Chapter II
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Omaha and South Texas Land Company Liquidates
Sometime in 1895, the Omaha and South Texas Land company liquidated its holdings and divided its assets. About this time, Carter also negotiated the sale of the street car company.
Mr. Cooley, who had been the treasurer and trustee, then devoted himself to his private real estate and his other interests, finally making insurance his chief business. Mr. McKinney, who had been the company's director of the street car and transit end of the Heights venture, after 1895 became associated with the South Texas Commercial and National Bank.
Mr. Carter, after closing the books on the division of properties, bought up shares of all who wished to sell and prepared to operate under the simple name of Houston Heights. But Mr. Carter never had assumed the direction of the real estate development. He was the financial head who interested outside capital investment and who was able from his own resources to lend security to his undertaking. He, therefore, needed a sound real estate man to remain a manager of his properties and thus John Milroy became the only one of the original group who stayed on with Mr. Carter.
It is doubtful if many people who moved to the Heights after 1895 ever heard of the Omaha and South Texas Land Company. They remember only
0. M. Carter, Owner
John A. Milroy, Agent and Manager
A Municipality Emerges
In the early days of the development of the Heights, the Omaha and South Texas Land Company controlled the affairs of its property. It expended more than a half million dollars, as its advertisement says "in cold cash" (and records substantiate the statement) for improvements before a "single lot was offered for sale." The money was spent for clearing and grading the streets, in constructing a steam railroad for the manufacturing industries, for its electric street railway, and for the erection of buildings.
But once lots were sold, the situation changed and the needs of the community became the concern of the new property owners. Moreover, the company itself had led the way to a new development when it dissolved its corporate holdings. A new incorporation then became a necessity. On June 18, 1896, H. D. Brooke and more than 19 other residents filed in the office of the County judge application to have incorporated Houston Heights Municipality. On June 18, 1896 the County Judge ordered an election to be held at McBride's Store on July 1, 1896. At that election 87 votes in favor of and 10 opposed to incorporation were cast. Thus the Heights became incorporated as a "village" under chapter 11, title 18, of the Revised Statutes of Texas and assumed its own municipal government, with mayor, aldermen, assessor, tax collector, and marshal. It levied, collected, and controlled its own taxes, and the minutes of the Heights council meetings, with the record of its deliberations actually make up a history of the Heights.
When by annexation the Heights in 1918 became a part of the City of Houston, these records were turned over to the downtown City Hall. In the new City Hall building they are available, except the ledger for the years 1903-1911. That one could not be found in June, 1955, but as the assistant explained, "It could be here, but mixed up with other old records like it."
The first ledger covers from August 24, 1896 to March 3, 1903. The minutes are written in the fine script of C. A. McKinney, E. W. Leman, J. L. Garwood, John A. Milroy, and J. D. Lyons. Not a historical fact, but a great pleasure to record: no erasure, no error in spelling or composition was found in the lengthy account of each meeting. Would that penmanship today could be directed to those model forms! Mayor W. G. Love presided at the first meeting and administered the oath of office to the "several aldermen elect": John A. Milroy, E. Hanson, F. J. Steger, F. C. Van Liew, and C. A. McKinney. There is no record to indicate the manner of Mayor Love's own election or installation.
At this first meeting two motions were made and carried; for appointment of a committee to see to an engineer's survey of boundaries of the municipality and for the fixing of $3,000 bond for the marshal. In the deed records of Harris County, vol. 97, p. 365, we find "Field notes of boundaries of corporation of Houston Heights, J. 0. Davis, C. E., acknowledged 19 March, 1897." And "Corrected field notes" by the same engineer acknowledged June 4, 1897, can be found in Deed Records of Harris County, vol. 105, pp. 499-500. Here is evidence that the council acted without delay upon its recommendations and decisions.
The election of public officials was held annually and both the minutes for April 19, 1897, and for April 23, 1898, record the reelection of W. G. Love for mayor, with slight variation in the choice of aldermen. G. A. Lund, D. D. Cooley, and J. L. Garwood went into office in 1897, and E. S. Pierson replaced Lund in 1898.
J. L. Garwood had been the first marshal, and when he resigned in 1897, G. W. Wilson succeeded him and remained in office for years.
On April 4, 1899, the returns of the election are given and a complete change of officials is noticed. John A. Milroy became the new mayor, with A. T. Parker, T. V. West, J. M. Limbocker, Charles Schuler, E. Dietrich, and G. A. Lund elected as aldermen. The first ledger of minutes of council meetings closes March 3, 1903, and each April for four years before that date shows Milroy's return to office. The Houston Chronicle fills in for the missing records to show that on the first Tuesday of April, 1907, David Barker was elected to succeed Mr. Milroy, who had served 8 years.
