Standard history of Houston, Texas : from a study of the original sources

Foreword

The Story of Houston has not proved an easy one to write. A city is in many respects a conglomeration of units rather than an aggregate of unities. The units are of character so varying that it is hard to reduce them to a common denominator. Municipal consciousness is vague and much that happens in the development of a city seems to be fortuitous rather than teleological. Yet Houston has in many respects grown to formula and plan and has often responded heartily to conscious effort made at improvement of conditions. The foundations of the past have been used and effort has been often cumulative in results. Undeniably there is a municipal spirit, an esprit du corps of the citizens that argues well for the future of the town.

The plan followed in writing this history has been to outline the beginnings of things, especially in the days of the Republic, in a manner that in so far as possible follows the order in which the events occurred. After Texas entered the Union the growth of the city is incidentally shown in tracing the growth of the several institutions the aggregate of whose history is the history of the city. The last chapter of the book hinges in a manner directly on to the last chapter on the days of the Republic and outlines the various periods in the municipal life, gives pen pictures of the city at intervals of years, and recapitulates briefly the latest era of greatest achievement.

The volume is true history in that an appeal has been made directly to the sources of history. These have been three; newspapers, there have been newspapers in Houston from the earliest times and it began with a newspaper advertisement; the observations of eye-witnesses as they were recounted in books, especially those of travel and adventure, as to conditions in Houston ; and the recollections of the citizens themselves. A

10 Ilistory of Houston, Texas

number of manuscript letters of Sam Houston and others were also used.

Every extant number of the files of the Telegraph, the Morning Star, the Houston Post and the Houston Chronicle was carefully searched for data, an expert spending four months in going over the newspaper files alone. Matter sufficient for the writing of five volumes the size of this one was obtained and the question of the selection of data assumed importance. Many facts and incidents are given as they are recalled in the memories of old citizens who had personal knowledge of the facts or who participated in the events.

A number of the chapters were written by Dr. S. 0. Young, whose family belongs to the earliest settlers and who often writes from personal recollections of events occurring within the last half century. Dr. Young was at one time the editor of the Houston Post, was later the managing editor of the Galveston News and has a wide acquaintance with both local and Texas history and is famed as a raconteur.

A number of chapters, including all those of the period of the Republic and the chapter on the Wm. M. Rice Institute, were written entirely by the editor.

Such statistics as are given without reference to their source are those current in the newspapers of their respective dates or such as are given by those in position to possess true information.

This work may fairly lay claim to the following negative merits :

There is not one line of its text that is advertising. Such mention as is made of firms, persons or corporations is absolutely gratuitous and is made because the editor believed that the per-cn, firm or corporation deserved such mention in fairly telling the story of Houston.

There is no conscious or deliberate padding of facts and figures or exaggeration of statement. The editor feels great pride in Houston, but he has made no attempt to show the city in a rosy glow.

There has been a careful avoidance of the valley of dry

Foreword 11

bones of milnicipal politics. Dead issues have been left in their moribund condition fully wrapped in their shrouds and vestments. Only when such important matters as the beginning or ending of the carpet bag government or the change from the old ward system of politics to the commission form of government were to be noted have the issues of municipal campaigns been noticed. ]\Iuch more has there been an avoidance of state and national politics.

In writing this history special prominence has been given to the Rice Institute because this institution seems certain to play a tremendous part in the city's future history. The sketch of William M. Rice is the only one ever written and in preparing it the men who had known him in his lifetime and his business activities were consulted for information in their possession. It is believed to be a faithful portrayal of the man who takes rank as Houston's greatest benefactor.

Growth in the future will be so rapid that unless some measures are taken to preserve the city's early story it might easily be lost.

Such a volume as the present one, despite the care and trouble necessary to prepare it, necessarily appeals to a circle of readers found within the list of the citizens of Houston itself, together with a few outside students of economic or municipal conditions. It is believed, however, that this book will be of interest and value to all lovers of Houston and the editor chiefly deplores that he has found it impossible to even name all the worthy men and women who have contributed to the growth and prosperity of the city, and will be the first to admit that the services of many here unnamed are worthy to take rank along with the highest and best of those capitulated.

