1890
James Stephen Hogg elected governor of Texas
Henry Scherffius became mayor
Lawyer John Henry Kirby moved to Houston from Tyler County and bought a big Victorian frame house at Smith and Gray. Kirby remodeled the house and turned it into the brick and stone mansion that still stands on the site. Kirby was a Democrat and some of the strategy for the 1928 Democratic National Convention was worked out in meetings in this house. He won some cases for forest owners and then went into the timber business himself, on a big scale
The Census gave Texas a population of more than two million. Seven counties had more people than Harris County. Houston's population was 27,557, three times that of 1870. Galveston had 29,084
Nebraska banker O. M. Carter came to Houston and bought up the two trolley systems then operating in the city. The cars were still being drawn by mules but Carter changed that. He consolidated the lines, formed the Houston City Street Railway Company, and put electric trolley in service in 1891. This made it possible for Carter to promise and deliver trolley service to Houston Heights, started the same year by Carter and the Omaha and South Texas Land Company. Twelve rail lines were operating in and out of the city by this time and Houston was the most important rail center in the state
After Charles Morgan died, the federal government bought the Morgan channel across Morgan's Point and eliminated the tolls. It was a plus for Houston but the bigger ships still had to stop at Galveston. The Southern Pacific acquired Morgan's rail line and the docks at Clinton
Houston's industry included 160 plants employing 5,000 workers on a payroll of over $2,000,000
The Sweeney and Coombs Opera House (Prince Theater) was opened. Actually a theater, it housed performances by Sarah Bernhardt, Maude Adams, and James Hackett among others
South Houston was annexed to the city
January 6
Prominent Houston and Galveston businessmen met at the Tremont Hotel in Galveston for the Deep Water Meeting where strategy was outlined for gaining channel improvements
September
The Houston Clearing House was established by five national banks in the city
September 19
The National Rivers and Harbors Act called for a pre-purchase evaluation of Morgan's improvement on the ship channel
1891
William M. Rice returns to Houston from New York City
The Houston Gas Light Company sold the Houston Electric Light and Power to Citizens' Electric Light and Power Company
Pasadena and Houston Heights were annexed to the city
April
President Benjamin Harrison visited Houston briefly
May 18
William Marsh Rice donated $200,000 in a trust fund for the development of a library and school for the white inhabitants of Houston. Rice wanted to establish an educational institution in Houston " for the advancement of literature, science and art
May 20
A fire started at the Phoenix Lumber Mill in the Fifth Ward and swept through twenty acres of urban property, in part because faulty fire fighting equipment could throw a water stream only about twelve feet
June 12
The first electric streetcar was placed in operation. O. M. Carter consolidated the lines, formed the Houston City Street Railway Company, and put electric trolley in service. This made it possible for Carter to promise and deliver trolley service to Houston Heights, started the same year by Carter and the Omaha and South Texas Land Company. Twelve rail lines were operating in and out of the city by this time and Houston was the most important rail center in the state
Houston is the first city in the state to have electric streetcars
1892
John T. Browne was elected mayor
The development of the area known as the "Houston Heights" begins across the Buffalo Bayou from the original Allen Brothers downtown Houston
Construction began on the city's first black high school
The federal government finally completed the deal to take
over the Morgan-financed channel improvements, and the infamous chain at
Morgan's Point was removed
1893
Perceptive Houstonians began complaining about pollution in Buffalo Bayou. No action was taken
The five-story Kiam Building was a showplace when it was finished. It was build for Kiam's Clothiers. Sakowitz occupied this building from 1918 until 1928. The Kiam Building had the first electric elevator in town
Christ Church Cathedral, an Episcopal structure in medieval Gothic style was built on Texas Avenue
Deer Park was annexed to the city
July
The Magnolia Brewery is opened
O
ctober 16A $500,000 fire practically destroyed an entire city block, killing two. Faulty water service made combating the blaze difficult
N
ovemberA chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy was founded
1895
William Sydney Porter who's pen name is "O Henry" joins the Houston Post staff, writing a column entitled " Some Postscripts"
Houston created a paid fire department
The Houston Business League was founded. In 1910, it would become the Chamber of Commerce, which still exists
The National convention of Confederate veterans is held in the city
Long distance telephone service was instituted
May
Concern over pollution in Buffalo Bayou was heightened by comments from Maj. A. M. Miller who had inspected the channel. He stated that the federal government would not clean sewage from the Bayou, and that the city would to do so, if it expected federal aid for channel improvements
June
