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BELLAIRE, TEXAS
Harris County, Texas
Gulf Coast
29° 42' 25.54"N, 95° 28' 2.59" W (29.707094, -95.467386)
6 Miles SW of Downtown Houston
On Loop 610
Bordered by Houston on
three sides
and West University Place to the East
Population: 18,971 Est. (2019)
16,855 (2010) 15,642 (2000)
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Electric streetcar
TE photo, December 2007 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
The city of Bellaire was once a ranch belonging to William
Marsh Rice, the founder of Rice University. The ranch was bought
in 1908 and subdivided by the South End Land Company, whose president
was William Wright Baldwin. Baldwin was also vice-president of the
Burlington Railroad and is said to have named Bellaire after a town
in Ohio.
The property was barely more than prairie, but Baldwin invested in
infrastructure and improvements, hoping to lure northern residents
down to live and farm on small plots. Part of Baldwin’s improvements
included the construction of Bellaire Boulevard which remains a direct
conduit to Houston’s
Main Street and the Texas Medical Center.
The Westmoreland Railroad Company operated an electric streetcar (shown
above) down the center of Bellaire Boulevard from late 1910 until
September,1927. The car on display is not an original, but a representative
model – purchased in Portugal in the 1980s.
In 1910 Missouri horticulturist Edward Teas opened his nursery on
Bellaire Boulevard – a business still there on the eastern edge of
town. A post office was granted in 1911.
In June of 1918 Bellaire obtained a city charter. The population at
that time was a mere 200, but by 1940 it had grown to 1,124.
Houston annexed the properties
surrounding Bellaire on the last day of 1948. The following April
Bellaire adopted a mayoral – city council type of government. The
population had risen to over 10,000 by 1950 and the city remained
primarily a residential community with the exception of light business
and some expanded corporate building from the late 70s and early 80s.
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Bellaire Trolley
TE photo, December 2007 |
1920s map showing
Bellaire in SW Harris
County
(Click on image to enlarge)
From Texas state map #10749
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
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