City Addresses Town Creek Drainage Project

We've mentioned the Town Creek drainage project in the past, as has the Item, and it's popped up again there as revealed in this June 7 article.  SHSU purchased property in this area (15 acres at 615 16th Street) in 2012.

Fire Station No. 2 Scheduled To Reopen In February

The Jan. 25 edition of the Item discusses the renovations to Fire Station #2 and provides some interesting history of the original building:

Art Walk, Gallery To Bring SHSU Art Culture To Downtown

News at Today@Sam regarding the Student Art Association's third annual Art Walk in downtown Huntsville plus a new gallery space:

Gibbs-Powell House at 150

This September the Gibbs-Powell House in Huntsville will celebrate its sesquicentennial, as the Item reports:

The Walker County Historical Commission serves in maintaining the upkeep of the establishment which is a Texas Archaeological Landmark and Historical Landmark. The house, which now functions as a museum, was originally built in 1862 by businessman Thomas Gibbs in the Greek revival style. Gibbs modeled the house after his brother’s across the street which was nearly identical. The building still features much of the original furniture and qualities that it did in the 1860s. The glass window panes and square pillars seen on the exterior of the structure are essential to that of the Greek revival style.  Although it has gone through many changes, the Walker County Historical Commission has left it unchanged in order to preserve some of the town’s most important history.

In its 150 years, the house has served as a home for the Gibbs-Powell families, board for females attending Sam Houston Normal Institute in the nineteenth century, and a museum for modern Huntsville to take a look at the history of its town.

For those keeping track, the house is about a decade younger than Austin Hall (1851-2) and fifteen years younger than the oldest building on the SHSU campus, Sam Houston's Woodlawn Home (1847).

Around Huntsville

The Huntsville Item notes the growth around the SHSU as #6 in the top 10 Stories of 2010:

Among the milestones the university celebrated this year: a new president, Dana Gibson, who has said she intends to continue policies and programs initiated by James Gaertner; an increase in campus and online enrollment, growth on its satellite campuses in The Woodlands and Tomball; a basketball team that won the Southland Conference championship, and the grand opening of a performing arts center for its new College of Fine Arts and Mass Communications.

SHSU also has been stepping up its game in research and development as well. In 2010, SHSU patented a potentially life-saving wastewater treatment purification process that university officials hope will save millions of lives.

It also managed to raise $62 million in funds during its first ever Capital Campaign, exceeding its goal of $50 million.

The Hometown USA series of the Los Angeles Times features Huntsville:

The prison system is one of the biggest employers in Huntsville (note to the unemployed: they're hiring), and practically everyone in town falls within a couple degrees of separation from someone who makes a living at a prison.

Still, many bristle at how death row has shaped the identity of Huntsville to outsiders. They point to Sam Houston State University, which has about 17,000 students, and the school's namesake, who was governor when Texas became a state and president when it was a republic.

Also, some information about the containment of Town Creek :

For years now, the City of Huntsville has had staff and City Council members brainstorming on a plan to fix Town Creek drainage issues. A newly received grant may be able to kick-start the process of replacing areas of the Town Creek drainage system that are currently old railroad cars that are rusting and falling apart.

“There are places where it has flooded so much we’re getting holes in the roads,” she said. “Back in the ‘60s, Town Creek was open. They decided to put in decommissioned railroad tanker cars and they welded them together and used rubber from old tires to seal them. Now, they’re starting to rust out.”

Areas along Bearkat Boulevard by the university are well-known in Huntsville as places to avoid during heavy rainfall because of flooding.

“You get one inch of rain and Bearkat floods,” McKibben said. “That’s the problem right there in a nutshell. Every time it does that, it messes with the roads and then we have to go fix the roads.”

Donation to library to honor Virginia Gibbs Smyth

The Huntsville Item reports the funding of "The Gathering Place" at the renovated and expanded Huntsville public library in memory of Virginia Gibbs Smyth:

The donation was by Mrs. Smyth’s children, Joseph P. Smyth, Mary Katherine Smyth Basquin, Virginia Smyth Low, and the First National Bank of Huntsville. The Gathering Place will be exactly what the name implies, a place where people come together near the front of the library and will be a focal point in our new space. Virginia Gibbs Smyth was the eldest child of Dr. James Philip Gibbs and Mary McAshan Gibbs. She was the great granddaughter of Sam Houston State College’s (now SHSU) second president, H.H. Smith.