Because of missing records it seemed impossible to state definitely when the annual election gave way to the pattern for a two-year term of office.
And then Mrs. L. R. Smith (Garnet Robinson to old-timers) brought a copy of the Houston Heights Charter, dated 1911, to the Heights Library. In section 16, page 27, the reason for a new or revised Charter is asserted:
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The fact that the municipality of Houston Heights has no adequate charter, but is operating under the general statutes of the State of Texas, and is unable from its present revenues to provide adequate police and fire protection, and its taxing powers, under the general laws, are wholly insufficient for the needs of said city, creates an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several days be suspended and the same is hereby suspended and this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.
Approved March 2, 1911
Became a law March 2, 1911.
And on page 17 is noted the change from an annual election of officers:
- ...On the first Tuesday in April, 1911 ... and on the first Tuesday in April each succeeding two years thereafter, an election shall be held ... at which all the officers ... shall be elected.
The second book of minutes of the council that is available today dates from 1911 to 1914 and then two other books cover December 7, 1914 to April 2, 1917, and from April 10, 1917, to February 26, 1918.
Piecing together all evidence from different sources, the records show the highest office in the Heights municipality to have been held by the following mayors:-
| W. G. Love | 1896 to April, 1899 | 3 Years |
| John A. Milroy | 1899 to April, 1907 | 8 years |
| D. Barker | 1907 to April, 1913 | 6 years |
| R. F. Isbell | 1913 to Aug. 4, 1914 | 1 year, 5 months |
| J. B. Marmion | Sept. 5, 1914 to Feb. 26, 1918 | 3 years, 5 months |
Mr. Isbell's business connections made it necessary for him to move to Taft, Texas, and resign from office as mayor on August 4, 1914. During the absence of Mayor Isbell, Earl Wilson had acted as mayor pro tem. His record during that time entitles him to a place in this history. Mr. Wilson was perhaps the youngest man in the circle of citizens responsible for the local government and his ability was recognized by his associates. When the special election was held on September 5, 1914, J. B. Marmion, the new Mayor, found his office in good order.
In the history of elections in the Heights, the oddest feature of human interest is noticed in April, 1900. From Mayor Milroy on down to the last alderman, each name is credited with 37 votes.
The history of Houston Heights is interesting in the light of comparative evaluation as far as finance is concerned. The study of the American dollar involves a study of history. The written records of the Heights prove that Judge Love as mayor and his first councilmen were anything but mediocre; they were outstanding men in the City of Houston and in the State of Texas. Their deliberations in council meeting, therefore, are not typical of what we find on the agenda in small hamlets that sprang up in many pioneering communities. That fact makes it all the more interesting to note some of the recorded data expressive of an age that counted pennies and scrupulously avoided waste. One man presented a bill and
- the bill . . . for seventy-five cents for ink provided by him for Cooley School was allowed and a warrant drawn in payment of same.
Every expenditure was entered:
Jno. Grant for removing Dd. Hog, 102 Yale ... $0.25
This item has a check mark to indicate payment of the $0.25. As late as August 4, 1914, acting Mayor Earl Wilson wished
- ... to ascertain the opinion of the other members of the council on the question of allowing ... to maintain two extra cows on lots near his home.
The minutes are entered with great precision and exactitude and then the ledger falls into the hands of some person wielding a heavy lead pencil and writing a scrawling hand. At this point, two pages give a table of contents to ordinances, arranged alphabetically. The following is indicative of what seemed necessary legislation:-
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425 Portland Street Ordinance changing Name to Tulane
236 Peddlers to Secure License
244 Privy Clean
312 Striking Matches 315 Spitting on Floor City Hall
235 Train Jumping
And then in comparison to those early questions of finance originating in council meetings, we find in 1911, bonds to the amount of $180,000 "were recently voted by a majority of more than five to one, to macadamize eight miles of cross streets," and "to pave both sides of the Boulevard with brick." (One newspaper article stated a number of years ago that the Boulevard was paved in 1907 and other articles since then have repeated this error.)
One thing is certain, the history of Houston Heights as a municipality is a record of absolute integrity. The government so well ruled its own affairs that it was free of debt and owned its public utilities when it came into the City of Houston. On February 20, 1918, Houston and the Heights voted to incorporate Carter's old suburb into a greater Houston. The last meeting of the Heights Council was held February 26, 1918.
