Writer and Author
A postcard of the Lamar Hotel (Creative Commons photo attribution: phThe Lamar Hotel’s Suite 8F has been call the “unofficial capital of Texas.” The two-bedroom, three-bath with a kitchenette, a formal dining room, living room suite was leased by George…
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John Henry Kirby was called by some the “father of industrial Texas.” He was born on a farm near Peach Tree Village in Tyler County on November 16, 1860. His mother taught him to read and write, but he had…
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The Allen brothers, John and Augustus, Houston’s founders, donated land to the city for a city hall to be located in Market Square. This building was destroyed twice by fire (first in the 1870s and then again in1901), but was…
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Oilman and owner of the Warwick Hotel, John W. Mecom Sr., and his wife Mary, gave the city of Houston the Mecom Fountain as a gift in 1964. It is located at the center of the roundabout where Main and…
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With his partner, Ross Sterling, Walter W. Fondren, Sr. founded the Humble Oil Company with an $75,000 investment in 1911. Fondren had been an oilfield roughneck, a rotary driller, and a Spindletop independent operator. Fondren was also a drilling equipment…
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When I was I a young girl, my dad came to Houston for telephone company meetings. He always brought me doll clothes or a toy from Foley’s. Dad entertained us with stories of dinners at Sonny Look’s Sir-Loin Inn. He…
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Harrisburg is part of the East End of Houston. It is bordered by the Houston Ship Channel, south of where Brays Bayou and Buffalo Bayou meet, railroad tracks, and La Porte Road (Texas 225). It is bisected by Loop 610….
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In 1840, the Houston City Council, led by Mayor Charles Bigelow, authorized the creation of an official city seal. Dr. Francis Moore, Jr., a former state representative and former Houston mayor, enlisted a die-cutter from New York to produce the…
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Controversy surrounds one of southeast Houston’s main thoroughfares. State Representative Garnet Coleman has recently launched a movement to rename Dowling St. which was named after a Confederate soldier, Major Richard William “Dick” Dowling. In 1892, Houston city officials decided to…
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In its efforts to beautify the area, the Upper Kirby District commissioned artist James Surls to create a new public sculpture. The result was a 35-foot sculpture called “Tree and Three Flowers.” It is planted on an esplanade near 2727…
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