Long before the Katy Mills Mall bustled with customers, the Katy rice mills watched over the area. Earlier still, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) railroad traversed the fertile prairie near Cane Island Creek.
Archive | Military and War
Follow
Rise, Decline, and Rebirth of the Cullen Rifles
The sound of hands clasping the wooden stocks of 1903 Springfield rifles echoed loudly across the field as a crowd of Houston Cougars football fans watched. Thirty young men, all dressed in their pink and green military dress uniforms, were executing the Queen Anne’s Drill—a complex rifle maneuver that required high levels of discipline and […]
An American Chinese in Houston
E. K. T. Chen spent half his life a Texan and died a patriot in Washington, DC, on October 16, 1957, while preventing Chinese internment during the Korean War. This is the story of the extraordinary things accomplished by this ordinary son of Chinese immigrants that benefited all Americans, and my efforts to continue his […]
From “Tom Brown” to Mykawa Road
In 2012, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University declared Houston to be the most diverse city in the nation, replacing Los Angeles and New York at the top of the list. Of the nearly 2.1 million people in the city, fewer than 130,000 were Asians according to the 2010 Census, with Japanese […]
The Pinoys of Bayou City
The history of Filipinos in the southern United States stretches back to the mid-eighteenth century, when burgeoning trade routes between the two lands encouraged small numbers of Filipino migrants to settle in some of their first enclaves in the Americas.
Fragas: A Hundred Years in the East End
The decedents of Felix A. Fraga and Angela Zamarron became business owners, judges, and elected officials, all well known in the East End and the larger Houston area. Growing up, I had heard bits and pieces of our family’s history, but some of the stories seemed to be hearsay. It became my mission to paint […]
Blue-Water Ships, Brown-Water Bayou: Wartime Construction 1941-1945
Long before its formal entry into the Second World War in December 1941, the United States was actively supporting Great Britain and its allies in the struggle against Germany through the Lend-Lease program and other efforts. Part of this assistance was the U.S. Maritime Commission’s decision in late 1940 to accept a contract to build […]
Lt. Gen. A. D. Bruce: Mixing Military and Education
The campus-wide “Student Activities” page in the Student Life section of the University of Houston website reads, “Wherever your passions lie, you’re sure to find a match among UH’s 400+ organizations, fraternities, leadership programs and other groups.” Passion, defined by Merriam-Webster as a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something, obviously is alive and […]
Museum: Buffalo Soldiers, A Nation’s History
By Jessica Denise Mitchell Today, when anyone can serve in the military regardless of color, religion, or sexual preference, many people tend to forget about a time when African Americans first earned the right to enlist in the military. Given the name Buffalo Soldiers by Native Americans because of their fierce fighting ability, these African […]
A Sharp Fight
Days after the Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter in April 1861, President Lincoln declared a blockade of ports in the seceded states. The blockade represented a key part of the North’s “Anaconda” strategy, designed to isolate the Confederacy from trade and foreign assistance, slowly squeezing the life out of the rebellion.