During her long and generous life, Mrs. Smyth made many contributions to educational and children’s programs in Huntsville. She furnished the children’s reading room in the original public library in memory of her sister Sarah and gave a valuable ornithology collection to the library in memory of her father. SHSU has several scholarships within the College of Criminal Justice, the English department, and Journalism division given by Mrs. Smyth in memory of her parents and brother James Philip Gibbs Jr. An endowment in the Library Sciences division was established in her name by her son. In spite of the many years she spent in New York City, Mrs. Smyth never forgot her heritage in Huntsville. The Huntsville Public Library Friends are thrilled to be able to place the name of Virginia Gibbs Smyth in a central place within the library and the city which meant so much to her thanks to her children and the First National Bank of Huntsville’s gift of $20,000.

Huntsville and the Demisemiseptcentennial

The Huntsville Item reports on Tuesday, July 13, one day after celebrating its 175th Birthday, the city of Huntsville will bury a time capsule.

As the city prepares for its Demi-Semi-Sept-Centennial* Celebration, the public is invited to prepare submissions for placement in the time capsule. The capsule will be placed on the grounds of City Hall at 9 a.m. on that Tuesday, and will be re-opened 25 years later, when the city celebrates its bi-centennial on July 12, 2035.  Submissions will be accepted at City Hall through July 9, and all submissions must fit in a letter-size envelope or a CD jewel case. For more information, contact the City Secretary’s Office.

(* look it up.)

Let Not the Creaking Around Huntsville

Some road repair news out of Huntsville, courtesy the Item:

City OKs funds for Town Creek project (January 11)

The City of Huntsville will receive the necessary help to fill out a questionnaire that could earn the city an $11.1 million federal grant to fund its Town Creek Drainage Project.

City manager Bill Baine said there is a possibility of Sam Houston State University contributing $12,500 toward the cost of the study and Walker County has been approached about contributing $5,000, but he said he isn’t sure about the county contributing.

“I remain confident and optimistic that we’re going to get the grant, otherwise I wouldn’t ask for your money,” Baine said. “It’s our intention to open parts of it up and build a series of lakes, which over time become green features of our city.

“It makes a lot of sense. The water roars down off the hill and we’ve had 7th Street flood on an inch and a half rain, so what happens when we get an inch and a half in an hour. What happens when we get a big rain because the big rain is coming. It’s just a matter of time.

[Blaine] said Town Creek starts at Sam Houston State University and “they’re using Bearkat Boulevard as a retention pond. That needs to come to a halt. The city and the university’s cooperation is improving and I hope to be in a situation that the university accepts responsibility for their water and the city helps them dispose of it properly and then we give our residents a safe place to be and to the extent that we can turn it into a linear park."

Robinson Creek Work (January 11)

Work crews from several different City of Huntsville departments started working in late December on improving the infrastructure on a 2,000-foot stretch of Robinson Creek that runs through Raven Nest Golf Course and flows under the bridge crossing Veterans Memorial Parkway. Erosion of the creek’s banks was nearly exposing an 18-inch sewer line located next to the creek and just 2 feet deep. Project manager Tom Weger said they are restabilizing the embankments along the creek, placing rip-rap and dirt along the banks followed by old construction material and concrete from the transfer station. Weger said work is also scheduled under the Veterans Parkway bridge where erosion is taking place and needs to be filled in. Weger said water runoff from the Lake Road area is responsible for much of the erosion. He said the city is taking precautionary efforts to keep water and sewer lines along the creek from being washed out by the erosion and make sure they stay in tact.

Historical Commission to honor Gibbs for work at Pritchett House

From the December 20 Item:

The Walker County Historical Commission will present a preservation award to Mary Laura Gibbs of Huntsville for her restoration work on the historic Pritchett House on Tuesday, December 22 at 5:30 p.m. The presentation ceremony will be held at the home, located at 1322 Avenue O.

One of Huntsville oldest homes, the Pritchett House was built by Joseph Lucien Pritchett and his wife Lenora in 1892. The family moved to Huntsville in 1888 after Mr. Pritchett was named to the faculty of Sam Houston Normal Institute as a professor of mathematics. The Pritchett family owned the home, which they named “Oak Grove,” until 1945 when it was purchased by William Kellogg. Kellogg lived in the home until his death, and the home was sold to Gibbs by his estate in 2006.