The editor cordially acknowledges the aid and assistance rendered by newspaper writers, by musicians, by architects and by others who have given counsel or advice on matters relating to their professions or callings.

The work is submitted as a record of the achievements of a city that is just three quarters of a century old. The record is carried to a date that varies between February 28, 1911 and

November 1, 1911, as the chapters went to press at varying dates. It is the wish of the editor that it may prove to be worthy of the friendly consideration of those who love Houston and believe in her future.

This edition of the Standard History of Houston was printed for subscribers only. The edition was limited to thisubscription list and the type has been distributed.

The Publishers.

Protrait Illustrations

Rice, Wm. M. _ : Frontispiece

Rice, J. S Facing 313

Jones, Jesse H '' 336

Carter, W. T " 369

Jones, Fred. A " 403

Chapter I

HOUSTON, a I\Ioniiment to Real Estate Promoters' Art. First Built on Paper and Advertised all over America. Prohibitive Prices of Land at Harrisburg Caused Choice of Houston's Site. Foresight of A. C. and J. K. Allen. The First Steamer up the Bayou. City Mapped and Plotted. Rivalry with Harrisburg. Founding of Harrisburg. Geological Formation of Harris County. Early Social Conditions. Fights and Murders. Civil Officers, Laws and Justice. Building Court House and Jail. First Court Trials, First Wedding, First Divorce. City's Mayors under the Republic. Much Litigation and Many Land Frauds.

CHAPTER II Early Day Amusements

Hunting, Fishing and Poker. The Jockey Club and Horse Racing. Notable Dances, the San Jacinto Anniversary Ball and Description of Sam Houston and Other Participants. A Festival INIeal at Houston 's First Hotel. City 's First Theatres and their Performances.

CHAPTER III Houston and the Red Men

Sam Houston and the Cherokees. An Indian Dance. Letters from Chiefs John Jolly and Bowles. Houston's Indian Talk. Fate of Cherokees and Comanches.

CHAPTER IV Capital Days and Annexation

Houston Chosen as Capital City of New Nation. Erection of Capitol Building. First Newspaper. British Representative, present at Sam Houston's Inaugural Address. Second Congress IMeets in Houston — Its Activities. Visit of Admiral Baudin of France. Mirabeau B. Lamar and His Policies as President. England's Refusal to Recognize Independence. Slaves in Houston. Removal of Capital to Austin. Causes of Annexation. The Vote in Harris County.

CHAPTER V Early Religious Organizations

Houston's Pioneer Churches. IMethodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and Catholics Early Founded Congregations.

CHAPTER VI Early Growth and the Bayou

City of Houston's Early Progress and Poverty. Arrival of Schooner "Rolla." Financial Panic and Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1839. First Book Published in City. Building of Wharves and Organization of Chamber of Commerce. Early Descriptions of the Buffalo River and its Steamboat Life. British Consul Ikin's Description of Houston. Civic Prosperity. Houston Enters Union as Commercial Emporium and Business Capital of the State.

Chapter VII

Early City Limits. First Market House. "Reconstruction" Administration. First Bridge Across Buffalo Bayou. The

Contents 17

First Fire Company. Houston Hook and Ladder Company. The Fire Department of Today. Early Police Officers. Some Old Police Notes. The Police Department Today. City Water Works. Houston Gas Company. Contending with a Big Debt. What Mayor D. C. Smith Accomplished. Mayor Rice and the Commission Form of Government. What the Commission Has Done for Houston.

CHAPTER VIII The Bench and Bar

High Character of Early Lawyers,. First District Court. Early Legal Documents. Great Criminal Lawyers. Ex-Governor Henderson 's Butcher Knife. Members of Early Bar. Criminal and District Court Judges. The County Court and Its Judges. Judge Hamblen's Reminiscences. Harris County Bar Association. Houston as a Source of Legal Business.

CHAPTER IX Medical History

Pioneer Physicians and Their Labors. First Houston Medical Association. Organization of the State Medical Association. Railroad Surgeons Association. Harris County Medical Association. Houston's IModern Hospitals. Story of Early Epidemics. The Doctors and the Newspapers.

