DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Frost Town, Harris County, Texas. Now, some neighborhoods earn their names through grand ceremonies and city council votes. Frost Town earned its name the hard way — from a man who didn't live long enough to see it.
Jonathan Benson Frost was a veteran of the Texas War for Independence. He fought at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, and when the smoke cleared, he didn't stay in Texas to celebrate. He went back to Tennessee, gathered up his family, and brought them to this new, raw, muddy republic.
He set up a blacksmith shop and a homestead about one mile east of the brand-new city of Houston. That was the plan, anyway. Jonathan Benson Frost died from cholera in 1837.
He'd had barely a year on that land. But the land didn't sit still. In 1838, his brothers — Samuel Miles Frost and James Coleman Frost — subdivided the property, creating one of Houston's earliest additions.
Just like that, a man's homestead became a neighborhood. And that neighborhood would keep people living in it for more than a hundred years. German immigrants came first and came strong.
By the 1850s, Frost Town was a thriving community, and the cultural heritage of those German families shaped what it looked and felt like. Several prominent Houston-area German families put down roots here. Irish immigrants arrived too, along with employees of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad, which reached the area in 1853.
You had blacksmiths and railroad men and families building something together, all within a mile of a city that was itself still figuring out what it wanted to be. But Frost Town was always a community in motion. By the 1870s, the area railroads had driven industrial development into the corridor between Houston and Frost Town, and freedmen moved into the community.
It was now considered part of Houston's Second Ward, and the neighborhood was shifting — in residents, in character, in its place within the growing city. By the early twentieth century, unskilled workers were moving in, drawn by industries that had spread to the north side of Buffalo Bayou. A steel truss swing bridge, built in 1904, connected Frost Town to those industries.
Mexican residents began moving into the community. Anglo-European residents left. The demographics kept turning, as they do in any place that stays alive long enough.
Then came the isolation. Between 1930 and 1950, industrial development pressed in on all sides, and Frost Town grew harder to reach, harder to hold onto. After World War II, the Elysian Viaduct and U.S.
Highway 59 were constructed right through the area. Roads meant to connect a city ended up erasing this one corner of it. The residential buildings of Frost Town were eliminated.
Today, James Bute Park marks the ground where all of that happened — the blacksmith shop, the German families, the railroad workers, the freedmen, the Mexican residents, the whole long layered story of a community that outlasted its founder by more than a century. Jonathan Benson Frost never saw any of it. But it carried his name the whole way through.
What the marker says
The Frost Town community developed on the property of Jonathan Benson Frost, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence. After the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836, Frost returned to his Tennessee home and brought his family to Texas, establishing a blacksmith shop and homestead about one mile east of the new city of Houston. He died from cholera in 1837, and in 1838, his brothers, Samuel Miles Frost and James Coleman Frost, subdivided his property, creating one of Houston’s earliest additions, which remained in residential use until the early 1990s. German immigrants soon settled here, and by the 1850s, Frost Town was a thriving community which reflected its residents’ cultural heritage. Several prominent Houston-area german families lived in the settlement. Others in the area included Irish immigrants and employees of the Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railroad, which reached the area in 1853. By the 1870s, Frost Town was a community in transition. Area railroads had contributed to industrial development between Houston and Frost Town, and freedmen moved into the community, which was now considered part of Houston’s Second Ward. By the early 20th century, unskilled workers began to move into Frost Town, which was now connected to industries on the north side of Buffalo Bayou by a steel truss swing bridge built in 1904. Mexican residents began to move into Frost Town, while Anglo-European residents left, further shifting the community’s demographics. Between 1930 and 1950, Frost Town became increasingly isolated because of industrial development. Residents began relocating following World War II, when the Elysian Viaduct and U.S. Highway 59 were constructed through the area, eliminating Frost Town's residential buildings. Today, James Bute Park marks the former community, which existed for more than 100 years.