Foreword

Acknowledgements

Illustrations

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Bibliography

Coombs Park or Forest Park
On March 19, 1873, the Texas Constitution was amended to aid railroad construction by grants of land allowing 20 sections to the mile of railroad provided. The International-Great-Northern was one of the roads affected by this encouragement. Opening up Texas by providing transportation facilities was a stimulus to immigration. It was around this time that a young man from Hartford, Kentucky, Eden L. Combs, came to Houston to work as a teamster boss for the I. & G. N. Railroad.

In this work he met J. J. Sweeney, and in 1881 the two men formed a partnership in the Sweeney-Coombs jewelry Company. Later engaged in real estate investments, they acquired the Sweeney-Coombs Opera House. Opened on November 3, 1890 by Graus Opera Company in The Gondoliers, this opera house was Houston's principal theater.

Undoubtedly Coombs in the theater business became acquainted with the entertainment world. Also he became acquainted with Mr. Carter and Mr. Cooley, who around 1890, were organizing the Omaha and South Texas Land Company to assimilate a variety of interests. So why not an amusement park?

had transferred to E. L. Coombs for $1,500.00 all of lots... of block ... which amounted to all that portion of blocks 318, 319 lying north of White Oak Bayou including all intervening streets and alleys south of but not including Fourth Avenue.

There were later entries for more property, for further consideration, to E. L. Coombs and wife, Julia Coombs. In all, the Coombs acquired 64 acres, from 208 south of 2nd to 4th, with the bayou in the middle of the property. On the northeast side of the bayou, Coombs planned his park, which came to be known as Coombs Park or Forest Park.

On the east side of 3rd and Boulevard, he dug a lake, large and deep. Here he had trick high-diving, made more interesting by the presence of alligators in the water.

At the end of Harvard, on the banks of the bayou, he built a natatorium. A view book of Houston, Houston Illustrated, a Few Facts, gives a picture of the building surrounding the pool. Coombs built in the flamboyant style of Coney Island's heyday. The picture shows a pleasure pier, two and a half stories, with dressing rooms for each floor, like galleries around the pool. The impressive building was topped off with one large round tower and two smaller turrets, each waving a flag. The building later burned and a more modest structure was erected.

Sunday afternoon was the park's big day. At three o'clock every Sunday, a Mrs. Roaming (significant name) went up in a balloon, with a monkey for a companion. Sometimes the monkey went up alone. The balloon had a basket and when the lady got ready to come down, she pulled a valve and gradually as the gas escaped, the balloon descended. When the monkey went up alone, the valve was fixed so that the gas was gradually leaking before the ascension.

There was a track in the park for goat racing, and the children brought their pets, harnessed to various little wagons or traps, and took part in the race for prizes. Mr. Coombs also provided a zoo with all kinds of animals for the special delight of the children. Between his home and the bayou, extending back to Yale Street, he had an ostrich farm and children of the Heights loved to go near the fence to see the birds. These, too, were for the park.

On the southeast side of the bayou, where the lots were high above the street, Mr. Coombs built a fine old house of the type of big, white sprawling mansions popular around 1900. As homes filled in the lots nearby, the elevated section became known as "Coombs Terrace."

The Coombs Park represented a big investment and covered a big tract of land. Mr. Coombs died early in 1900 and gradually the property was sold as lots. The abstract for the property on which the natatorium was built shows transfer to P. M. Granberry, the William Marsh Rice Estate, T. J. Harper, and finally in 1907 to Max Vieweger. It was the Vieweger family that ran the Heights natatorium for its longest, most successful period. For many years it was operated by Dr. W. H. Eaton, husband of Olga Vieweger. C. H. Dean was the last owner of the old Heights nat. Mr. Dean tells that he stopped operation in 1927, that he lost the property in the depression and then bought it back again. Today the old nat is filled in. For years it was a drawing card to the Heights before "swimming pools" existed; now it is a vacant lot with no indication of a former state of life filled with fun and laughter.

The Ladies Military Aid Society met the national emergency by making clothes and surgical dressings for the soldiers. On August 12, 1898, a preliminary protocol was signed which practically ended the war, and on September 28 the troops in the Heights broke camp.

Fraternal Hall
The Deed Records of Harris County show that "The Fraternal Hall Association of Houston Heights, Texas" had bought lots 13, 14, and 15 in Block 186 for $850-00 on December 8, 1905.

The Houston Post on June 29, 1906, states that "The Odd Fellows of Houston Heights have taken steps to erect a combination hall and auditorium on a lot recently purchased on Yale Street near the High School Building ... (for) lodge purposes and . . . an auditorium where all kinds of public gatherings or theatrical performances can be held. The Knights of Pythias ... will occupy the lodge room also. .. "

There is a seeming confusion here about who owned the lots and who was building. Evidently the Fraternal Hall Association existed within the Odd Fellows Lodge and possibly within the Knights of Pythias, or was attached to those organizations.

Records show that the Association borrowed $5,000 from W. L. Thompson, a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge; and the building was erected at 1204 Yale Street. However, financial trouble set in, and on August 22, 1911, a deed on record in Harris County Court House states that the Fraternal Hall Association conveyed all title and interests in real estate, improvements, furniture, and fixtures to W. L. Thompson "in full satisfaction of indebtedness of corporation." The deed was executed by C. A. McKinney, president, and R. H. Towles, secretary, of the Fraternal Hall Association of Houston Heights, and agreed to by Houston Heights Lodge No. 225, 1. 0. 0. F., and Houston Heights Knights of Pythias, No. 269.

The stockholders of the Fraternal Hall Association at the time of "sale" of property to W. August 22, 1911, were listed as follows:

G. W. Wilson W. Hawkins R. E. Turrentine W. D. Bradshaw A. J. Myers W. G. Love W. L. Thompson R. H. Towles J. W. Hartley Chas. Horn Ben Reinecke

D.B. Henrichs Geo. A. Hart Paul Roffall C.A. McKinney J.L. Durham D.D. Cooley J.W. Foote D.D> Smeaton H. Henrichsen C.E. Oliver

G.W. Hawkins P.V. Wyatt O.P. Woodburn Jno. A. Milroy D. Barker T.V. West Fred F. Dexter W.T. Pankey M.J. Shlem

Apart from the data connected with its building, Fraternal Hall to the average old-timer recalls many happy memories. The building was ready for occupancy by 1907, and in it all kinds of meetings, civic entertainments, and local shows had cover. Some of the shows were unusually good. Mrs. Temple's Telegram, starring Mrs. Myrtle Cook Lowry, with Mrs. W. G. Love, and Dr. H. K. Hodes in the supporting cast, drew a big house. Mrs. Myrtle Cook Lowry directed most of the plays. Later, Mrs. Lowry moved from the Heights and became associated with radio production in Chicago. In the early days in the Heights, Fred Minster, Harry Van Demark, E. V. Whitty, Hugh Royall and Dr. Hodes gave professional skill to many amateur performances. [Heights citizens are justly proud of Dr. Hodes' son, General Henry (Hank) Hodes, who in 1956 was appointed commanding officer of all American troops in Germany.] Harry Van Demark was making a name for himself as a rising playwright and he was especially active at Fraternal Hall.

At that time, the New York plays regularly toured the country and Houston saw the best of Broadway at the old Sweeney-Coombs Opera House, and then at the same place when it was called the Prince Theater, so that home talent was not easily over-estimated. Of course, Fraternal Hall served many purposes, and not all entertainment was even intended to meet professional standards. That was the age when little girls "took elocution" and even at birthday parties they were asked "to recite." Older girls gave dramatic monologues, sometimes musical monologues. One piece that was rendered so often most audiences knew it by heart was "Speak up, Ike, and Spress Yourself." Terpsichorean art then took the place of tap dancing today.

At Fraternal Hall, the promising young pianist would cross her hands with great grace of movement as she gave "Over the Waves" what was indicated as "variations." One young team of enthusiasts regularly rendered an old favorite called "S T I --- N G Y" which song ended with gestures indicating that stingy "means you." Something like the old song of the same period that everybody was singing, "H a double r i, g a n --- that's me." Of course, "Harrigan" doesn't mean a thing unless you remember that everybody was singing it. But whether the entertainment was good or merely insipid, everybody enjoyed those programs, and the Heights was shocked when Fraternal Hall burned in 1912.

Then for a time the upper floor in Whiteside's Hall was used for entertainments, but that building also burned in 1912. One unusually good play produced at Whiteside's auditorium was David Garrick with E. V. Whitty in the lead.

Heights Playground
There was no free amusement park for children until May 22, 1909, when the Heights Playground was opened at the end of the boulevard on 20th. The property had been offered to All Saints Catholic Church, but the church committee had decided that a more central location was desirable. Mr. Carter then donated the lots for a playground. It was not a large park, but it did provide swings and on certain nights in the summer gave free movies, usually movies too old to show in the theaters. Mabel Norman and Blanche Sweet in clothes that were already long out of style provided laughs for the crowd. And, of course, Charlie Chaplin was also in the playground movies. Movement was particularly funny in those old silent films because walking (in general, not just in comic pictures) was rapid and jerky.

Churches and organizations had socials in the park and the whole community turned out. This playground disappeared when the school building at the end of the Boulevard on 20th took in the park property.

Popular Roads in the Heights
Twentieth Street in front of the playground ran east as a shell road through a stretch of country with almost no houses, only Spencer's Dairy at the bend where the road turned south, and on Shearn Street it ran into Houston Avenue. Everybody who had a horse and buggy came into, Houston that way when they had plenty of time to jog along, or when they wanted a quiet road where the horse would hardly run into one of those automobiles that were making horses shy.

Another favorite for buggy riding was the Yale Street Road. There were a few truck farms out that way and beautiful country, fine for hunting and berry picking, although there were many signs on fences that read POSTED-KEEP OUT.

The third popular road was the old Shepherd Drive. Just before the automobile became common, J. W. Link built a home on Montrose Boulevard that was said to have gold doorknobs. Few of the visitors outside the home could really get close enough to test the story for themselves. But going down Shepherd for several miles with only an odd farmhouse here and there along the route, the Heights family could drive on a Sunday afternoon and finally skirt around the famous Link home to wonder at its splendor at journey's end. The drive in the country was delightful. Today the University of St. Thomas occupies the old Link home and there is no gold in sight.

There was also a nice drive across Washington Avenue and on, a short distance to Vick's Park and Lake. Here, not fenced off, was a property where visitors were allowed to picnic in beautiful rolling country around a good sized lake. The big white house on the bluff was the Vick family's home, and only there did visitors hesitate to intrude. Now the lake is drained and engineers, in the sunken-garden effect thus created, have worked out Houston's most intricate pattern of intersecting traffic lanes. Heights people now pass through Vick's Lake in Waugh Drive's celebrated Clover Leaf.

Horse and Buggy then the Automobile
Before the advent of the automobile, the Heights had a livery stable, and at home many families kept a horse and buggy, and maybe a surrey. The Roffall family lived in the Heights and Mr. Roffall operated one of the largest carriage factories in Houston. Bradshaw Feed Company did a big business selling to citizens who owned either a cow or a horse, or both. Bradshaw's was located on 19th and Railroad, opposite the waterworks.

And then came the automobile! The Suburbanite in this instance heralded the occasion. For September 9, 1905, came this announcement:

Mrs. Geo. Hawkins, president of the ladies' society of the M. E. Church, assisted by Mrs. J. M. Limbocker, will give a tea next Tuesday afternoon from 3 to 6 at the home of Mrs. Hawkins, Twelfth Avenue and Boulevard. A fine program will be given, and a lovely surprise awaits the guests.

And the next week on September 16:

The Hawkins and Limbocker Tea was largely attended and about sixty ladies enjoyed the surprise, an automobile ride.

Then came the parade of automobiles:

Mrs. George Hawkins' beautifully decorated car, trimmed in graceful clusters of the wisteria, intertwined with the glossy green of smilax, with her daughters, Cecile and Hazel dressed in white, made one of the most beautiful features of the parade and deservedly received first prize.

All newspaper entries confirm the fact that G. W. Hawkin represented the new industry in the Heights. He early established an automobile business in Houston and besides had an agency to sell automobile licenses throughout Harris County. The story is often told that Mr. Hawkins himself got the first license number each year until Governor Ferguson decided that he wanted License No. I for the Governor's car. What seems more likely is that during Governor Jim Ferguson's term of office the newly create State Highway Department registered cars under act of the legislature. Opposition to the act came from the local governments which had sought to retain the registration fees. Compromise was effected when the state returned portion of the fees to the counties. This would indicate that Mr. Hawkins had been getting Harris County No. 1 license, which was no longer available, and that the governor got the first plate under the new law.

The "50 Years Ago" column of the Houston Post, on August 26, 1955 had this entry:

Charles Caplen, 906 Tulane, the Preston Avenue bicycle dealer, has purchased an Oldsmobile touring runabout from Hawkins' Auto and Gas Engine Company.

This Mr. Caplen was one of the first residents of the Height to have a telephone. He put his phone out on the front porch so that neighbors could use it while he was at work.

Mrs. Peacock was the first woman in the Heights (an the second in Houston) to drive a car. Her first automobile however, was unsatisfactory; the wheel was too high. So she and Mr. Peacock went to Harrisburg to see the kind that the Milbys had bought. They liked it and decided to get the same make. So their second car was a Warren, very pretty with brass trimmings, mahogany woodwork, acetylene lights and all complete with license number 247. But like the first car, it cranked at the side.

The Bayou
In the early days of the Heights, people were conscious of living "out of town" and children loved the woods. White Oak Bayou circled the Heights on the south and west boundaries and "going to the bayou" was the favorite picnic for neighborhood groups. There were muscadine grapes and plenty of berries in season. In fact, the housewife could get buckets of grapes and berries from peddlers if the children did not go hunting for them.

The woods started a couple of blocks beyond Railroad (now Nicholson) and the tramp to the bayou was an easy walk and offered great fun to the children of the Heights. It also offered temptation to the boys when spring came and swimming holes were free pools. One particularly popular swimming hole was called "Folse's" at the Bayou on 8th Street. Others were known as "Rocky Bottom," "Loggy," and "Willow Bend."

As the vacant lots sold, and the houses built up, streets filled in the old wooded districts and children lost their feeling for picking violets and swinging on muscadine vines.

The Ball Park
On 19th, out past Railroad, on the south side of the street, near the woods, the famous Houston Heights Amusement Park was well fenced in. Stone and Webster had bought out the old street car company and new models of electric street cars brought crowds out to the best ball park around Houston. The only other big ball park then was Brunner, out in what is now called West End. Both parks drew big crowds.