CHAPTER X Church History

Founding of the Evangelical Churches in Houston. Organization of the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians. German Lutheran Churches, Disciples and Christian Scientists. The Roman Catholic Institutions in

Houston. Congregation Beth Israel and Hebrew Synagogues. The Houston Y. M. C. A.

CHAPTER XI Education and Free Schools

Houston's Earliest Schools were Private Enterprises. Lack of Proper School Facilities. The Houston Academy. Congressional Appropriations for Public Schools. Free Schools Flourished only after Civil War. Arguments Against the System. Houston First City to Take Control of Her Schools. City School Superintendents. Opening of Public Schools in October, 1877. Comparative Growth from 1877 to 1909. Scientific Features in City's Schools. Superintendent Horn's Summary of Decade from 1901 to 1911. Private School Enterprises.

CHAPTER XII The Rice Institute

Houston's Inheritance Through a Tragedy. The Storv of a Famous Crime. A Princely Gift. A Biography of William M. Rice. The Initial Donation. A Continuating Benevolence. The Monument to the Childless Man. William M. Rice as Philanthropist and Business Man. Dr. Edgar Odell Lovett elected President of the Institute. Laying the Corner Stone. The City's Dominant Institution.

CHAPTER XIII Houston Newspapers

Story of First Newspaper in Texas and its Removal to Houston. The Telegraph and Register. The Morning Star. Flood of Newspaper Enterprises Following Civil War. Special Interest and Trade Periodicals in Houston. The Houston Tele-

Contents 19

gram. The Houston Post Organized and Suspended. Tlic New Post. The Houston Herald. The Chronicle and Its Makers. Some Famous Newspaper Men. Some Early and Late Authors and Writers. Organization of Texas State Press Association.

CHAPTER XIV Transportation and Communication

Early Transportation Difficulties. An Early IMonopoly Proposed. The First Railroad. Other Early Roads. The G. H. & H. Road. Beo-inning of Texas and New Orleans Line. Railroads During "War and Reconstruction Days. Systems Center in Houston. The Plank Road Company. The Ox- Wagon Trade. Paul Bremond's Enterprise. Growing Need for Roads. Houston as Terminus for Seventeen Roads. Houston's Railroad Trackage, Trains and Headquarters. Sunset Central System. Katy and Sap Terminals. Santa Fe and Frisco Lines. Bayou Navigation. The Wharfage Fight. Charles ^Morgan and the Ship Channel. The Government and the Channel. Deepening the Channel. Bayou Traffic. Houston Terminal Company. First Street Car Company. Extending Street Railway.^. Operation Under Stone-Webster Syndicate. Trackage and Pay Roll. Houston Galveston Interurban. Earliest Telegraph Service. Beginnings of Telephone Service. Present Telegraph Service in Houston. Southwestern Telegraph and Telephone Company. Automatic Telephone Company. Wireless Telegraphy.

CHAPTER XV Societies and Clubs

Free Masonry in Texas. Holland Lodffe and Texas Grand Lodge Organized. First Lodge of Odd Fellows. Knights of Pythias and Elks. The H-n-trn Turn ^>rein. Tb^ ^Vlks- Fests. Societies of War Veterans. Terry's Texas Rangers. Second Texas Infantry and Waul's Legion. Hood's Texas Brigade. The Bayou City Guards. Dick Dowling Camp U.

C. V. and Post IMcLennan No. 9, G. A. R. Houston Militia Companies. The Light Guard. Troop A. First Texas Cavalry. Jeff I\liller RiHes. The Annual No-Tsu-Oh Carnival. Z. Z. and Thalian Clubs. Country Club. Houston Club. Charitable Societies. Organized Charities, Faith Home, Wesley House, Florence Crittenden Home, Star of Hope Mission. Houston Settlement Association.

