Houston Independent School District Superintendent Dr. E. E. Oberholtzer’s concept for Houston Junior College was arguably the University of Houston’s first great visionary aspiration. In 1951, UH President Dr. Walter Kemmerer brought another visionary concept to the university, a proposal for an educational television station.
As the University of Houston has made its push for Tier One status, what many people do not realize is that since the 1960s UH has been building a Tier One art collection that is one of the city’s best kept secrets.
Although Houston may be known for its many cultural and art museums, the handiwork of local artists can also be found in a not-so-usual location – school and neighborhood SPARK Parks, which grew from one woman’s inspiration.
Moody Park stands four miles north of downtown in the heart of what Houstonians now call the Near Northside, an area that grew up in the 1890s, largely around the Southern Pacific rail yards. Development of the Irvington Addition, where Moody Park is located, started in the 1920s and continued into the 1930s. European immigrants, […]
Many people do not realize that a cultural phenomenon has revolved around square dancing in Houston for almost seventy years. Square dance is a folk dance with four couples positioned in a square. Couples 1 and 3 are known as head couples, and couples 2 and 4 are known as side couples. A caller, who […]
For over seventy years the River Oaks Theater has operated at 2009 West Gray in Houston’s affluent River Oaks community. Although the theater has changed over the years, it remains an integral part of Houston, the city’s culture and history, and of the movie industry in the second half of the twentieth century. The River […]
In the 1940s, young Irma González Galvan moved with her family from Brownsville, Texas to Houston’s Second Ward. As children, Irma’s brothers shined shoes, while Irma and her sister worked at their school cafeteria and neighboring bakeries in order to help their mother. These early experiences, combined with later work in retail, and the desire […]
Robert L. Waltrip founded the National Museum of Funeral History in 1992 in order to “educate the public and preserve the heritage of death care.” Waltrip’s family founded the Heights Funeral Home in Houston, Texas, and Waltrip became director upon his father’s untimely death. He expanded the business, Service Corporation International, into what is today […]
Houston: Nuestra Historia Vol. 9, No. 1 (Fall 2011) Download PDF Letter from Guest Editor Natalie Garza 2 La Colonia Mexicana: A History of Mexican Americans in Houston by Jesus Jesse Esparza 9 Trailblazers in Houston’s East End: The Impact of Ripley House and the Settlement Association on Houston’s Hispanic Population by Thomas […]
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