonner? I was a "mid termer", there from January '51 to January '57.

[NenaE]

My mom was at Bonner from 1951-1953. Then she attended Deady Jr. High. I thought she went to Rucker Elementary, as well, but she didn't.

Only my uncles (her younger siblings) went to Rucker Elem. It was a long ride for her to Bonner for elementary school. My mom lived in Forest Oaks. There was no Howard Dr., only the older road.

[MovedAway]

The house at the corner of Glenview and Arizona right across the street from the course that was Spanish style with the large patio area was owned for many years by and still may be owned by the Olson family. I graduated from high school at Milby with one of the brothers and his father Charles Olson was a PE coach at Jackson Jr. High School where I went in the 7th through 9th grade. The older brother Robert Olson was the pro at the Glenbrook Golf Course for several years. Behind the pool across the ditch is where my mother in law still lives.

If you want to see something really interesting do a search on MSN Live maps of the area and go to the end of Neal towards the bayou. Switch your view to birds eye and take a look at the dome house that sits there. Its made of all concrete and is two stories. In the middle of the house is a huge pipe organ that the owner, a doctor likes to play. The house is quite interesting.

Glenbrook course is where I learned to play golf and where my Milby golf team practiced in high school.

Enjoying this old thread, here is all about the dome pipe organ house:

http://aeolianmanorfoundation.org/

http://www.chron.com...gan-3738317.php

I remember riding bikes through the woods behind the Glenbrook Pool and walking through the golf course then taking trails to come out at Charlton park to get to St. Christophers. There was a foot bridge in the woods that we called 'the cement bridge' that had no railings. It was like a sidewalk over the bayou. I was scared to death of falling in the bayou walking across that bridge, and seeing Alligator Gar swimming in the bayou below just made it more scary. That was probably somewhere near where the dome house is now. I think the cement bridge was torn down when the bayou was channelized in the mid 90's.

[dmil]

Re: Meadowbrook. I come from an old East End family. My late grandfather started Miller's Laundry at the corner of Laporte Road and Frio Street in 1927. At that time the family lived in Laporte and before that Deepwater. Before settling in Deepwater, my grandfather's family were living in Hillsboro, Texas. In the 1890's they moved by covered wagon to Lynchburg, Texas and then Deepwater. After Laporte, my grandparents and their family lived on Mulford, St.(near Lawndale and Telephone). Later to Roseneath St. in Riverside Terrace. During these times my Dad attended Jackson and Deady Jr. High and Milby. When he and my mother got married they bought their first house in Garden Villas. Then WW II came along and they sold that house. Mom stayed with her folks and my dad's while he was flying in the Army Air Corps. When he came back they bought the Model Home for the expanded Meadowbrook in 1945. The address is 8222 Howard and now contains Look's Upholstery shop. We moved away in 1962 when we sold the housed. I have many memories of the neighborhood. When my sister went to Bonner, it was in the old stucco building that still stands today. I went to the newer building starting with Kindergarten. Because of so many War Babies and my birth date, I was always placed in Mid-term classes. Someone mentioned in an earlier post that there were probably only 30 or 40 kids in the neighborhood in the 40's and 50's. That was not the case. There had to be several hundred. We used shacks behind the old stucco building at Bonner in addition to the new brick building. Ms. Bailey was the principal at the time. As others have stated there were some older 20's and 30's vintage homes scattered around the neighborhood. The golf pro at the Glen Brook Golf Course when I lived there was Nat Johnson. My best friend, Jimmy Oliveros, and I used to hang out in the Clubhouse snack bar and buy Cokes and Dentler Potato Chips after school. Later when we were a little older we would "shag" golf balls on the Driving Range. I don't remember the Archways at the entrances to the neighborhood but have seen the old photos of the ones by the RR tracks near Old Galveston Road. Elliott Cundiff's family lived in the first house on the South side of Howard near the tracks. He went on later to own Captain Elliott's Party Boats out of Freeport. His son runs that operation now,and I believe Elliott is more involved with his Crew Boat operation for the Offshore Rigs and Platforms. The grocery store at the corner of Howard and Winkler was named Smith's when we lived there. Later it was Davis'. Accross the street on Howard was the Texaco Station that was originally run by Howard Eslingbaum's dad. Later it was run by Mr. Whitt. The late VW and Porsche Car Dealer, Norman Scott used to live in Dogpatch in Meadowbrook. He had a small gas station and garage on Old Galveston Road. He worked on the cars in the back and she ran the gas pumps in the front. Josephine Abercrombie whose father started Cameron Iron Works helped get him started in the car business after he started maintaining her imported cars. He became the first Volkswagen dealer in the Houston area and later added Porsche cars to the mix. He became a business associate of Max Hoffman of New York(the first U.S. importer of VW and Porsche) and eventually received a commission for every VW and Porsche brought thru the Port of Houston. They left Meadowbrook for the Memorial area and then to Valley Lodge near Fulshear.
What a success story. Sadly, both he and his wife, and their son, Butch, have all passed away. His last dealership location was on the SW Freeway. He had switched to selling Mercedes Benz before passing away. Ferrari of Houston now occupies that location.

[Specwriter]

Thanks for the history, dmil. It was especially interesting to learn about Norman Scott. I knew his former son-in-law who was associated for a time with the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Sugar Land.

 

I remember Dentler's potato chips from my childhood as well. I wonder what ever became of that company. Was it bought out by a larger one - Frito-Lay perhaps?

[msteele6]

Funny that Dentler's potato chips would be mentioned in two consecutive posts, albeit not so strange as one might think, they were a pretty big part of my life in the fifties too.

 

I can still remember that green bag I looked for each day in my lunch sack.

 

It would have amazed me to see the new potato chips that are made today, the consistency not only in quality but in quantity, I can remember opening bags of Dentler's and finding one huge chip and a few fragments. Talk about ruining one's lunch. I also rememer finding some pretty burnt chips on occasion. Even with all that, those Dentler chips were probably my favorite food of the fifties.

 

There was a Dentler's restaraunt south of the Medical Center on Fannin or Main until maybe fifteen or twenty (?) years ago, I've always wondered if they were related to the chip makers.

[Specwriter]

I don't eat snacks like potato chips that often these days but it does seem I find fewer "anomalies" in the bags than in years past. You know; one single chip with some crumbs like msteele describes, burnt chips, chips shaped like the head of Abe Lincoln or Mother Teresa, and like that.

 

I remember when Pringles first hit the grocery stores. Some people thought the concept was fabulous. I admit they do travel better than potato chips in a bag but I never liked them quite as well as the "traditional" kind.

 

Many years ago I had a client who invited me to lunch at the Houston Polo Club. Since we were going to visit the job site afterward, and didn't want to wear suits (jackets and ties were required in the dining room), we dressed in, what else?, polo shirts and chinos and ate on the patio. That turned out to be a good thing because exclusive to the menu for patio dining was "home-made" potato chips. They were cut slightly thicker than Lays and fried right there in the kitchen perhaps in peanut oil. It was all I could do not to embarrass myself in front of my client by inhaling the entire basket of chips.

[NenaE]

Attn: Meadowbrook people ~ FYI - There is an open group on Facebook called "Meadowbrook Neighborhood Houston Texas 77017" that includes resident's memories of the area, photos, including one b/w shot of the east side arch, near OGR and an inter-urban station platform.

Note: you need to send a friend request to view the photos.