Chapter XVI

First Literary Society. Organization of Houston Lyceum. Early Efforts to Establish a Library. The Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Library. The Ladies Reading Club. Ladies Shakespeare Club. The Two other Shakespeare Clubs. Current Literature Club. Houston Pen Women's Association. Houston Branch of Dickens Fellowship. Lady Wash- ' ington Chapter. Daughters of the American Revolution. San Jacinto Chapter No. 2, Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Robert E. Lee Chapter 186, United Daughters of the Confederacy. Oran ]\L Roberts Chapter 440, U. D. C.

Chapter XVII

Organized Labor is Prosperous in Houston. Houston Labor Council's Full Report Showing Numbers and Conditions in all the Organized Crafts. Good Wages are Paid and Sweating System is not in Vogue.

CHAPTER XVIII Board of Trade and Banks

Organization of Board of Trade and Cotton Exchange. The Cotton Exchange Building. Officers of Exchange. Cotton

Contents 21

as King. Cotton Compresses and Warehouses. The Houston Business League. The Chamber of Commerce. Houston's Early Banks. Growth Shown by Bank Clearings. Houston's Modern Banks. City's Big Trust Companies. The Houston Clearing House.

Chapter XIX

Primitive Beginnings. Natural Advantages Offered. The First Mills. Advent of CoUon Compress. Coming of Iron Foundries. Revival of Manufacturing Following the Civil War. First Ice Plants. Packing Plants. Conditions from 1880 to 1890. Car Wheel Shops. Electric Lights. Cotton Seed Products. Textile Mills. Furniture and Other Woodworking Plants. Manufacturing in 1905. Coffee Roasting- Launch Building. Manufacturing Statistics. Fuel and Water. Home Products Banquet.

CHAPTER XX Wholesale Trade and Big Business

Pioneer Conditions of Trade. Steamboat Element in Houston's Business Prosperity. Natural Advantages Built up Great Industries. Water Competition Gives Advantageous Railroad Tariffs. Houston's Trade Territorv. How Annual Wholesale Business of $90,000,000 is pro rated. City's 376 Incorporated Companies. Growth of Produce Business. Importation of Fruits. Sugar Jobbing Trade. Packing House Business. Changes in IMethods of Marketing Cotton. How Houston was Made a Cotton Buyers' INIarket. Houston; the Great Selling IMarket for Lumber. Results of Lumber Panic Prices of 1907, in Concentrated Selling Agencies in Houston. IManufacturing Capacity of Big Lumber Firms. Movement ot Curtail IManufacture. Facts and Figures on Lumber Industry. Turpentine Trade. The J. R. IMorris Plan for Rice Culture. Houston's Rice ^Tills. Rice Production and Food Value. Houston's Retail Trade and Wage Earners. Capital Invested in Retail Trade.

CHAPTER XXI Music and Art

Houston 's Early Development as Musical Center Due to Cultured German Citizens. High Capacity Demanded by Thursday Morning Club. City's Record on Symphony Concerts. The Treble Clef Club. The Womans Choral Club. The Houston Quartette Society. Federation of English Singing Societies of Texas. The Houston Saengerbund. The Houston Music Festival Association. Symphony Orchestras and Grand Operas. The Japanese INIaid. Bands and Orchestras. Co-operative Work. Musical Critics. The Future in Music. But Few Local Artists. Hugo Schoppman. Work of Thusetan Donnellen and Edgar Mitchell. Boris Gordon's Famous Portrait. The Art League.

CHAPTER XXII Houston's Public Buildings

City's Early Court-Houses and Jails. The New County Court House. Present County and City Jails. A Peripatetic Post Office. The New Federal Building. The Viaduct. The City Market House. The New Auditorium. The City Fire Stations.

Chapter XXIII

Tents and Log Huts Were First Buildings. Primitive American Architecture. The First Brick Houses. The First Three- Story House. The First Four-Story Hotel. The Latin Influence. The First Six-Story Office Building. Effect of Introducing the New Building Materials. Restrictions Placed by Climate on Architecture. First Eleven-Story Building. South Texas National Bank Building. The Carter Building. First National Bank Building. The Union National Bank Building. The Chronicle Building. South-

Contents 23

western Telephone Building. New Union Station. Southern Pacific Office Building. The Court House and the Federal Building. Apartment Houses, The Bender Hotel. The New Rice Hotel. Architecture of the Churches. Y, M, C. A. Building. Suburban and Country Homes. The Wm. M. Rice Institute. Houston Residences. Building Permits.

