Houston In The 1890s

[FilioScotia]

You know, I shouldn't have said it looked new because I knew Frostown was about as old as Houston (you may know more than I do if you know it predates Houston)... it just looked new to me on the map because there weren't street names. But, having looked more, there are several other places on the map where street names are missing. Maybe the real estate agent (also alderman for a few years) who made the map wasn't as concerned about marking areas of town where he was unlikely to be making sales?

Frost Town doesn't predate Houston. My understanding of its history is that it came into existence at about the same time the rest of the city was founded and developed in the 1830s and 1840s, and it was what people in those times called "the negro quarter".

For many decades of the 19th and the 20th centuries, blacks were forced to live in ghettos, completely separated from the white parts of town.

There was another "negro quarter" just west of downtown along San Felipe (now West Dallas). It was where a number of freed slaves lived after the Civil War, which is why it's still known as Freedmen's Town.

[Heights2Bastrop]

Frost Town doesn't predate Houston.

Actually, it does predate Houston. At least according to This Article

[tmariar]

Here's some info re the beginnings of Frostown - looks to me like it was settled just before Houston:

Handbook of Texas Online - While named for the Frost family, who arrived in the 1830's, it was settled in 1822 by non-Germans (as far as I can tell by the names), and had 20 inhabitants by 1826. "Between the late 1820s and the 1840s, Germans began settling in the area, and the settlement was called simultaneously Germantown and Frostown."

Louis F. Aulbach, "Before there was Houston, there was Frostown": "Having abandoned their attempts to purchase the burned town site of Harrisburg, the Allen's moved to a small community that had developed on high ground in a horseshoe curve of Buffalo Bayou about 1 mile below the junction of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou. From this community that was called Germantown because of the many Germans living there, the Allen brothers conceived the plan for a town named in honor the great Texian general Sam Houston and they negotiated [in August 1836] the purchase of the land south of Buffalo Bayou around the junction of White Oak Bayou from Mrs. Elizabeth Parrott for $5,000."

Frosttownhistoricsite.org - The Frost family bought 15 acres from the Allen brothers in 1837 and divided it into lots, and had sold 66 of 96 total by April 1839. Many were sold to German families.

FilioScotia - I'm familiar with the history of Freedmen's Town, but hadn't ever heard that there was a concentration of freed slaves in Frostown. Is there somewhere I can read more about that? My impression was that it was almost exclusively German in the 1800's.

[Heights2Bastrop]

The name

[arisegundo]

Check out that land labeled Meinecke, Gibbs, and Mason. Those plots correspond to the area west of Montrose where the streets go off the north-south grid, correct? I'm guessing those families owned that land well before the rest of "far southwest" Houston was plotted out.

[fortbendtomontrose]

Check out that land labeled Meinecke, Gibbs, and Mason. Those plots correspond to the area west of Montrose where the streets go off the north-south grid, correct? I'm guessing those families owned that land well before the rest of "far southwest" Houston was plotted out.

Yep, that area includes what is present-day Cherryhurst Subdivision.

[NenaE]

Once again, Thanks tmariar for the link & heads up. Found the portable house factory listing interesting, great detailed map.

Read somewhere that Germans kept very good historical records. Many German names on that particular map.

[FilioScotia]

Actually, it does predate Houston. At least according to This Article

I stand corrected, and I thank you for that. I had always thought Frostown came into existence when that Frost family moved here in the late 1830s and put their name on the land they bought. I wasn't aware that people were already living there when the Frosts got there.

[rottenswami]

I stand corrected, and I thank you for that. I had always thought Frostown came into existence when that Frost family moved here in the late 1830s and put their name on the land they bought. I wasn't aware that people were already living there when the Frosts got there.

Frost Town came from Frost...people were around there near by that location from 1822 and that is true. Frost Town came in with the Frost settlement of the family and Hodge was allready there accross what became Gable Street. We think the Frost came in and made a verbal arrangement with Allen's and then fought with others at San Jacinto...after the battle...Frost and Moody made joining developments.

Frost Town was first purchased by anglos and then sold off to mostly German's...after significant time..a mix of culture moved in...yes blacks figure into this also...and the Italian...then a heavy volume of Mexican's, new Americans came to move into the Frost/Moody area to include the old Schrimpf's Field..at one period known as the Barrio De AlaCran.

Many pictures of Schrimp's Alley show blacks on the street and on the stoops..a picture of Frost Town showing the viaduct in the background had a number of blacks in the image.

Anglo Settlers, German's, Blacks and Mexican's along with a few Italian families made a big cultural impression. Blacks were with Frost in the early settlement as slaves then as residents.

The lives of regular people and how they cope with Houston should be something to research.

I bet all of them would have something to teach us if we could travel in time and sit with them on the dirt streets of Frost Town.