Annexation in 1918
J.B. Marmion was mayor and other officers of the Heights Municipality at that time were: Councilmen M.L.0. Andrews, J.T. Boyle, Charles Hawkins, C.J. Trautwein; James G. Donovan, City Attorney; H.C. Colley, Recorder; L.L. McFee, City Marshal; S.J. Wimberly, Assessor and Collector; H. Montgomery, Fire Chief.
Post Office
The late Mrs. Pearl Hendricks contributed many articles on the history of Houston and its environs to local newspapers, and all her writing was marked by meticulous care in composition and painstaking accuracy in statement of fact. On June 27, 1937, the Houston Chronicle ran a full page account of her story of the Heights Post Office, and on April 3, 1939, the Houston Post gave another story by Mrs. Hendricks of "The Perambulating Post Office of Heights ... History Filled with Pioneer Names." Both newspaper articles have been preserved in the scrapbook at the Heights Library.
Mrs. Hendricks interviewed all the early postmasters except Mr. Wilkins, who had died. However, she did see Mrs. Percy 0. Endt, Mr. Wilkins' daughter, who had assisted her father at the post office. Any historian of the Heights must be grateful to Mrs. Hendricks for her timely notes because she and nearly all those early appointees (with the notable exception of the first, Mrs. McBride) are now dead in 1955, and there was no written record of the history of the post office before Mrs. Hendricks' article. The following outline in this present work is almost wholly dependent upon information supplied by Mrs. Hendricks.
When in 1893, Mr. Carter arranged for Mr. and Mrs. W. C. McBride to operate a store on the southwest corner of Ashland and 19th, he also planned to have mail delivered at that outpost. Mrs. McBride recalls letters being kept in a cigar box on the counter so that folks could look for their own mail. Then came the formal appointment of Mrs. McBride as postmaster of Houston Heights on July 7, 1894. Mrs. McBride served three years and then resigned in 1897.
S. D. Wilkins was appointed postmaster on August 7, 1897. His daughter, Mrs. P.0. Endt, remembered that he served as postmaster in an office in Garwood's grocery and feed store. She also remembered clerks during her father's ten-year term; Miss Katie Pratt, Miss Louise Quinn, and Mrs. Lea McCormick. While Mr. Wilkins served, the post office was moved twice, from Garwood's store back to its original location in the building that the McBride's had vacated, and then to a different store in the same block.
One error crept into the post office history as related by Mrs. Endt to Mrs. Hendricks. The account reads "During the Spanish-American War, old Highland Park, now Woodland Playground, was converted into a training camp. Postmaster Wilkins of Houston Heights got permission to collect all outgoing mail, letters written by the soldier boys and by the officers. His daughter, Mrs. Endt, says: 'That was a big help, too, because the office was still fourth class, paying only in cancellations.'" Mrs. Endt must have referred to Coombs Park, or Forest Park as it was sometimes called, where soldiers of the Fourth Texas Regiment were located at Camp Tom Ball.
After Mr. Wilkins, Mrs. Emma F. Ellis (who was later Mrs. R. C. Harris and in 1938 Mrs. George Mitchell) was appointed postmaster in 1907. She took over office when mail was handled in a room in Ernest Long's store on the north side of West 19th, about midway between Ashland and Carter's park at the waterworks.
Mrs. Ellis resigned in 1910, and H. G. Whiteside was appointed her successor. The new postmaster had built an imposing, two-story frame department store on 18th and Ashland, and here he located the post office. The building burned about 1912 and Mr. Whiteside moved from the Heights.
J. J. Hill became the new postmaster. He, too, had a new two-story store building in which to locate the post office. Here, on the south side of 19th, across the street from Ernest Long's store, Mr. Hill served for a short time. And then T. J. Long was appointed and moved the post office to its early location in the Ernest Long store.
Then, on October 1, 1913, John Dunlop was appointed postmaster, and the old store-keeper and postmaster combination went out of style. Mr. Dunlop moved around the corner to the rear of Fulton's Drug Store building and arranged the post office to face Ashland.
On March 1, 1915, the Heights Post Office was made into a sub-station of the Houston office and Postmaster Dunlop became the first superintendent of the station. (Later Mr. Dunlop was to become the Postmaster of the City of Houston.)
In December, 1917, Mr. Dunlop was transferred to the downtown post office, and on January 1, 1918, R. R. Royall took over the management of the Heights sub-station. Mr. Royall would, like Mr. Dunlop, attain high position in the postal service, but this history of the Heights ends its tracings with annexation in February, 1918.