CHAPTER XXIV Insurance

Houston Gets Lowest Rate of Fire Insurance Premium. Fire Fighting Apparatus. Early Fire Insurance. Planters Fire Insurance Company. Purchase of Bogus Bonds Destroyed Houston Fire and ]\rarine Insurance Company. Guarantee Life Insurance Company. Remarkable Prosperity of the Great Southern Company,

CHAPTER XXV Theatres

Santa Anna Broke up First Theatre Project. The Thompson and Buckley Theatres. The Gray Opera House. Early Amateur Dramatic Clubs. Academy of Music First Local Home of Vaudeville. The Beautiful New Majestic Theatre. The Prince Theatre. The Old IMajestic. The New Cozy. Moving Picture Shows and Stock Companies.

CHAPTER XXVI Parks and Cemeteries

Purchase and Development of Sam Houston Park. Highland Pnrk. Clevelnnd Pfirk. Eb'^fiboih Baldwin Park. City's need of Plaza Parks. Ruined Condition of City's Earliest Cemeteries. Episcnppl Church and Tlollnnd Lodge Cemetery. Glenwood and Catholic Cemeteries. List of other Cemeteries.

Sylvan Beauties of Burying Ground. Land Tenure of Cemetery Lots.

o

CHAPTER XXVIl

The Old Indian Trading Post. The Old City Hotel and Hutchins House. Site of Capitol and Land Office Buildings. Houston's Mansion. Where the First Store Stood. Two Historic Bridges. Sites of Early Railroad Construction. The Old City Wharf. Reminiscences on Destruction of Houston's First Hotel.

CHAPTER XXVIIl Houston's Growth and Progress

The Several Periods of Houston's History. The Plan Followed in Writing the City's Story. A Chapter of Recapitulation. Characteristics of the Pioneer Builders. Trade Revival Following Annexation. The Days of Ox-Wagon Traffic. Benefits from the First Railroad. . The Destructive Early Fires and their Results. A Pen Picture of the City in 1857. Houston During the Civil War. Blockade Running and Trade Conditions. Houston as Military Headquarters. Feverish Gaiety of the War Period. A Dearth of Food and Clothes. Confederate Money and Shin Plasters. Rapid Business Revival When War Closed. Texas on Gold and Silver Basis. City Looted Under Carpet Bag Rule. A Pen Picture of Houston in 1879. A Period of Lethargy and Stagnation. The Years of Growth and Expansion. Rapid Increase in Property Values. City's Population Doubles Each Decade. The Great Skyscraper Era. Synopsis of City's Relation to Big Business Taken from City Directory of 1911. What Houston has Accomplished in the 75 Years of its Life. The Promise of the Future.

Chapter I

HOUSTON, a :\Ionument to Real Estate Promoters' Art. First Built on Papei" and Advertised all over America. Prohibitive Prices of Land at llarrisburg Caused Choice of Houston's Site. Foresight of A. C. and J. K. Allen. The First Steamer up the Bayou. City Mapped and Plotted. Rivalry with Harrisburg. Pounding of Harrisburg. Geological Formation of Harris County. Early Social Conditions. Fights and Murders. Civil Officers, Laws and Justice. Building Court House and Jail. First Court Trials, First Wedding, First Divorce. City's ^Mayors under the Republic. ^Much Litigation and Many Land Prauds.

Houston is a splendid monument to the success of the real estate promoter's art. Other cities have prospered Topsy wise. They just grew. A lucky place at a cross roads, a river bend or a mountain pass where they might catch the drift from the tides of travel and by the simple process of accretion or the fortuitous concourse of human atoms a city came into being. Not so Houston. Its site was selected by promoters, it was mapped and planned ere ever a house was built, its advantages were touted in the national press and it has performed the singular feat of growing largely according to the plans and specifications originally laid out for its development and has surpassed the most "whopping" predictions as to its growtli and prosperity.