[bees-knees]

Hi from a first-time poster, long-time lurker,

Just wanted to say this forum is amazing. I came here looking for info on an amusement park that was at Westpark and the Southwest Fwy and have been lurking ever since

Being such a Houston history buff and a bit of data junkie, I recently stumbled across HCAD's public data site where you can download their data files in bulk. Wow!

I've always been interested in old houses in the Houston area. I even remember driving around when I was a kid and being interested in who lived near Westheimer and Hwy 6 in that white old 2-story house. (Yes, I was a strange kid

Anyway, I've posted (as an Excel file) a little query I made re: houses built before 1900. Of over 900,000 A1 (single, family residential) properties only about 200 were built before 1900!

Keep up the good work!

bees-knees

[jm1fd]

Hi from a first-time poster, long-time lurker,

Just wanted to say this forum is amazing. I came here looking for info on an amusement park that was at Westpark and the Southwest Fwy and have been lurking ever since

Being such a Houston history buff and a bit of data junkie, I recently stumbled across HCAD's public data site where you can download their data files in bulk. Wow!

I've always been interested in old houses in the Houston area. I even remember driving around when I was a kid and being interested in who lived near Westheimer and Hwy 6 in that white old 2-story house. (Yes, I was a strange kid

Anyway, I've posted (as an Excel file) a little query I made re: houses built before 1900. Of over 900,000 A1 (single, family residential) properties only about 200 were built before 1900!

Keep up the good work!

bees-knees

HCAD's year built info is notoriously inaccurate for houses built before ~1950 or so. I mean come on....does 200 sound like a reasonable answer? No.

[sevfiv]

I don't think it is unreasonable - this is Houston after all. I also agree that HCAD is often off on years built, but I've noticed it can often be in the right decade at least

ps - Is the Excel file here somewhere?

[bees-knees]

Ack! Guess I can't upload Excel files.

Here's a link to anyone who would like to download the file:

http://www.hallmarkoffice.com/~amanda/haif/old_houses.xls

[sevfiv]

Thanks! As suspected the majority are the Sixth Ward homes.

And welcome to the (posting side) of the forum!

[NenaE]

welcome bees-knees...thanks for the link. I always find the reference to the blk book info. and neighborhood names under legal description very helpful. I have found the HCAD and HAR neighborhood info. to be inaccurate at times. The actual block book maps & sanborn maps are helpful, sometimes. After a while, you get used to using all sources, together with HAIFers info. to find answers. I have learned from researching to always hunt for two reputable sources for verification or accuracy of statements. Not always easy to do. The internet is full of inaccurate info. as well as correct data. In regards to the no. 200, I ask myself "what were the boundaries of Houston - proper" at that time? I would guess they were small. There were many outlying areas, close to Houston by our standards, but considered independent towns before annexation swallowed them up. Harrisburg is one example. It is a good question. One for the Texas Room at the Julia Ideson Library - Downtown.

[EMME]

My house is listed in HCAD as having been built in 1920, but I was told it was probably actually built in 1910.

[theoriginalkj]

Hi from a first-time poster, long-time lurker,

Just wanted to say this forum is amazing. I came here looking for info on an amusement park that was at Westpark and the Southwest Fwy and have been lurking ever since

Being such a Houston history buff and a bit of data junkie, I recently stumbled across HCAD's public data site where you can download their data files in bulk. Wow!

I've always been interested in old houses in the Houston area. I even remember driving around when I was a kid and being interested in who lived near Westheimer and Hwy 6 in that white old 2-story house. (Yes, I was a strange kid

Anyway, I've posted (as an Excel file) a little query I made re: houses built before 1900. Of over 900,000 A1 (single, family residential) properties only about 200 were built before 1900!

Keep up the good work!

bees-knees

I'd like to hear more about this old house at Westheimer and Highway 6.. I live near there and I don't know anything of it.. Please share what you know and what you've found out. Any photos?

theoriginalkj

[sixthwardguy]

Thanks! As suspected the majority are the Sixth Ward homes.

And welcome to the (posting side) of the forum!

What a great spreadsheet! My house is listed in there (built in 1883), and I can vouch for the homes in my Sixth Ward neighborhood. Few years ago, several of us did a similar survey of pre-1900 houses in Harris County and came up with a list similar to yours. I would would like to point out that there are a few houses on your list that are nowhere as old (the first two were built in the 1970's, I believe), and I know they were errors on HCAD's behalf.