City Celebrates Cultural Designation

From the November 13 edition of the Item:

The city of Huntsville celebrated its official designation as one of the State of Texas’ seven new cultural districts during a reception Thursday at the Katy and E. Don Walker Sr. Education Center.

The designation was officially presented to the city by Dr. Gary Gibbs, executive director of the Texas Commission on the Arts who was in attendance with commission’s deputy director Jim Bob McMillan.

“To receive this designation was a competitive process,” Gibbs said. “Huntsville was one of 30 cities who applied for this designation, and one of seven to receive it.”

The State’s Cultural Designation program is a new one, with the 2009 pilot program initiated by the TCA in December of 2008.

Huntsville’s cultural district includes of all the city’s downtown square area, as well as Oakwood Cemetery, the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, the Samuel Walker Houston Museum and Cultural Center, the Sam Houston State University campus, and more.

Today@Sam discussed the event prior to the ceremony.

W.S. Gibbs Home impressive structure

The August 7 edition of the Item discusses the recent removal of the W.S. Gibbs house and the city's other structures designed by the Harry Payne:

Despite adjoining one of the city’s busiest streets, the home has long been receding into obscurity, shrouded by trees and ivy. Its obscurity is now complete: in the past month, it was dismantled.

Designed by renowned Houston architect Harry Payne, the home typified the Colonial Revival style: a symmetrical structure, a tall, slender design with side chimney, paired windows on either side of the door, and a side porch on the second story.

As it fades to complete obscurity, perhaps passersby will pause for a minute on 11th Street and reflect on the old Gibbs Home and hope that Harry Payne’s other homes meet a better fate.

Note: Five other structures designed by Harry Payne still survive in Huntsville, each of which, like the Gibbs Home, has contributed to the city’s landscape.

[In 1931] SHSU President Harry Estill employed Payne to design his retirement home. This revival-style bungalow still stands at 1614 University and now houses the Episcopal Student Union.

Payne’s crowning achievement was the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, built in 1936, the 100th anniversary of the Texas Revolution. The museum, modeled after Jefferson’s Monticello, maintains an imposing presence in the center of town, amidst Sam Houston Park between the historic avenues and Sam Houston State University, not far off the downtown square.

Historical Group Celebrating 25 Years With Party

From the Item:

Charged with the task of researching and preserving local history, the Walker County Historical Commission has been the key to maintaining that history and educating residents and visitors alike about the area’s past. After several decades of service, the commission has become a part of the very history it treasures and will celebrate its 25th anniversary on Sunday with a party after their regular meeting at 3 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public, as are all of the WCHC meetings, which are held on the third Sunday of each month. All of the meetings, as well as the anniversary celebration, are held at the Gibbs-Powell House/Museum on 11th Street.

Book takes a historical look at Huntsville

From the Item:

Last year, Jeff Littlejohn partnered with the Walker County Historical Commission and began to research a book of photographs chronicling the story of Huntsville from its establishment to the mid-20th century.

The result is Huntsville, the latest installment in Arcadia Publishing’s “Images of America” series. The book will hit stores May 4.

Huntsville will be available May 4 at online bookstores and local bookstores. Author Jeff Littlejohn will be featured at a book signing at the Huntsville Hasting’s on May 30 from 1-3 p.m.

Today@Sam: Symposium to discuss Local, National History

Local students, scholars and community members will come together to discuss history and a wide range of other disciplines during the first Sam Houston Symposium on Saturday, February 28.

The all-day event, which will begin at 8:30 a.m., will bring presenters from across the state to the Katy and E. Don Walker, Sr., Education Center, for panel discussions on such topics as the Civil War, Huntsville’s prisoner of war camp during World War II, and civil rights stories from the Huntsville Latino community, as well as art, political science and archaeology.

Among the highlights of the program is a roundtable on local research and archival collections, during which people can learn where to research and how to share their family papers through a digitization project at the Newton Gresham Library. The panel will also include David Gerleman, an assistant editor of the “Papers of Abraham Lincoln,” who will not only discuss the collection but also a newly-discovered letter from Gen. Sam Houston’s brother William to Lincoln.

