The Texan (Bellaire, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 51, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 27, 1983 Page: 3 of 36
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BELLAIRE'S 65th ANNIVERSARY EDITION
JULY 27, 1983
3
65th year was a busy one
By Nick Herrera
F or 65 years.
Bellaire has been on the
move and last year was
no exception
Since the city last
celebrated its birthday
in June of ‘82 a great
deal has happened in
Bellaire and many of
those happenings are
worth mentioning
In city government,
the revitalization of
downtown Bellaire has
finally come into sight
On the last day of 1982,
city council unanimous-
ly approved the creation
of a Tax Increment
Finance District (TIFD)
in downtown Bellaire in
hopes of attracting
private sector develop-
ment in the area.
Nine citizens were
then appointed by Coun-
cil to serve on a TIFD
board, responsible for
preparing and im-
plementing a project
plan for the TIFD,
known as Reinvestment
Zone Number One.
The board recently
adopted a 12 page
Preliminary Pian for
Downtown Redevelop-
ment, and a final plan
will be submitted to city
council for approval by
August 31. After adop-
tion of a final plan, the
board will formally issue
requests for proposals
from developers and if
all goes according to
current timetables.
Bellaire’s new look
might be underway
during the first quarter
of 1984.
In April, 7.6 percent of
Bellaire’s voters went to
the polls ...,J approved
five amendments to the
city’s charter Voters
said no to a proposition
that would have stag-
gered city council terms
and another that
recommended granting
the city attorney blanket
authorization to act in
the city's legal behalf
Gaining voter ap-
proval were the
following propositions:
• Proposition No 2
prohibits the city council
from firing any city em-
ployee appointed by the
city manager
• Proposition No. 3
gives the city council
authority to make tem-
porary or relief appoin-
tments to the Municipal
Court
• Proposition No 5
allows for the temporary
use of the previous
year’s budget in the
event council fails to ap
prove a budget prior to
the start of the fiscal
year
• Proposition No. 6
gives the city manager
sole responsibility for
hiring the city’s finance
director.
• Proposition No. 7
exempts from the com-
petitive bidding process
administrative pur-
chases up to the amount
of $5,000.
Another city gover-
nment happening was
the passing of Senate Bill
595 which will make it
easier ior Bellaire
residents to pay for the
cost of tying in to new
sewer lines that Bellaire
is currently installing
Since the bill will amend
the Texas Constitution,
voter approval on
November 8 will be
required
City personnel
changes during the year
saw Assistant City
Manager Bill Gaither
leave for Gainesville to
become that city's City
Manager. Pat Lilly,
Director of Operations in
West University was
hired in his place. In
December. City
Manager King Cole ap-
pointed Rufus Summers
as the city’s new Fire
Chief. Chief Summers
was confirmed by the
city council and
assumed his duties on
December 7
Also in December,
Parks and Recreation
Director Bob Zeimer
was hired to fill the
position of Charles
Cowan who left to take a
similar post in Kilgore.
Texas. Five year Public
Works Director Roger
Herod submitted his
resignation in April and
retired to his lake home
Bellaire City Council members from left to right are: Councilpersons Sam
McKinney, Keith Wolilford. Barbara Young. J.G. Webster Jr.. Martha S l.ane,
Bill Repass and Mayor Bill Berry hill
near Palestine. Texas
The position is currently
unfilled.
Several community
improvements stood out
among the others over
the year, including the
opening of the Southwest
YMCA’s new pool, in
June, and the dedication
by the Bellaire Pilot
Club of a memorial Rose
Garden for Hannah
Niday in May. The gar-
den is located near the
fountain on the
esplanade at 2nd Street
and Bellaire Boulevard
Hannah Niday founded
Hannah Niday Florist
and was a charter mem-
ber of the Pilot Club.