All the stage wits and travelling vaudeville artists use Harrisburg as the target for their country village jokes and yet curiously enough it was the prohibitive price of land in Harrisburg that caused Houston to be chosen and built. The promoters recognized tlie obvious fact that Harrisburg is a better place for a city than Houston and tried to buy there but the owners of the proposed townsite were greedy and hence a site farther up the river was chosen.

By a deed of the date of August 26, 1836, and for a recited consideration of $5,000, two New York speculators, the brothers A. C. and J. K. Allen, purchased of Mrs. T. F. L. Parrott the south half of the lower of the two leagues of land granted to John Austin, near the head of tide water on Buffalo Bayou. It was immediately put on the market as a townsite. The first formal annoucement is an advertisement published in the "Columbia Telegraph" of the date of August 30, 1836. It reads :

"THE TOWN OF HOUSTON,

"Situated at the head of navigation on the west bank of Buffalo river is now for the first time brought to public notice, because, until now, the properties were not ready to offer to the public, with the advantages of capital and improvements.

"The town of Houston is located at a point on the river which must ever command the trade of the largest and richest portion of Texas. By reference to the map it will be seen that the trade of San Jacinto, Spring Creek, New Kentucky, and the Brazos, above and below Fort Bend, must necessarily come to this place, and will at this time warrant the employment of at least $1,000,000 of capital, and when the rich lands of this country shall be settled, a trade wall flow to it, making it, beyond all doubt, the great interior commercial emporium of Texas.

"The town of Houston is distant 15 miles from the Brazos river, 30 miles a little north of east from the San Felipe, 60 miles from Washington, 40 miles from Lake Creek, 30 miles southwest from New Kentucky and 15 miles by water and 8 or 10 by land above Harrisburg.

"Tide water runs to this place and the lowest depth of water is about 6 feet. Vessels from New Orleans to New York can sail without obstacle to this place, and steamboats of the largest class can run down to Galveston Island in 8 or 10 hours in all seasons of the year.

"It is but a few hours sail down the bay, where one maymake excursions of pleasure and enjoy the luxuries of fish, fowl, oysters and sea bathing.

"Galveston Harbor, being the only one in which vessels drawing a large draft of water can navigate, must necessarily render the island the great nsfkal and commercial depot of the country.

' ' The town of Houston must be the place where arms, ammunitions and provisions for the government will be stored, because, situated in the very heart of the country, it combines security and means of easy distribution, and a national armory will no doubt very soon be at this point.

"There is no place in Texas more healthy, having an abundance of excellent spring w^ater. ;.nd eii.joyi.ig the sea breeze in all its freshness.

"No place in Texas possesses so many advantages for building, having fine ash, cedar and oak in inexhaustible quantities, also the tall and beautiful magnolia grows in abundance. In the vicinity are fine quarries of stone.

"Nature appears to have designated this place for the future seat of government. It is handsome and beautifully elevated, salubrious and well w^atered and now in the very heart or center of population, and will be so for a j-'L9"th of linie to come.

"It combines two important advantages — a communication with the coast and foreign countries and with the different portions of the Republic. As the count vy sl.all iniprove, railroads will become in use and will be extende»l from tnis ]>oint to the Brazos and up the same, and also irom this up to the headwateis of San Jacinto, embracing that rich country, and in a few years the whole trade of the upper Brazos will make its way into Galveston Bay through this channel.

"Preparations are now making to erect a water saw mill and a large public house for accommodation wall soon be opened. Steamboats now run in this river and will in a short time commence running regularly to the island.

"The proprietors offer the lots for sale on moderate terms to those who desire to improve them, and invite the public to examine for themselves.

Signed A. C. ALLEN, for

A. C. & J. K. Allen.

August 30, 1836, 6 m.

"The Commercial Bulletin of New Orleans, Mobile Advertiser, The Globe at "Washington, Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, New York Herald and Louisville Public Advertiser are requested to make 3 insertions of this advertisement and forward their bills to this office for payment."

