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Some early residents of Bellaire, Texas
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When the South End Land Company started selling property in an area called Westmoreland Farms in 1908, Houston was a thriving city of approximately 75,000 residents. William Wright Baldwin had purchased nearly 9,500 acres on the southwest side of the city from the estate of William Marsh Rice, and offered Houstonians a chance to get out of the crowded downtown area and all four Wards
The new development was advertised all over the country in magazines and newspapers. One such ad was in the November 1911 issue of Popular Mechanics. It was in the “Real Estate and Farm Lands” classified section and read: “IF YOU ARE GOING SOUTH this winter, write right now to Condit & Henderson, 1006 Scanlan Bldg, Houston, Texas and receive free of charge beautiful literature concerning Houston, Westmoreland Farms and information as to Hotels and Boarding Houses”. Lots ranged in price from $700 for a 4.5 acre farm up to $3,000 for twenty acres. If you bought two ten-acre lots you got a bargain for only $2,000 each.
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Price List of Westmoreland Farms, 1910 from author's collection
The people came, and sales were brisk. Some of the earliest deeds were issued to Charles C. Wenzel, W.E. Hanscom, Bettie Bills, H.K. Pattillo and S.M. Eaton. Census records do not show any of these individuals in Harris County in 1920, so they were probably investors who rented out the farms to local people. Henry J. Bering got on the bandwagon in 1914, along with Albert J. Condit, John C. Townes and Henry C. Mosehart. Some of them did build houses in the area and raise their families in Bellaire.
Eight years after the development began, in 1920, Bellaire and Westmoreland Farms were still synonymous even though Bellaire had taken a city charter two years earlier. We thought it would be interesting to take a peek at the 1920 Federal Census and examine a sample of fifty families who owned homes in the brand-new city.
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1920 Federal Census image, Harris County Texas
Most of the heads of households were white males born in Texas. We found one woman head of household, a 46-year old architect named Alice Williams. She worked for a lumber company. There were five attorneys, a dozen carpenters and ten laborers. Alfred Condit, Anson Foreman and Alexander Buxton were in the real estate business. There were numerous farmers and dairy men, a city commissioner (for Bellaire?) named Robert Cumberly and one physician named Lawrence Tackaberry. And of course there was an entire family of gardeners and landscape designers who became famous for their Teas Nursery. Some of the more unusual occupations were those of newspaper linotype operator, lithographer, photographer, German chauffer, drugstore chemist from New York and Federal prohibition inspector.
Let’s see now, I’m not much of a mathematician (I’m a writer), but if I wanted to buy twenty acres in downtown Bellaire today it might cost me a tad more than $4,000. Do you think I could buy enough property with that four grand to build a two-car garage? Or would I have to settle for a basketball court? A parking space, telephone booth…..??
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