An investigation by the Houston District Medical Association revealed that about a dozen privies, a smallpox graveyard, a dead cow, a cotton-oil mill, and cattle yards all polluted the city's emergency water supply from Buffalo Bayou. Since this water was used to fight fires, it flowed through the same mains as the city's drinking water
JuneMrs. Charlotte M. Allen, wife of A. C. Allen, one of the founders of Houston, dies
September
Jacob Binz completed construction of the city's first skyscraper,
a six-story $60,000 structure. The corner of Main and Texas was one of the busiest
intersections in town when Jacob Binz built this distinguished office
building. This was the first six-story building in Houston. It still stands
but it has been remodeled and five floors have been added
1896
H. Baldwin Rice was elected the city's mayor
Galveston now had twenty-five of water at its jetties and could accommodate ocean-going vessels. Houston, therefore, had to obtain deep water capacity or face the prospect of Galveston dominating Gulf Coast commerce
Representative Joseph C. Hutcheson (Houston) introduced a bill in Congress requesting the survey of a twenty-five foot channel all the way to Houston. The bill was passed in 1897
January
Ignace Jan Paderewski plays before an audience of thousands in Houston
1897
Cotton firms with local offices numbered 33, and the 1,003,473 bales of cotton shipped made Houston possibly the world's largest cotton market
January
Congressmen from the Rivers and Harbors Committee visited Houston to investigate the possibility for a deep-water channel and were favorably impressed
January 20
William Jennings Bryan delivered an address in the city
July
A board of government engineers, headed by Col. Henry Marty Robert (author, Robert's Rules of Order), met in Houston and estimated that a channel from Houston to Bolivar Roads, 100 feet wide and 25 feet deep, would cost $4,000,000 with annual maintenance fees of $100,000
Houston Electric Street Railway workers called a successful one-day strike
August
The Florence Crittenden Home for the care of unwed mothers was opened.
August 31
Businesswomen led by Nette Bryan founded the Working Women's Association
December
Houston's first asphalt street paving was laid on Franklin Avenue
Houston's first "horseless carriage" is demonstrated on Main Street
Houston is the first city in Texas to have automobiles
1898
Samuel H. Brashear became mayor of Houston
Citizens' Electric Light and Power went into receivership
May 4
The Light Guards and the Emmet Rifles leave for Austin for service in the Spanish-American War
May 15
The Milkmen's Protective Association was formed. Other groups to unionize this year included the butchers, cooks, and waiters
May 30
In the evening, Col. Teddy Roosevelt and a trainload of
his Roughriders stopped for six hours in Houston, where they found the local
fighting spirit well aroused
1899
The city council appropriated $200 a month for the Lyceum Library on the condition that $150 be used to purchase books and the library to be free to the public
The first city park was established. The Sam Houston Park, bound by Bagby, Walker, and Dallas, where the Harris County Heritage Society's old houses are now. There was a small zoo when this was the only park in the city
Jesse Holman Jones moved to Houston from Dallas. He went into the lumber business, then into building, then into banking and real estate, and became the most influential citizen in town
Paul Bremond's Houston East and West Texas Narrow Gauge Railroad became part of the Southern Pacific System
March 3
Congress approved, in principle, improvements which would provide the ship channel with deep water
September 18
New York's Andrew Carnegie offered a $50,000 endowment for a library, if the city would provide a site and maintain the building. The Carnegie Free Library opened in March 1904
November 15
The first local chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution was organized
1900
John D. Woolford was elected mayor
Houston's population was 44,683, including 14,608 blacks
Bank deposits amounted to $118 per capita, while the U.S. national average was 4117 per capita
Local industry featured 210 manufacturing establishments which produced goods valued at $6,832,943. Wearing apparel, iron and metal products, heavy machinery, foods, and printing materials were the principle products
Plumbers, carpenters, and building trades unionists all engaged in successful strikes
Telephone customers now numbered 2,017
February 8
A stenographers union was founded with 400 members
March
Paderewski appears before a large Houston audience at the opera-house
September
William M. Rice, founder of Rice Institute, is murdered at his home in New York City at the age of 65
September 8-9
Galveston Island is devastated by a hurricane with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour and 15 foot tidal waves, 5,000 die and thousands are left homeless, Houston receives winds of 60 miles per hour and sustains mainly property damage. Refugees from Galveston began streaming into the city of Houston for relief
Thomas Edison visits Galveston Island to record the aftermath of the nations worst natural disaster and film one of his 1st newsreels
THE GAY NINETIES
By Marvin Hurley
Y 1890 the population of the
United States had climbed to 62,947,714, and that of Texas to 2,235,749 moving the state
up to 7th place among the union, compared to its 11th place rank ten years earlier.
During the same period, the urban population of Texas increased from 146,795 to 349,511 or
to 15.6 percent of the state's total. Some 27,557 Houstonians were counted in the
1890 census, with 37,249 in the county. In the influx of people to the agricultural
areas, Harris County did not fare so well, and dropped to eighth place in the state. Grayson County with 52,211, yielded first place ranking to Dallas County with
67,042. Bexar County was third with 49,266, and Tarrant County fourth with 41,142.
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The Market Square, located on the Congress-Travis-Preston-Milam block, was the center of activity in Houston. |
By 1890, Houstonians felt they were living in a very modern world, with electric lights, block or cobblestone streets, and a belief that the future would be richer and better. Fancy, horse-drawn rigs were a status symbol, and cities were beginning to fill more important roles in civilization. The exhaustion of the War between the States and the frustration of reconstruction were past, and "the gay nineties" were characterized by society at play. Public meeting places became more sumptuous, and bicycles had taken the country by storm. But the decade that opened with such promise saw depression go from bad to worse to disastrous in an economic panic. But the decade ended on another rising tide of confidence, with the "New York Times" striking the general note when it observed that the 19th century had been "marked by the greater progress in all that pertains to the material well-being and enlightenment of mankind than all the previous history of the race; and the political, social, and moral advancement has been hardly less striking."
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The last decade of the 19th century brought many highlights to mankind. Roentgen discovered X-ray, Marching invented the wireless telegraph, Pierre and Marie Curie discovered radium, Zeppelin invented a rigid lighter-than-air ship, Edison patented a motion picture camera with the first moving picture being shown on a public screen, and Ford built his first automobile. Labor strife was highlighted by the Homestead strike in Pennsylvania and the Pullman strike in Chicago. Coxey's Army marched on Washington to urge emergency work projects to help unemployed and the leader was arrested for trespassing on the Capitol grounds. A trend became increasingly apparent toward consolidation of railroads, utilities and industry. Boll weevils came to Texas. Peary claimed he reached the North Pole. It became acceptable for males to smoke at social functions. Billy Sunday started his evangelistic career. And McKinley became the first President of the United States to ride in an automobile--a Stanley Steamer.
Prior to 1900, a dominant problem in Texas was how to get cotton, cattle and lumber to markets far beyond the boundaries of the state. This period in Texas economic history was dominated by production in bulk of a few materials which had to be disposed of mainly in markets outside the state. Such an economy is essentially a colonial economy--an economy dependent upon outside markets, not only for its prosperity, but even for its very existence.
Houston, by 1890, was recognized as the railroad center of Texas. The Port of Houston was opened to the world after the federal government reimbursed Commodore Morgan's estate for the cost of the channel he had cut across Morgan's Point, and the toll-chain was lowered for the last time. During 1891, Houston started operating its first electric street cars, and the 12 railroads hauled increasing tonnages of freight into and out of the city each day.
Seeing Houston's past progress as but a promise of future
possibilities, the Chamber of Commerce pushed programs of civic development, encouraged
expansion of commerce and industry, fought for competitive rates, and furnished
information to everyone interested in Houston's development. With the frontier days
behind it, the Chamber of Commerce changed from being principally a mercantile
association, regulating business practices and settling merchant's disputes, to a wider
scope of community development effort.
When Pianist Jan Paderewski played a concert in the new Main Street auditorium in 1896, Houston had a dozen public schools, 44 churches, and a shell road running east as far as Harrisburg. As the first horseless carriage was demonstrated in 1897, Houston put down its first asphalt paving.
hen the century drew to a close,
even more pressing matters than the Spanish-American War engaged the interest of
Houstonians, and an enormous new concept challenged the vision and vigor of the
community's leadership. Houston's dream of a deepwater seaport would be made a
reality if only Buffalo Bayou could be dredged into a suitable deep Ship Channel. As
usual, the Chamber of Commerce organized the effort. Factories and industries
brought to Houston by the Chamber of Commerce joined the fight.
In 1898, Houstonians went to Washington to appear before the Rivers and Harbors Committee of the Congress to lay hard logic before that body, since the federal government by law maintains navigable waterways. The project for a channel twenty-five feet deep from the foot of Main Street in Houston to Bolivar Roads in Galveston Bay was approved by Congress on March 3, 1899, and amended on February 20, 1900. Under this project, a channel was to be dredged from Bolivar Roads to Harrisburg, 18.5 feet deep, with cuts through Irish, Clinton and Harrisburg Bends. Senator Thomas H. Ball, noted Rivers and Harbors Committeeman in Congress, could get only $400,000 appropriated, however, and this was barely enough to deepen the channel to 17.5 feet.