Another improvement
in the form of service to
the community was the
completion of the first
phase ol an $8 million
renovation and recon
struction at Bellaire
General Hospital in
May Completed in just
over a year, the new
construction includes: a
new Emergency Center,
complete with two major
trauma rooms, one ortho
room, one gynecological
room and four obser-
vation beds
Also added were a new
surgery area, one out-
patient/dental operating
room, a cystoscopic
room and a seven bed
recovery room
As for business in
Bellaire. two major hap
penings include the sale
of the controversial
Duddlesten property and
the recent layoff of 1,000
Prudential employees
Developer Wayne
Duddlesten’s patience
finally wore thin,
causing him to abandon
his plans to place an
Continued on Page 14
Bellaire birth was 81 years ago
Bellaire Founder WAV. Baldwin
Bellaire this year is
celebrating its 65th bir-
thday as an incorporated
city, however the real
birth of Bellaire goes
back HI years ago to a
time when an Ohio
railroad executive made
a visit to a broad stretch
ol prairie southwest of
Houston and liked what
he saw
Bellaire’s founder was
W W. Baldwin, vice
president of the Burling-
ton Railroad, who in 1902
came to “Houston by the
Sea" to look around All
railroads of the south
and southwest led to
Houston and Baldwin
soon realized he had
found what he came for
His first venture was
the Westmoreland Ad
dition. a residential sec-
tion four blocks long and
two blocks wide bounded
by West Alabama.
Louisiana. Hawthorne
and Garrott Streets in
the Montrose area
The development was
so successful that he
began to look around for
more land and in 1909
bought the 9,700 acre
Jim DeMoss Ranch
which was located off the
end of Old South Main
To help him sell the
property he hired two
good real estate brokers
A J Condit and A A
Buxton They advertised
the land in tracts of from
one to five and ten acres,
at prices ranging from
$275 to $600 per acre,
one-fifth in cash and four
annual payments. Three
thousand acres were fir-
st put on the market
The new community
needed a name and since
the land was fanned by
the bel-air (fine air) off
the Gulf of Mexico, the
name of his hometown.
Bellaire, Ohio, was quite
appropriate The
original iimits of the
community were
Palmetto. Jessamine,
First and Sixth Streets.
Baldwin first attacked
the problem of drainage
and it was a real
problem back then He
hired C H. Crowell in
1909 to come down from
his job of budding levies
on the Mississippi to
supervise the digging of
the main drainage dit
ches.
That same year Bald
win hired Lloyd A An-
derson and his two sons.
Lute and Clarence to
erect fences along the
Old Richmond Road and
Bellaire Blvd to keep
the cows out
Public tran-
sportation arr-
ived in 1910 with
the horse drawn
trolley line from
Houston.
The first residents
were John Martin and
his son. F.A. Teamsters
They came in December
of 1908 and lived in a tent
for several months on
their property at the in
tersection of Rice Ave
and the railroad tracks
Several years later they
opened up the West
moreland Farm Dairy
Edward Teas Sr came
next In 1906 the florist
was visiting in Houston
and bought a piece of
property in Pasadena,
planted it with citrus
trees and went back
home to Joplin, Missou-
ri In 1908 he came back
down to see his property
and later brought his
family with him He
looked the Bellaire area
over and figure the grass
was greener here.
He and his family
moved into the Ander-
sons home while his
home, a two story brown
frame house, was being
built on Bellaire Blvd.
At first he dealt
mainly in citrus trees
because a great many
people from up north
were buying property
near Houston and plan-
ting orchards However
they didn’t count on
Texas’ blue northers and
on Thanksgiving Day.
1912 a hard freeze hit and
destroyed all the trees in
the area. Mr Teas then
concentrated on his
growing nursery
business.
More and more people
were beginning to move
into the small com-
munity and Leroy Coats
was named the first
unofficial constable As
a boy he contacted
thvphoid fever which left
him deaf. His main job
was to ride the fence
lines and keep the stray
cattle from coming into
town. His salary was
paid mainly by the fines
imposed on the owners of
the cattle he rounded up
In 1911 Clarence and
Lute Anderson put in the
first light and water
plants and big business
began to come into the
area A Colonel Bates
built a two-story struc-
ture. a combination hoiei
and general store in 1911
at 5100 Cedar which was
soon brought by C.R
Munger who converted it
into a home for his
family, but kept the
general store He was
Bellaire's first post-
master and was later
bought out by Leon
Rosner and his two sons
I/eon and Bryant.
Public transportation
arrived in 1910 with the
horse drawn trolley line
from Houston which
terminated at the inter-
section of Rice and
Bellaire Blvd
One of the first com-
munity projects was the
organization of a Sunday
School The Union Sun-
day School was housed in
a small building at the
corner of Cedar and
Second and in the early
days ministers from dif-
ferent churches in
Houston were invited out
to preach.
Continued on Page 8
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Herrera, Nick. The Texan (Bellaire, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 51, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 27, 1983, newspaper, July 27, 1983; Bellaire, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth638404/m1/3/?q=waco+tornado: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Bellaire Friends Library & Historical Society.