Back to the
Roaring 1920s by James Glassman
800 block of Main Street facing north. 1920s. Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. University of Houston Digital Library. Web. March 13, 2020. https://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/p15195coll2/item/171.
H
ouston is a forward-looking city – we always have been. And even though Houston was founded in 1836, the
Houston that we know today was truly launched in the 1920s. The Ship Channel improvements from the previous decades allowed for increased commerce and money rolled into the Bayou City. So many important events, buildings and institutions were born 100 years ago. Keep an eye open for some of them having their centennial celebrations in the next few years.
THE CITY GROWS
In 1926, the City of Houston annexed Harrisburg, River
annexation, the municipality founded west of Kirby
Oaks, Memorial Park and Cottage Grove, enlarging the
chose to remain independent and has been so ever since.
city to 70 square miles. A major reason Houston grew to become the fourth-largest city in the United States is due
In 1905, the Wright Land Company developed an area
to aggressive annexation. In fact, from the 1940s to the
outside segregated Houston and sold lots to African
1960s, Houston doubled its physical size twice.
Americans. The first deeds were recorded in 1908 and the first school opened in 1911. When Independence
Although the residential community saw its first
Heights was incorporated in 1915, the first four hundred
“country homes� in 1920, West University Place
residents elected George Burgess as their mayor and
incorporated in 1924, allowing itself to provide utilities
worked on providing city services for themselves. In
and civic services. At the time, the City of Houston had
1929, Independence Heights was annexed by the City
no plans to annex the community that was so far from
of Houston.
its city limits. Even when Houston eventually proposed
Top: Schlueter, F. J. , Copyright Claimant. Houston, Texas. Houston Texas United States, 1914. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2007661598/ Right: Texas Historical Commission. [Julia Ideson Building, (Circulation desk)], photograph, 1929; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth687516/m1/1/: accessed March 13, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https:// texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.
View of Downtown Houston from Esperson Building. 1920. Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. University of Houston Digital Library. Web. March 13, 2020. https://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/p15195coll2/item/207.
SERVICES
In 1924, Will and Mike Hogg, with help from Henry
to other Texas towns. The rate for parcels was one
Stude, bought two tracts at the former Army training
dollar per pound. In 1926, Congress had passed
base Camp Logan, and sold it to the city at cost. Later
the Air Mail Act, which authorized the postmaster
that year, Houston established Memorial Park. The
general to contract for domestic airmail service with
park would feature an 18-hole golf course, trails for
commercial air carriers and to set airmail rates.
hikers, bridle paths and an amphitheater. Houston had enjoyed a public library donated by Local transit company Houston Electric Company,
Andrew Carnegie since 1904, but the booming city
with voter approval, brought bus service to Houston
eventually outgrew it. In 1922, voters approved a
in 1924. Buses were more efficient than existing
central public library, and in 1926, Houston
jitneys (private, oversized cars) and more popular
Public Library opened Downtown. Houston’s first
than trolleys. Houston would have three bus lines by
professional librarian, Julia Ideson, fought for the
year’s end, and trolleys continued to run until 1940.
new building, which was renamed in her honor in 1955. The 1926 structure added a wing in 2011 and
In 1929, Contract Air Mail Route No. 29 was
houses the Houston Metropolitan Research Center
inaugurated by St. Tammany Gulf Coast Airways,
(a great place to become a Houstorian).
from New Orleans, Louisiana to Houston, and on
ARCHITECTURE
In 1923, the atmospheric $1 million theater
of lush European architectural styles and a
opened on 908 Rusk Avenue in Downtown,
ceiling with twinkling “stars” (like today’s
with 2,500 in attendance, including the
Sarofim Hall at the Hobby Center for the
mayor and “Mr. Houston” Jesse Jones.
Performing Arts). The theater would feature
Houston’s latest landmark featured a mix
live performances and motion pictures until 1971 and was demolished in 1972. The 1913 Rice Hotel was built on the original site of the Republic of Texas’ twostory capitol building. Once the government moved to Austin, the five-story Capitol Hotel was built there. William Marsh Rice bought it in 1886, and it was renamed Rice Hotel following his death. Jesse Jones built the seventeen-story hotel that stands there today as a two-wing building but added to it. In 1927, a third wing and additional floor were completed, making the Rice Hotel the largest hotel south of Chicago. In 1927, businesswoman Mellie Keenan Esperson built an iconic 32-story skyscraper for her late husband, Niels. The Italian Renaissance–infused
Niels
Esperson
Building has been a fixture in the Houston skyline ever since. Museum of Fine Arts–Houston opened its doors to the public in 1924. Seven hundred guests attended, and another one thousand were turned away. Seven years to the day earlier, the site of the future museum was dedicated on land donated by George Hermann, promised months before his death in 1914. Texaco founder Joseph Cullinan helped the Houston Art League secure the land, and Rice Institute’s William Ward Watkin designed the museum entrance to face Hermann Park. Wings were added in 1926, and from 1958 to 1969, the Modernist Brown Pavilion and Cullinan Hall were added to the back,
following the curve of Bissonnet Street and realigning the main entrance to that side. Lumber, real estate and oil millionaire George Hermann died in 1914 without any heirs. In his will, he donated 285 acres for a park, adjacent to Rice Institute, which would become Hermann Park and the site for Hermann Hospital. His dream for a new public hospital came to life when Hermann Hospital opened in 1925 and became the first institution in the future Texas Medical Center. What’s more iconic Houston than the Sam Houston statue at the entrance to Hermann Park? In 1925, the bronze sculpture of General Sam Houston, horseback and set on a granite arch, was unveiled at the Sunken Gardens (now Mecom Fountain site). The gift from the Women’s City Club of Houston had one vocal critic; Sam Houston’s son hated it. Less than one year later, the iconic sculpture by Enrico Cerracchio was relocated to the Hermann Park entrance, where it sits in present day, pointing to the San Jacinto Battlefield.
