Methodist Church
From Bell Street
15 October 1912: This section of Main Street was largely residential at the time, easily accessible to the main business section a few blocks to the north by electric trolley, carriage, private automobile, or a leisurely walk. 1. 1416 Main: The Capt. James A. Baker house was built in 1889 by president of Inman Compress, Samuel K. Dick, who sold it to Baker in 1899. Partner in his father's law firm, Baker Botts [See Christ Church for more information the history of this firm], James A. Baker, Jr. was friend of William Marsh Rice who represented Rice in the disposition of his fortune to Rice Institute. This house was demolished after Baker moved to "The Oaks" at 2310 Baldwin in 1923; 2. 1408 Main: Mrs. Selma (Reisland) Stubenrauch (1859-1915), widow of Max Stubenrauch (1841-1894), owned this house and lived there with sons Max and Lorenz. Her daughter Nettie married Robert L. Autrey, vice president and treasurer of Magnolia Brewery, who lost a suit in 1910 to take over the estate. Autrey's father, Dr. Adolfo Autrey (1835-1904) spent much of his life in Papantla, Veracruz, Mexico and Tampico, Tamaulipas pioneering the oil industry in Mexico; 3. 1312 Main: First Methodist Church, 1910; 4. 806 Main: Carter Building, the tallest in town, 17 floors, 1910; 5. 1411 Main: Mrs. Emma Elma (Harris) Angell, widow of George Washington Angell (in 1910 the home of Dr. Charles L. Palmer); 6. 1417 Main: Charles W. Grubbs (in 1910 the boarding house of Mary B. Hughes).1912: For a view a few years later when the street trees have had a chance to grow, see Main at Bell North. For a view towards this direction two streets north before Methodist Church was built in 1910, see Main at Polk South posted in 1909. |
20 May 2005: This section of Main Street was once mostly residential homes owned by the leading citizens of Houston. As they moved farther south to areas now considered Midtown, or to River Oaks in the late 1920's and 1930's, the homes became boarding houses for a few years before they were demolished to accommodate parking lots for businesses to the north.
1. 1200 Travis: Houston Police Department Edward A. Thomas Building (Houston Natural Gas Building), 28 floors, 1967; 2. Travis at Clay: First Methodist Office Building, 6 floors, 1929; 3. 1300 Main: Conoco Building (now Travis Tower), 21 floors, 1955; 4. 1320 Main: First Methodist Church, 1910; 5. 916 Dallas: Humble Building (renovated 2003 to Courtyard Marriott), 9 floors, 1921; 6. 1110 Main: Foleys (Macy's, imploded 21 September 2013, replaced by Hilcorp Energy Tower 1111 Travis, 23 floors, 2016)), 10 floors, 1947; 7. 1000 Main: Reliant Energy Plaza (replaces Lamar Hotel), 36 floors, 2003; 8. 1021 Main: First National Bank Building, 32 floors, 1961; 9. 1010 Lamar: Younan Square (on the site of the First Baptist Church, 1020 Lamar, 9 floors), 20 floors, 1980; 10. 1313 Main: GreenStreet Parking Garage, 8 floors; 11. 1001 Fannin: First City Tower, 49 floors, 1981. Residential life is beginning to return to the area with the construction of mid rise and high rise condominiums and apartment blocks over the last few years. |
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To: Mrs Louis Runge
#1202 Market St. Galveston Texas Postmarked: Houston, Tex. Oct 15, 1912 Stamp: 1c Green Ben Franklin #374 Message: 102 Huntington Ave. You'll no doubt be surprised to see I am so near to you. Should have written you about getting your nice letters, but my hands have been full all summer. I am here for six weeks only .. and if I can arrange it, will see you good people while here. Love to all. Lovingly Eliza Black |
Eliza Black was just ten days shy of her 32nd birthday when she wrote this postcard in 1912 from 102 Huntington. The street was in a new development called the Fairview Addition at the western edge of town, and their house was at the confluence of Huntington Street (later Hyde Park), Genessee and Albany. Their entire block has now been cleared to the ground and fenced in to serve as a power station in the heart of the Montrose.
Eliza, the daughter of John Wesley Yeargain and Kate Coulter, was born in 1880 in Canton, MS. Her husband, Gordon Landauer Black, a couple of years younger, was born in 1882 in New Orleans, son of Charles Black and Fannie Hamlin. Gordon worked in wholesale grocery business, but with the advent of moving pictures a few years later, he began managing theaters of the moving picture show businesses, Star Theater, the Rex Theater. They lived for many years at 102 Hyde Park and raised their children, Fannie and Elise, there. Louis Herman Runge, a Galveston rancher, was of German heritage, grandson of Henry Runge born in Bremen, Germany in the early years of the 19th century. The Runge’s settled in Indianola before the devastating hurricanes of the late 19th century drove them to Galveston and other parts of south Texas. Gordon Black died in 1951 and Eliza died 1952 and they are buried in Forest Park Cemetery. The Runge family members are buried in Trinity Episcopal Cemetery in Galveston in a family plot clustered around the tall fluted column of their forefather, Henry Runge (1816-1873). |