How familiar it all sounds. Houston boosters ever since then have been consciously or unconsciously plagiarizing that model and brilliantly worded advertisement of the unborn city.

Land in Texas was inexhaustible and cheap, and it is startling only to think of the sheer nerve of the Allen Brothers in buying a large segment of a virgin wilderness on the banks of a brush grown bayou and deliberately starting out to make a great city there and to make it the capital of a new nation and then to advertise it all over a foreign country, for the United States was then a foreign country. Not only did the Allen Brothers start out to work this miracle but they actually accomplished it. Within a year's time this city of paper and tents was the capital of Texas and was entertaining distinguished men from many parts of the world.

Like most promoters, the Aliens strained the facts a bit, but the facts could stand the strain. Communication with the coast and foreign countries was not of the best. It took four days to traverse the distance from Harrisburg to Houston by boat and only a bridle path traversed the jungle that intervened between the two points by land.

When the new city was first announced, Dr. Pleasant W. Rose of a neighboring town with a party visited the site of the city. They found "one dug out canoe, a bottle gourd of whiskey, a surveyors chain and compass and a grove inhabited by four men camping in tents."

Low hanging trees and snags in the bayou made progress slow by water. Francis R. Lubbock, one of the earliest and most prominent citizens, who was later Governor of Texas, "discovered Houston," in January, 1837. The little steamer on which he came up the bayou required three days to make the trip from Harrisburg, a distance of 12 miles by water. He says : ' ' The slow time was in consequence of the obstructions we were obliged to remove as we progressed. We had to rig what were called Spanish windlasses on the shore, to heave the logs and snags out of our way, the passengers all working faithfully. All hands on board would get out on the shore, and cutting down a tree would make a windlass by boring holes in it and placing it upon a support and throwing a ])ight of rope around it, secure one end to a tree in the rear, and the other to the snags or fallen trees in the water. Then by means of the capstan bars we would turn the improvised capstan on land and draw from the track of the steamer the obstructions. ' '

The saddest part of it was that even then the passengers came very near not finding the city. A party of them took the yawl to try and find the landing but missed it and passed on until they stuck in the brush in White Oak Bayou and then backed down until they found wagon wheels and footprints in the mud bank at the waters edge and then saw the stakes driven in the ground that indicated that Houston was there.

This steamer was the "Laura" and was the first to ever reach the wharfless landing.

The Allen Brothers had the germ of faith. It could not move mountains and hence the feature of beautiful elevation in the advertisement was a trifle difficult to find, but it could and did build cities.

The original plan of the city and the map of it contemplated only 62 blocks, all on the south side of Buffalo Bayou. Gail Borden, the man who subsequentl}^ discovered or invented condensed milk, and T. H. Borden made the survey and map in 1836. The streets were given the names they now hold except that Austin Street was then Homer Street and LaBranch Street was then Milton Street. Homer Street had its name changed within a short time in honor of Stephen F. Austin and ]\Iilton Street in honor of Alcee LaBranch Charge d' Affairs from the United States and the first minister to announce the recognition of Texas among the nations of the world. Epic poets of Greece and England were thus forced to give place to American heroes and statesmen.

Another map, made by Girard, of the Texas Army, is now in the possession of John S. Stewart of Houston.

On the original map, block 31, the present site of the court house, was set aside and marked court house, and block 34, the present market square, was marked Congress Square.

John Allen, who selected the site of Houston immediately following the Battle of San Jacinto, called the street now traversed by the Houston and Texas Central Road, Railroad Street, saying, "This is the street which the great Texas railroad will traverse. His foresight was correct and his prophecy came true, but he died before the first locomotive blew its whistle over the right of way. His death occurred in 1838.

On April 7, 1837, the townsite was enlarged and a new map was drawn, extending one tier of blocks beyond Rusk Street on the south, one tier beyond Crawford Street on the east and one tier beyond Clay Street on the west. The square west of the Rice Hotel square on ]\Iain Street was originally designated as Capitol Square but when the Capitol building was erected in 1837 it occupied the site now occupied by the Rice Hotel and soon to be occupied by the new 18-story Rice Hotel.