Texaco Building
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22 October 1920: The Texas Oil Company was founded in Beaumont in 1902 after the Spindletop oil discovery. In 1914 they became the first oil company to move their headquarters to Houston, beginning a century of dominance of the industry in the local economy. The Texas Company Building (1915) was designed by Warren and Wetmore, who had completed New York’s Grand Central Terminal in 1913. The covered sidewalks so typical of Houston in the early 20th century were rendered in vaulted limestone arcades supported by limestone columns armored with the Texas Company logo, a five pointed star that would become emblematic of the corporation.
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14 May 2019: Three bays in the same style were added by the original architects in 1936 along San Jacinto Street (right). In 1960 an adjoining building on Rusk Avenue (left) was added in a more contemporary style. The Texaco Building was abandoned in 1989, and lay a steadily decaying building for decades as Houstonians wondered if the grand structure would ever be brought to life again. Renovations started in 2013, and it is now The Star rental apartments, named of course, for the the Texaco Company logo.
Behind it on the left can be seen the Texas State Hotel (now Club Quarters Hotel), 16 stories designed by Joseph Finger in 1925. Taller still is the Gulf Building at 36 stories designed by Alfred C. Finn in 1929, long the tallest building in Houston. That distinction is currently held by the J. P. Morgan Chase Building, here hovering above the Texaco Building. Designed by I. M. Pei, it was finished in 1982 with 75 floors. Finally to the right, the glassy tower is 609 Building (Hines North Tower, Block 69) finished out at 48 stories in 2017. Intruding at ground level on the right is a wing of the Sam Houston Post Office (1911), once the working home of Thomas William House, Jr., named in 1913 as Houston's postmaster by President Woodrow Wilson. |
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Postmarked: 22 October 1920; Dallas, Texas Jackson St. Sta.Stamp: 1c Green George Washington #405
To: Mr. B. F. Allen Jr 1511 Pulaski St Fort Worth Texas Message: "Dallas Texas Dear Son & Daughters Here we are taking in the sights & side shows Bought an umbrella. So let her rain. Look for us when you see us Be good and save my little chicks if it rains Dady" 
15 April 2011: For many years after 1989 The Texaco Building lay idle and became increasingly dilapidated.
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"Dady” is Ben Franklin Allen, Sr. about to turn 61 in 6 days. He was born in Decatur, Wise County, TX, and was said to be “the first white child born in the village of Decatur.” His “little chicks” were being watched over by his son, B. F. Allen, Jr., his daughter Elizabeth A., and his daughter-in-law, Maria Van Zandt Allen. Despite his poultry cultivation, Senior Allen was not and seemed never have been a farmer. He began his working career as a cashier in a bank in Vernon, Willbarger County, TX, and was successful enough in 1920 to own his home in a nice neighborhood close to downtown Fort Worth. He seems to have been in town on vacation, but as a real estate broker, he must have been excited at the possibilities in Houston.
He didn't get to the post office in time to mail his card, but posted it at the Jackson Street station in Dallas, a post office about a block away from Union Station. He probably travelled by train since a motorist would most likely take a less indirect route home, unless he had to be in Dallas on some business. B. F., Sr. would live only another 4 years, perishing of pneumonia on 4 April 1925. He is buried in Oakland Cemetery in his home town of Decatur. B. F. Allen, Jr. was 31 when he received his father’s message at the family home at 1511 Pulaski Street in Fort Worth. His mother Estella J. Cates was about to turn 51, his sister Elizabeth was 26, and two black servants completed the household of 7 persons. Five years before, B. F. and Maria may have had a child who lived only a few days, Maria Van Zandt Allen (14-17 November 1915), but otherwise there were no other children. Maria came from a long line of American, Texan, and Confederate patriots. Harvie Marie Van Zandt Allen’s father was Kleber Miller Van Zandt, Jr. (1861-1925), President of the Fort Worth National Bank and the K. M. Van Zandt Land Company. Her grandfather was Kleber Miller Van Zandt, Sr. (1836-1930), one of the founders of Fort Worth, a Major in the 7th Texas Infantry in the Civil War, and member of the 13th Texas Legislature; he was a Scottish Rite Mason, and member of the Consistory in Mexico City where he lived for many years until 1928 when he returned to Fort Worth at the age of 91. His grand-daughter must have visited him in Mexico City as well, passenger lists of the S. S. City of Mexico on 18 August 1914 show her return to Galveston as a single woman, a merchant. The father of Kleber Miller Van Zandt, Sr. was Isaac Van Zandt (1813-1847), a Texas Revolution patriot, emissary from Sam Houston to Washington DC as Texas Republic Charge d’Affaires (1842). While in the capital city, he was confidant of John C. Calhoun and acquaintance of John Quincy Adams. His grandfathers were Revolutionary War patriots. When he returned to Texas in 1847, he began a run for Governor of Texas, but died of Yellow Fever while campaigning. Van Zandt County in East Texas is named in his honor. B. F. Allen, Jr. and Maria continued to live with in Fort Worth until his death in 1957 and hers in 1958; they are buried in the Masonic Section of Greenwood Cemetery in Fort Worth. |
