BRUNNER, TEXAS

An “Absorbed” Ghost Town

Texas Ghost Town
Harris County, Texas Gulf Coast

About 3 Miles W of Downtown Houston
Between Memorial Park and the Heights
Population: Included in Houston

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History on a Pinhead

Founded along the tracks of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad in the late 1880s, the community once had its own post office but mail service was re-routed through Houston and the post office closed in 1905. (See 1907 Harris County postal map) The town peaked as a separate community with a population of 500 but by 1915 it was considered part of Houston.

Brunner, TX

by Bruce Martin

Not all “Ghost Towns” are evacuated and evolve into decay. Some are absorbed by the growth of adjacent cities.

Brunner is an area within Houston that was at one time a distinct community. It was located in west central Harris County, along the Houston and Texas Central Railway and 3 miles west of Houston. In 1895, Brunner’s population was 500 and it had a Baptist college, a public school, a German school, two churches, and a saloon. By 1888, a post office existed. The community had 200 residents in 1894. In 1905, the post office closed and the post office in Houston handled the community’s mail service. During that year, the community had 402 people. By 1915, the City of Houston took over what was Brunner and it was no longer considered a community distinct from Houston. [Kleiner, Diana J., “Handbook of Texas”]

Camp Logan in Houston
TE postcard

Located in Houston’s Sixth Ward, the area is directly east of the former Camp Logan, a World War I Army Training Camp. In August, 1917, there was a riot among black soldiers and the local police. (Details of the event can be retrieved from the “Camp Logan Riot” internet site.) Following the altercation, my uncle recovered a bayonet within blocks of his residence. The Camp Logan grounds are now within Houston’s Memorial Park. One stretch of road, leading to the golf course, remains in original condition. Some chunks of concrete building foundations and extensive trenches used in training exercises still remain in the heavily-forested park.

It is unclear whether an overlay of the Brunner area limits with current maps would indicate its relationship with the now Houston Heights, a region located four miles northwest of downtown Houston. As reported in National Geographic on Foot, “stroll the area’s broad tree-canopied esplanades and side streets dotted with homes dating from the early 1900’s and you may think you have landed in a small town. Residents wave cheerful greetings as they walk dogs or tend to gardens exploding with palms, crepe myrtle trees, and trumpet vines”.

Adjacent to the south lies the area referred to as “West End”, a neighborhood located along the Washington Avenue Corridor. Traditionally a working class neighborhood, recent development has increased the population density. The official boundaries of West End are Durham Drive to the west, Washington Avenue to the south, I-10 to the north, and Yale Street to the east. Both my paternal and maternal grandparents lived in West End during the 1930’s.

Raymond Knipple had a shop filled with machines dating from World War I. All of the equipment ran from ONE electric motor connected to the various machines by shafts, pulleys, and leather belts descending from the ceiling. To sharpen a chisel, all machines ran! In the late 1950’s, he built a stagecoach, a surrey with the fringe on top, and a “cut-under” for the film industry, used in movies. The hardware and disassembled pieces came from two sources: the Amish in Pennsylvania and from Austria. The wagon wheels were handcrafted by Raymond. [Contributed by: Thomas G. Mazzu, Houston]

West End is a part of Super Neighborhood 22, an organized collection of neighborhood civic groups that voices their neighborhood’s interests to various local issues and situations. North of Houston Heights is an area referred to as “Shady Acres”.

© Bruce Martin
May 9, 2012

Harris County 1907 Postal Map showing tracks of the HTC Railroad, but absence of Brunner
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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