Jails
On 18th, between Ashland and Railroad, on the south side of the street, the community built the jail. Never very successful, with no booming business back of it, the jail was housed in a two-story, red brick building. [there is question about the building. Some old settlers insist that the jail was a one-story strucutre; others are just as certain that it was a two-story building. All agree on the location] About 1906 it was a forlorn-looking, old empty house where children played in the vacant lots around it and looked through the iron bars into the lock-up room. For a time it was rented, and once there was a millinery shop in the front part of the downstairs floor.
When inquiries were made in 1955 of an old resident as to why the jail was not used, the reason given was: "Once a couple of drunks were thrown in, but the ants got at them and they hollered so much and raised so much sand that nobody ever got jailed there again." Asked what served next, the same informant said that the new fire station on 12th had a "private room for emergencies." Sure enough, at the back of the fire station, running along the Yale Street side, there is a strong room with an iron door and evidence where bars had been attached to the one window. Today there are only firemen's boots there.
One fireman said in 1955 that he remembered when Judge Olive held court in the room upstairs that today serves as a dormitory for the firemen. The guilty then got locked up right there at the station. All very handy. This Judge Olive was really Dr. William Olive, who served as City Recorder and who held court in that capacity.
The law enforcement officer who made the arrests when Judge Olive served was Webb Furlow. And before Mr. Furlow's term of office, G. W. Wilson, Tax Collector, acted as marshal. Mr. Wilson's son Clifton is still a resident of the Heights.
On Friday, October 13, 1913, the Suburbanite tells of court proceedings:
- Judge Olive did a full day's business last Friday in his court. There were three "pig stye" cases brought up before him but the defendants pleaded guilty to the hog pen charge and each paid a fine of $5 and the furbelows to the tune of $11. A man was also brought up for driving on the sidewalk. He wisely did not stand trial and pleaded guilty; his fine was $5, with the usual ornaments, all amounting to $16.
The following week the Suburbanite told of court with a novel headline for its article:
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WHERE WERE YOUR VEGETABLES WASHED? One day last week Joe Ross was brought before Recorder Wm. Olive on the charge of selling and offering for sale insanitary fruit and vegetables ... Fined $5 and ornaments amounting to $16. This sum he left with judge Olive, but he felt bad about it.
In an old box found some years ago by a newspaper woman hunting a story at the fire station, the Heights Library came into possession of a report made by Mayor Marmion for the year 1915. Marmion lists for the Police Department: "$50 for subsistence of prisoners," and adds another $20 for "Stationery." Odd ratio, but proof that not too many prisoners had to be fed.
The possible reason for combining the new fire station and the jail might have been the fact that the old jail on 18th was converted into a fire station. The converted building then did double service, as a pound for all lost animals, dogs, horses, mules, or whatever got away, and besides housed H.F.D., No. 13.
Fire Department
Fire Fighters of Houston, by Chas. Green, 1915, traces the origin of the Heights Fire Department:
- Volunteer fire service was instituted September 1, 1908 with a two-tank chemical engine. The company at once bought a lot and constructed a building on Yale Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. Dr. Gunn was president; H. M. Richter, secretary; C. J. Eisenhour, treasurer; Horace Olive, chief, who served two years of the volunteer regime. Dr. William Olive was the last president.
The volunteer fire department had no funds nor did it receive substantial recognition, so that after some time it sold the "chemical engine" to the Lufkin Township. The Heights Library now owns a picture of this first fire equipment, given by Horace Olive in 1955. The donor was a small boy riding with the fireman at the time the picture was taken. His uncle, the first fire chief, is driving the two horses, and on the wagon were representatives of the volunteer fire department.
A tax-supported fire department was set up in 1910, on 13th and Boulevard, behind the Durham home. The station opened out into what might be called the alley between the Boulevard and Yale, on the south side of 13th. Jay L. Durham was the first paid fire chief, and the firemen were: Lee Nixon, Lee Butler, Lloyd Glover, and a Mr. Haxthausen.
Mrs. Durham in 1955 recalls that at all hours of the day or night, people felt that it was their neighborly right to call her home to find out where the fire was.
Fraternal Hall had burned in 1912, and the Heights badly needed a meeting place or auditorium. It was proposed, therefore, to build a combination city hall and fire station on 12th and Yale on the site of the old community center. J. B. Marmion was mayor in 1914 when the cornerstone of the new imposing building was laid. That stone today is the only marker of the old Houston Heights municipality.
On March 1, 1915, Hugh Montgomery was appointed fire chief for the Heights. His new crew included: M. T. Robinson, captain; Ed. Kohlman, lieutenant; G. K. Parker, 0. M. Phillips, Roy Crush, S. Lowe, and E. Hueboetter, pipemen and laddermen.
The smaller station on 18th, in the old jail building, grew as an extension of the central fire station on 12th and Yale.