Actually I do know of at least 15 pre-1900 houses that aren't listed on your Excel spreadsheet. There are three antebellum houses in the Second Ward and two 1880's era houses on Budde Cemetery Road up north near Westfield. There are a few pre-1900 houses in the Klein/Louetta area that were relocated by the school district(s), which I imagine threw off the HCAD assessors. In addition there are quite a few houses that were moved from the Sixth Ward to the northern suburbs in the 1970's when Knapp Chevrolet expanded its storage lot. Furthermore, there is a late 1830's house overlooking the bay at Red Bluff (Oleander Rd) and HCAD has the date wrong at 1854.

[kylejack]

Wow, the Komodo's house is on the list??

[august948]

I'd like to hear more about this old house at Westheimer and Highway 6.. I live near there and I don't know anything of it.. Please share what you know and what you've found out. Any photos?

theoriginalkj

That house must either be long gone or well hidden. Westheimer @ 6 is commercial on all four corners.

[bees-knees]

That house must either be long gone or well hidden. Westheimer @ 6 is commercial on all four corners.

Ah, my memory is getting fuzzy. The house was on Briarforest near Hwy 6. I think. :-)

[plumber2]

That house must either be long gone or well hidden. Westheimer @ 6 is commercial on all four corners.

That corner was called "Miles Junction" when I was young. Named for the family of two brothers that lived at the intersection and up along Addicks Road. I also heard the family heirs made a boat load of money selling their land in the mid 70's.

[Heightsite]

Just thought I'd add my .02 for anyone researching their old house...our Heights house was built around 1894 but HCAD has 1920 on the records. I wasn't surprised to see that my address was not on the list Bees Knees posted. Many homes in our area are reported being built in 1920 for some unknown reason. My neighbor's dad was born in our home, so I knew it was built before 1900. Since I knew my neighbor's maiden name, I was able to look up residency by old phone books through the microfiche files at the downtown library. Unfortunately my quest ended at 1894 because they couldn't find previous year phone books on microfiche.

[SLTX]

That figure of 200 homes is probably WAY off. Appraisal districts generally get their "year built" dates from the date of the last building permit filed on the property. So if you have a house built in 1890 that was remodeled or added on to in 1930, the year built will show as 1930 in their records. Also, sometimes they will lose records for large numbers of properties, and just assign a random date, 1950 etc., across the board when they recreate the files. I've found the appraisal district records to be pretty unreliable (for older homes) everywhere I've lived.

[plumber2]

That figure of 200 homes is probably WAY off. Appraisal districts generally get their "year built" dates from the date of the last building permit filed on the property. So if you have a house built in 1890 that was remodeled or added on to in 1930, the year built will show as 1930 in their records. Also, sometimes they will lose records for large numbers of properties, and just assign a random date, 1950 etc., across the board when they recreate the files. I've found the appraisal district records to be pretty unreliable (for older homes) everywhere I've lived.

I agree. My grandparents owned a house in the 1200 block of Ashland that they purchased in 1925. It was close to 40 years old then. The house was remodeled (tastefully) after my father and his siblings sold it around 1990, but it is clearly obvious to anyone looking from the street, that it was built before 1900.

[templehouston]

That figure of 200 homes is probably WAY off. Appraisal districts generally get their "year built" dates from the date of the last building permit filed on the property. So if you have a house built in 1890 that was remodeled or added on to in 1930, the year built will show as 1930 in their records. Also, sometimes they will lose records for large numbers of properties, and just assign a random date, 1950 etc., across the board when they recreate the files. I've found the appraisal district records to be pretty unreliable (for older homes) everywhere I've lived.

The list includes a number of houses that aren't even in Houston, so the actual number on the list is closer to 170 than 200. Remember that Houston had fewer than 50,000 people in 1900 and the city's physical limits were considerably closer to Downtown. You should probably sort by zipcode to get a better idea of which houses are actually in what was Houston in 1900. (Or in Houston Heights.) The list doesn't even include the Kirby Mansion, located at 2000 Smith Street (77002). That house was built in 1884, remodeled in 1895 and again in 1925. I don't know if the 2000 Smith Street location is its original location. A number of the older houses were moved from their original locations (in what is now Downtown) to more "suburban" locations (e.g., the Waldo Mansion on Westmoreland).

[NenaE]

http://digital.lib.uh.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p15195coll1&CISOPTR=282&REC=12

Perhaps this is the Water Works spoken of in tmariar's post #1.

It's from University of Houston Special Collections On-line digital archives ...

The Magnolia City, Part 12. See Pg. 4 (1904) year

[torimask]

Apologies if this has already been posted somewhere, but doing a search I didn't seem to come up with a discussion of the photos in this particular book. 

 

Houston Illustrated: A Few Facts about the South's Most Prosperous City was published in 1893 and is available for download here. 

 

 

Pouring over the photos from the book, I couldn't help but share a few.

 

 

 

[torimask]

struggling with size limits . . .

[torimask]

Capt. T.D. Cobb's Residence