The Influence of Two

Nwlanews.com shares the history of the First United Methodist Church of Minden, Louisiana that was founded in 1839 (meaning they’re celebrating their 170th year). John Agan’s December 26 article focuses on the “careers and legacies of George Washington Bains, pastor of the church from 1845 until 1850 and William Carey Crane, pastor during 1861-62.” Each has some interesting Huntsville connections:

In 1850, the Bains family moved to Huntsville, Texas, where he preached and began a lifelong friendship with Sam Houston. It was after crossing the Sabine River and becoming a Texan that he added the “e” to his last name, for reasons unknown. From that point forward he was known as George Washington Baines. During his ministry in Texas he was the pastor of churches at Huntsville, Independence, Anderson, Fairfield, Springfield, Butler, Florence, and Salado.

Elsewhere:

William Carey Crane served as pastor of the Independence Baptist Church for eighteen years and was active in the Texas Baptist State Convention. He was a prolific author and wrote a classic biography of Sam Houston. Crane was the first president of the Texas State Teachers Association and was chairman of the committee that recommended the founding of Sam Houston Normal Institute (now Sam Houston State University). He was a leader in the reorganization of the Texas public school system after Reconstruction.

Item: Winter lock-in planned at library

From the January 27 issue of the Item:

The Huntsville Public Library, in collaboration with the Walker County Genealogical Society, will host its annual Winter Genealogy Lock-In February 8 from 12:30-6 p.m. at the library.

The event is open to the public and free of charge, and is geared toward giving amateur genealogists a chance to consult with and gain information from members of the genealogical society, who will be on hand throughout the event.

People attending the event will have the opportunity to research using the full resources of the library and the Johnnie Jo Sowell Dickenson Genealogy Room, which contains hundreds of books, microfilms and maps from Walker County, the State of Texas and beyond.

Today@Sam: Exhibit Shows History Of 19th Century Homes

The Sam Houston Memorial Museum will tour some of Walker and Montgomery counties’ prime real estate during the 1800s with a photo exhibit beginning July 17.

“Mudcats and Dogtrots: Historic Log Buildings in Walker and Montgomery Counties,” includes approximately 45 pictures, that will be on display through Aug. 31 in the Katy and E. Don Walker, Sr., Education Center.

Taken by museum curator of exhibits David Wight and borrowed from Walker County Treasures, the photographs highlight the structural details of houses that were once so common they weren’t carefully documented, Wight said.

These structural details include not only differences in the way cabins were “notched” and whether round or square logs were used, but also how the fireplaces were built—with mudcats, a special kind of mud—and the dogtrots, the open but covered central breezeway that separated two “pens” or “cribs.”

“Many dogtrot log houses evolved from a single log structure; as the family expanded, a second crib was added,” according to Gordon Echols’s book “Early Texas Architecture.” “The name dog run is derived from the fact that the family dogs found the shade and the breeze during the summer as comfortable as did the residents.”

Inside the Bear Bend Hunting Lodge, built in 1850, where Gen. Sam Houston often stayed while hunting.

While some of the pictures in the exhibit date back to around 1896, many of the cabins that are part of the exhibit are dated as early as the 1830s, according to museum director Patrick Nolan.

Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.

The Walker Education Center is located at 1409 19th St.

For more information, visit the Sam Houston Memorial Museum online.

Item: Historical marker dedicated at Rather Memorial Park

From the May 17 edition of the Item: A City of Huntsville historical marker was dedicated at the Rawley Samuel Rather Memorial Park at the corner of University Avenue and 13th Street.

The park is located on the home site of Rawley Samuel Rather and his wife, Mary Caroline Henry — lifetime Huntsville residents — and their five children — Marian Leigh, Rawley Goss, John Henry, who died in infancy, Edward Seay and John Henry.

The Rathers’ oldest child, Marian Leigh, was the first woman elected to the local school board and served as the Walker County chairman of the women’s suffrage movement. Marian Leigh was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She taught math of Sam Houston Normal (later Sam Houston State University) and wrote the college song for homecoming in 1910.

The house was demolished in 1977, and the Rather-Powell family made the site available to the City of Huntsville for a downtown park in 1979.

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Today@Sam: Exhibit Reflects ‘Past, