Writer and Author
For 79 years—1901 to 1980—Weingarten’s was one of Houston’s popular grocery stores. Weingarten’s advertised “Better Food for Less.” It emphasized self-service and cash-and-carry. The grocery chain’s founder, Joseph Weingarten, was born in 1884 in Galicia, Poland. Joseph’s father, Harris, emigrated…
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James A. (for Addison) Baker is a famous name in Houston. The first James Addison Baker came to Texas in 1852. The 31-year-old widower came to Huntsville from Alabama to establish a law practice. He bought land, built a business,…
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Many cities in Texas, including Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lubbock, and San Antonio, have a council-manager form of city government. In this setup, the city manager is basically the chief executive who implements the decisions of the city council, and…
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When the University of Houston was founded in 1927 as Houston Junior College, the first organized extracurricular activity was the student newspaper. John Bender, a physical education instructor, suggested “The Cougar” for the paper’s name. He thought the cougar symbolized…
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In its day, the Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Houston was known for excellent cuisine. Now that it’s closed permanently, it’s perhaps best remembered for its ghosts. The restaurant was located at 901 Commerce. It was once called the Desel-Boettcher Warehouse….
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The man often called “The Father of the University of Houston,” grew up on his father’s farm in San Antonio. He left school at age 12 to make $3 a day working in a candy store. Later he worked in…
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One of the most striking examples of Houston public art was created by 1,050 children, three artists, an urban designer, and an architectural firm in 1998. The Seven Wonders are seven 70-foot towers located along Buffalo Bayou in Sesquicentennial…
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For more than two decades, Jean Dubuffet’s sculpture, Monument au Fantôme, has sat among Houston’s downtown skyscrapers at 1100 Louisiana. In 2008 it was relocated to 1500 McKinney (Avenue de las Americas) in Discovery Green Park on the eastern edge…
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Elisha Marshall Pease, Texas’s 5th and 13th governor and public servant, was born to Lorrain Thompson and Sarah (Marshall) Pease on January 3, 1812, at Enfield, Connecticut. After attending Westfield Academy in Massachusetts, he clerked in a general store and…
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Houston’s first mayor, James Sanders Holman, was born on February 7, 1804, to Isaac and Polly Anne (Wiggleworth) Holman in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Holman married his cousin, Martha Wilson Holman, on February 23, 1822. Holman left Tennessee and traveled to San…
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