ShipPunk Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 My grandparents bought their house here in timbergrove new in the 60s from the builder. They had a stipulation that upon their death it will never be sold. So here I am. My kids keep asking what this area / land was before the houses. It’s sad how our original houses are being demolished for oversized houses. Does anyone have any photos of the pre developed area ? I told them i assumed it was all farms back in the old days . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 12 hours ago, ShipPunk said: My grandparents bought their house here in timbergrove new in the 60s from the builder. They had a stipulation that upon their death it will never be sold. So here I am. My kids keep asking what this area / land was before the houses. It’s sad how our original houses are being demolished for oversized houses. Does anyone have any photos of the pre developed area ? I told them i assumed it was all farms back in the old days . It all depends on which part of Timbergrove. If the house was built in the 1960's that would be West of TC Jester, which I believe was just vacant University of Texas land. That no sale after death is not enforceable. The older houses get demolished because they don't work well for current lifestyle. We live in a 2BR 1 bath house built in 1950, and it is sometimes a struggle. No room for an office, for one thing, which makes working from home interesting. The houses West of TC Jester and South of 11th flooded, which led to many of them being demolished. Same thing on Wynnwood street. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fortune Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 15 hours ago, ShipPunk said: They had a stipulation that upon their death it will never be sold. How does this work? How is this enforceable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattyt36 Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 3 hours ago, Ross said: It all depends on which part of Timbergrove. If the house was built in the 1960's that would be West of TC Jester, which I believe was just vacant University of Texas land. That's fascinating--why did UT own land in Timbergrove? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 2 hours ago, Fortune said: How does this work? How is this enforceable? It's not enforceable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 2 hours ago, mattyt36 said: That's fascinating--why did UT own land in Timbergrove? UT owned the land before it was Timbergrove, probably given as a gift by an alumnus. Here's a site with a short description of the development of Timbergrove and Merchant's Park https://txarchives.org/hcarch/finding_aids/00098.xml "Brace then built homes in four sections of Oak Forest. He purchased 450 acres of land from the University of Texas and developed Timbergrove Manor (1951) and Merchants Park Shopping Mall (1955)" The online property records don't go back that far, unfortunately. This site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbergrove_Manor,_Houston mentions that the Hogg Foundation gave property to UT, so that may be the origin. More here https://west11thstreetpark.org/history 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3mh Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 19 hours ago, Fortune said: How does this work? How is this enforceable? Probably need to ask a real estate attorney about the rule against perpetuities. Looking at old maps and google earth, it looks like much of Timbergrove was just undeveloped flood plain up until it was cleared to build homes. The neighborhood was developed in conjunction with the White Oak Bayou channelization projection. So, pre-channelization of the bayou, the land was probably too prone to flooding to farm. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRed Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 This is a fascinating question - it does also appear to have been a lot of warehouses and such at some point in the last 50 years. Really is changing a lot - a lot like whats happening on the east end of town. I am super hopeful the Shep/Durham upgrades will start to make it easier in the coming years to cross via foot and bike to Timber Grove and beyond. Lotta great stuff popping up but it always feels like getting from the Heights to Timber Grove is more work than it should be - unsafe and like playing frogger on foot or bike and even in a car parking is a nightmare at many great spots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TacoDog Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 19 hours ago, Ross said: It's not enforceable. But how was it supposed to work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3mh Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 12 minutes ago, TacoDog said: But how was it supposed to work? I would guess that there is a stipulation in the will that requires the family to keep the house and has some penalty for selling (money gets donated to local animal shelter). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCR Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 On 2/27/2023 at 9:57 AM, s3mh said: Looking at old maps and google earth, it looks like much of Timbergrove was just undeveloped flood plain up until it was cleared to build homes. The neighborhood was developed in conjunction with the White Oak Bayou channelization projection. So, pre-channelization of the bayou, the land was probably too prone to flooding to farm. If it was so prone to flooding, they would not have put a small cemetery there. 🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted March 5, 2023 Share Posted March 5, 2023 11 hours ago, JCR said: If it was so prone to flooding, they would not have put a small cemetery there. 🙄 https://www.timbergrove.org/news/local-abandoned-graveyard-offers-residents-a-look-back-at-timbergrove-manor-history 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCR Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 16 hours ago, gnu said: https://www.timbergrove.org/news/local-abandoned-graveyard-offers-residents-a-look-back-at-timbergrove-manor-history Thank you for that link. Some years ago, I could not find anything on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3mh Posted March 6, 2023 Share Posted March 6, 2023 On 3/4/2023 at 8:55 PM, JCR said: If it was so prone to flooding, they would not have put a small cemetery there. 🙄 That lot is over a half mile from the bayou and is about as far west as you can go and still be in Timbergrove. And if you look on google earth, This lot is right about where cleared land transitions to wooded undeveloped land. So, this cemetery shows that people about a century ago knew quite well how close they could get to the bayou without risking flooding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJxvi Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 (edited) https://west11thstreetpark.org/history This has the Cliff's Notes version regarding most of the main portion of the neighborhood in the first couple paragraphs. The western areas were kind of the agricultural land around the northern fringes of a small rural community called Eureka Mills. Edited March 7, 2023 by JJxvi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJxvi Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 (edited) Later sections of the neighborhood, west of TC Jester and north of 11th St have a 1.5 story limit in the deed restrictions which the sections south of 11th and east of TC Jester do not have, so in addition to the number of flooded properties in those locations, you have more teardowns because its economically feasible to tear down and build a huge new house there, but in the rest of the neighborhood, renovation and additions have been more feasible since you can't build a huge multistory home to replace it unless you sneak it in. Edited March 7, 2023 by JJxvi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 Wasnt there an oil-field in the area? Eureka Heights Oil Field? Or was that farther north? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted March 7, 2023 Share Posted March 7, 2023 3 hours ago, Purdueenginerd said: Wasnt there an oil-field in the area? Eureka Heights Oil Field? Or was that farther north? Both. Eureka Heights is to the NE of Timbergrove. You can see the wells in the area below 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 Great photo. Maybe it was Hogg Field located in Timbergrove? (Im speculating) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purdueenginerd Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 (edited) Can definitely see the relics of oil derricks/drills corresponding in the 1944 aerial with your image above. Edited March 8, 2023 by Purdueenginerd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJxvi Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 I always find it interesting that pretty much the oldest noticeable thing that are still around are the electrical right of ways that meet and cross where the substation is now at Cindy and Foxwood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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