Calvin Wheat Studio, Copyright Claimant. Official photograph, National Democratic Convention, Houston, Texas. Houston Texas United States, 1928. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2007662471/.
EVENTS
Democratic Party bigwig Jesse Jones was personally
began a decades-long friendship with future president
responsible for bringing the Democratic National
Lyndon Johnson at the multi-day event.
Convention to Houston, and in 1928, with the national spotlight on the Bayou City, the Democratic
A massive flood in 1929 came during the drafting
National Convention convened at the brand-new
of a plan from the newly-formed City Planning
Sam Houston Hall. Twenty-five thousand visiting
Commission,
delegates, politicians and journalists descended on
recommended dredging all bayous to accelerate
Houston that summer. Proving his popularity, Jones
runoff. Criticism from land developers meant that
was even asked to be presidential nominee Al Smith’s
little from the plan was actually realized. Preparation
running mate, but “Mr. Houston” wasn’t interested
for the next massive flood was postponed.
in being a politician. Future mayor Roy Hofheinz
which,
among
other
things,
INSTITUTIONS
In 1927, trustees of the Houston Independent
South Texas School of Law opened as a night
School District Houston Board of Education,
school in 1923, with seven part-time instructors
seeing the need for higher education for
and a class of 34 students. Classes were held in
Houstonians who could neither travel nor
a room in the basement of the YMCA, but by
qualify for local Rice Institute, voted to
1945, enrollment had surpassed the University
establish a junior college. The evening classes
of Texas School of Law.
were held at San Jacinto High School. In 1934, trustees agreed to change the school to include a four-year curriculum and rename the institution the University of Houston.
Top: Haines Photo Co. , Copyright Claimant. Panoram of Houston, Texas. Houston Texas United States, ca. 1910. Photograph. https:// www.loc.gov/item/2007661597/ Right: Howard R. Hughes, Sr (1869–1924), standing outdoors by a trench mining drill, which is underneath a tent-like canopy. Part of the SharpHughes Tool Company’s Second and Girard Streets plant in Houston, Texas (today the site of University of Houston–Downtown) is seen in the background., http://digital.library.unlv.edu/u?/hughes,68
BUSINESS
By the time Howard Hughes Sr. died, he was one
In 1906, Jesse Jones was eager to grow his fortune
of the richest men in the world. He held the patent
beyond lumberyards and sawmills. After buying a
for a revolutionary two-cone rotary drill bit that
half interest of land owned by Houston Chronicle’s
could bust through rock and helped the boom at
founder M.E. Foster, Jones built the Houston
nearby Spindletop. His Hughes Tool Company grew
Chronicle building for the young daily newspaper.
its fortune through licensing the drill bit around
In 1926, Jesse Jones, following years of editorial
the world. Following his father’s death, only child
and political disagreements with Foster, bought the
Howard Hughes Jr. would later successfully petition
other half of the paper. Jones and, later, his Houston
the court to declare him an adult at 19, thus allowing
Endowment, owned the Houston Chronicle until
him to gain control of the entire Hughes estate.
1987, when the Hearst Corporation bought it for
Howard Hughes Sr. is buried in Glenwood Cemetery.
$400 million.
Native Houstonian Gus Wortham established the
Beginning in 1926, and as an offshoot of the oil
John L. Wortham & Son Agency insurance firm with
industry, natural gas companies began supplying
his father early in the 20th century. Following his
domestic and industrial service. In 1928, the new
father’s death, Wortham founded the fire and casualty
Dixie Gulf Gas Company pipeline opened, giving
insurance business American General Insurance
Houston the largest supply of natural gas in the
Company, chartered in 1926. Wortham received the
world, when 85 million cubic feet of gas per day began
backing of Jesse Jones, was president of the Chamber
arriving from Louisiana.
of Commerce and was board chair of the Houston Symphony. Like Jones Hall, the Gus S. Wortham Theater was built with private money and donated to the City of Houston upon completion in 1987.
James Glassman is a fifth-generation Houstonian and works as an architectural project manager in Houston. He has a bachelor of arts in history from Kenyon College and a master of architecture from the University of Houston. In 2006, he founded Houstorian, dedicated to telling the story of Houston. He has been recognized for his advocacy of the Astrodome with quotes in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Atlantic Monthly and the Houston Chronicle. His Houston-inspired graphic designs have been featured in Houstonia Magazine, the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Press and CultureMap. In 2015, The History Press published his first book, The Houstorian Dictionary: An Insider’s Index to Houston, which lists the people, places, things, terms, slang, quotations, events, books, movies and songs that make Houston fun and unique, and in 2019 The Houstorian Calendar: Today in Houston History hit the shelves.