Bellaire

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. William Wright Baldwin had a vision — and in 1908, he set out to make it real. He was president of the South End Land Company, and he had his eye on a piece of ground with some serious history already attached to it.

The land he was working with had once been part of a 9,449-acre ranch owned by William Marsh Rice — the very same benefactor behind Rice Institute, known today as Rice University. That's no small pedigree for a patch of Texas prairie. Baldwin took the eastern 1,000 acres of that ranch and surveyed it into small truck farms, which he called Westmoreland Farms.

And right in the middle of all those farms, he platted a town. He wanted it to be two things at once — an exclusive residential neighborhood and an agricultural trading center. That's a combination that takes some imagination to pull off.

Now, between this new town and Houston stretched approximately six miles of open prairie. Six miles. That's not a short stroll.

So Baldwin's South End Land Company went looking for settlers in the Midwest, running advertisements aimed square at Midwestern farmers. And they made sure to tell folks what the name meant — Bellaire, meaning Good Air, named for the gulf breezes that swept through the area. The original townsite was laid out between Palmetto, First, Jessamine, and Sixth streets — that last one later becoming Ferris.

To tie this new community to Houston, they ran Bellaire Boulevard straight through, and they put in an electric streetcar line to carry folks back and forth. The town incorporated in 1918, and C. P.

Younts stepped in as its first mayor. Then came the post-war years — the late 1940s and early 1950s — and the building boom hit Bellaire like a gulf squall. Population grew fast.

Houston was expanding in every direction, and by 1949, Bellaire found itself completely surrounded by the city. Swallowed up on all sides. Most towns in that position just... fold into the bigger story.

But not Bellaire. Completely encircled, it held on to its independence and kept its own city government. Sometimes the most stubborn thing on the Texas prairie isn't the brush — it's the people who decided to plant something right in the middle of it.

What the marker says

William Wright Baldwin, president of the South End Land Company, founded Bellaire in 1908 on part of the 9,449-acre ranch once owned by William Marsh Rice, benefactor of Rice Institute (now Rice University). Baldwin surveyed the eastern 1,000 acres of the ranch into small truck farms, which he named Westmoreland Farms. He platted Bellaire in the middle of the farms to serve as an exclusive residential neighborhood and agricultural trading center. The project was separated from Houston by approximately six miles of prairie. South End Land Company advertisements, targeted to Midwestern farmers, noted that Bellaire ("Good Air") was named for the area's gulf breezes. The original townsite was bounded by Palmetto, First, Jessamine, and Sixth (now Ferris) streets. Bellaire Boulevard and an electric streetcar line connected Bellaire to Houston. The town was incorporated in 1918, and C. P. Younts served as first mayor. The post-war building boom in the late 1940s and early 1950s resulted in rapid population growth. Completely surrounded by the expanding city of Houston by 1949, Bellaire nevertheless retained its independence and its own city government. (1990)