DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place — so let's get into it. Now, Houston didn't become Houston overnight. Back in the 19th century, this city was growing fast — and the reason it could grow that fast came down to two things: water and iron rails.
Buffalo Bayou gave Houston its shipping lanes, and by 1861, five railroads were already radiating out from the city like spokes on a wheel. Five. That's not a town hedging its bets — that's a city that knew exactly what it was becoming.
And where does a boom town put all that commerce? East of Main Street, right along the banks of Buffalo Bayou, Houston's warehouse district took shape. That's where our story plants its boots.
In 1860, a man named Samuel May Williams sold a particular piece of this property to a Houston physician by the name of D.F. Stuart. Now, Stuart didn't build a hospital on it.
He built a warehouse — sometime in the 1880s — and he used it to store cotton. Which, in post-Civil War Houston, was about as sensible a business decision as you could make. Then came 1893, and the Lottman brothers entered the picture.
They purchased the site and did something nobody quite expected — they converted the whole cotton warehouse into a mattress factory. You heard that right. One day it's bales of cotton, next it's the makings of a good night's sleep.
The Lottman brothers held onto it for about a decade, and then in 1904 they sold the property to a man named H.F. Spalti. Spalti was the vice-president of something called the Olive and Myers Manufacturing Company, headquartered up in Dallas.
And Spalti didn't come alone — he partnered with the company's president, W.B. Myers, and the two of them set up Myers-Spalti right here on this site. A fellow named J.A.
Grieves helped them develop the Houston branch of what was already a successful mattress and furniture operation. Now, here's where it gets interesting from a builder's standpoint. That original warehouse — the one Stuart put up back in the 1880s — didn't get torn down.
Myers-Spalti put it to work housing the millwork and planning sections of the company. They were practical people. But they were also growing people.
In 1905, they built Warehouse Number Two, and that one handled the shipping, cabinetry, and finishing departments. Warehouse Number Three came along to contain the printing and management offices. By 1907, a rail line had extended right onto the property from nearby tracks — so the company didn't just sit near the railroad, the railroad came to them.
Then came 1909, and Myers-Spalti added a fourth warehouse for storage. More structures followed in the 1920s. This place just kept expanding, layer by layer, decade by decade.
The company eventually moved its operations out in the 1950s. And what happened to all those buildings? Hardware sales moved in.
Electronics. Manufacturing. Storage.
Light industrial businesses of one kind or another kept the walls standing and useful. Later, the structures became part of a city marketplace project, and later still, they were developed into residential housing. If you look at the buildings on this site today, you're looking at something almost like a textbook of Houston's industrial architecture — brick and heavy timber from the older construction, concrete slab and columns from the newer work.
Different eras, different materials, same piece of ground. From cotton to mattresses, from mattresses to furniture, from a lone warehouse to a full industrial complex stretching across decades — this corner of Buffalo Bayou has been earning its keep for a long, long time. And it's still standing to tell the tale.
What the marker says
Myers-Spalti Manufacturing Plant The City of Houston developed rapidly in the 19th century due in large part to its capacity for shipping and transportation. This was made possible by waterways, such as Buffalo Bayou, and railroads, five of which radiated from the city in 1861. Houston's industrial center, the warehouse district, grew up east of Main Street, along the banks of Buffalo Bayou. In 1860, Samuel May Williams sold this property to Houston physician D.F. Stuart, who built a warehouse in the 1880s for cotton storage. The Lottman brothers purchased the site in 1893 and converted the building into a mattress factory. In 1904, they sold the property to H.F. Spalti, vice-president of Olive & Myers Manufacturing Company of Dallas. Spalti and Company President W.B. Myers started Myers-Spalti on this site. J.A. Grieves assisted them in developing the Houston branch of their successful mattress and furniture factory. The original warehouse housed the millwork and planning sections of the company. Built in 1905, Warehouse Number Two housed the shipping, cabinetry and finishing departments, and Warehouse Number Three contained the printing and management offices. By 1907, a rail line extended onto the property from nearby tracks. Myers-Spalti added a fourth warehouse for storage in 1909 and additional structures in the 1920s. The company moved operations in the 1950s. The development of Houston's industrial architecture can be seen in this site's building styles, which range from brick and heavy timber to concrete slab and columns. Since the 1950s, the buildings have housed hardware sales, electronics and manufacturing, storage and other light industrial businesses. The structures were once part of a city marketplace project and later developed into residential housing. (2003)