Character of Houston Heights Defined by its Past

The boundaries of the historic Houston Heights extended roughly from Washington Avenue on the south to what is now the North Loop on the north, from Studewood Drive on the east to just past Durham on the west. Today many areas in the vicinity are loosely called the "Heights area."

The history of the Heights has been well documented in a book entitled "The History of Houston Heights," written in 1956 by Sister M. Agatha, a Catholic nun and historian who was a Heights native. Many residents familiar with the history know that the land that became the Heights was purchased by O.M. Carter in 1891. He began to sell lots in the Heights a year later, and business and infrastructure soon followed. The land was 75 feet above sea level and 23 feet above the level of downtown Houston. Thus it was called "the Heights." Heights Boulevard became the center of the Heights, with street car tracks extending along both sides of a tree lined esplanade. The early leaders of the Heights were well educated and wealthy. They built large Victorian style homes on the boulevard which became the upscale and stylish place to live. The Heights became its own municipality in 1896 and was eventually annexed by the city of Houston in 1918.

Heights natives remember it as a place quite different from the one we see today, with new construction, renovation and change on practically every block. They remember a quiet neighborhood of mostly old-fashioned homes with residents of different backgrounds. Some were of German and Slavic heritage who came to the Heights from rural farm towns. There were small neighborhood groceries and drugstores sprinkled throughout the neighborhood, with owners who knew all the customers by name and what they usually bought. Many residents with no other transportation or the ability to drive walked to nearby stores, and to the numerous churches in the Heights. Those who grew up in the Heights remember walking barefoot on the wooden floors of a neighborhood store to buy milk for mother or grandmother. Other types of small businesses were located in neighborhoods, and to make needed extra money residents often divided houses into duplexes, or built garage apartments or cottages. Many used their back yards for chopping wood for stoves, or for keeping chickens. Summer nights were often spent on the porch, listening to grown-ups talk about politics (what was President Eisenhower doing wrong?).

How is the character of a neighborhood best defined? Perhaps it is best defined by the people who live and have lived in the neighborhood. The early residents of the Heights have left a legacy of self reliance and survival. They found that the Heights offered them a convenient location with public transportation, homes easily adaptable to needs, and friendly and caring neighbors. Today the Heights has undergone many changes but the character of the neighborhood is the preservation of its history and the legacy of its early residents.

(Near Northwest Banner, December 4, 2006)