Almeda

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Back in 1892, a group of Illinois investors looked down at a stretch of land in Harris County, land sitting right up next to a pre-Civil War railroad line, and they liked what they saw. They bought it, they platted it, and they gave it a name: Almeda.

Now, these were businessmen with a vision, and that vision was citrus. The climate was mild, the pitch was polished, and Almeda was packaged and marketed as a citrus farming community. Orange groves in Texas, just off the old railroad.

Not a bad dream. But Texas weather, as any Texan will tell you, has its own opinions. Unusually severe freezes moved through, and those freezes did not care one bit about anybody's investment prospectus.

The citrus dream started looking shaky. So the farmers did what good farmers do. They adapted.

By the nineteen twenties, many of them had turned to dairy production, and Almeda settled into something it apparently did quite well. It became a prosperous dairy farming town. That's not a consolation prize.

That's a real thing. Meanwhile, back in 1893, just one year after the town was platted, residents had already organized enough to found a school district. And this wasn't a small, neighborhood affair.

That school district served children from parts of three counties. Three counties. The town was barely a year old.

Almeda eventually became part of the city of Houston in 1959, absorbed into the big sprawl. But the marker is clear on this point, and I think it earns a moment: it remains a part of local history. Illinois investors, citrus dreams, hard freezes, good dairy, and kids from three counties walking to the same school.

That's Almeda.

What the marker says

In 1892 Illinois investors bought land here, near a pre-Civil War railroad line, and platted the town of Almeda. With its mild climate, the town was marketed as a citrus farming community, but unusually severe freezes caused many farmers to turn to dairy production by the 1920s. Almeda became a prosperous dairy farming town. In 1893 residents founded a school district that served children from parts of three counties. Although Almeda became part of the city of Houston in 1959, it remains a part of local history. (1992)