Sam Houston Park - View of Downtown

10 July 1956: 1. 1020 Bagby: Houston Fire Alarm Building, 1938;
2. 712 Main: Gulf Building, 36 floors, 1929; 3. 808 Travis: Niels Esperson Building, 32 floors, 1927; 4. 815 Walker: Mellie Esperson Building, 19 floors, 1941; 5. 500 McKinney: Houston Public Library, 3 floors, 1926; 6. 914 Main: Commerce Building (Tennessee Gas Transmission Building), 24 floors, 1929; 7. 1001 McKinney: City National Bank building, 22 floors, 1949; 8. 430 Lamar: Federal Land Bank Building of Houston; 9. 1006 Main: Commercial and Industrial Life Insurance Company (C & I Life), 20 floors, 1926;

3 Feb 2006: The oak tree so prominent in the 1956 view has grown thicker and heavier, and much of the downtown view is obscured by many other trees planted later or grown large. 1. 611 Walker: Houston Lighting & Power Building (Bob Lanier Public Works Building), 27 floors, 1968; 2. 910 Louisiana: One Shell Plaza, 50 floors, 1971; 3. 400 McKinney: Houston Public Library Central Branch, 6 floors, 1975; 4. Heritage Park: "The Old Place" was built in 1823 of cedar logs on the banks of Clear Creek and moved to the park in 1973 as an example of early Texas frontier architecture.

Postmarked: 10 July 1956; Pasadena, Texas
Stamp: 2c Carmine Rose Thomas Jefferson #1033

To: Mr. & Mrs. Chas. Leonard,
Willow St. West Bridgewater,
Massachusetts

Message: We had a wonderful trip to Texas. We saw Natural Bridge in Va, went on Sky Line Drive and Blue Ridge Drive, it was beautiful. Rode 2122 miles. Do not mind heat of 95° at all as all homes, motels, and restaurants are air-conditioned, even the churches. A must in Texas. Lots of Brahma cattle along the way.
E. C. Pratt

E. C. Pratt was Eula Cushman Bryant Pratt, wife of John Holbrook Pratt from West Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA. Her correspondent was Charles Elihu Leonard (1909-1996) and his wife Muriel Frances Romaine (1914-1975), neighbors just a couple of houses down the street. The Leonard Family operated a dairy farm, and would have appreciated Eula’s mention of Brahman cattle, a breed from India highly tolerant of semi-tropical conditions. Eula was 63 when she wrote the postcard, and her husband was 70; they were parents of two daughters, Abrota and Maida as well as guardians of three nephews, Kenneth, Robert, and Walter A. Fisher, orphaned before the age of 10 by the death of Eula’s sister Nettie Warren Bryant Fischer (1887-1926). By 1956 all these dependents were grown, and whether any were on the 2122 mile trip to Texas is not mentioned in the message.

The Leonards were younger, Charles was 46 and Muriel was 42, their children adult or nearly as well: Loraine (about 24), Carol (20), and Charles C. (17). Charles Leonard and Muriel Leonard continued their dairy through their entire lives and are buried in Pine Hill Cemetery just north of the neighborhood where they lived. Eula died in 1988, her husband preceded her in death; they are likely buried in Pine Hill Cemetery as well, but the online records are incomplete.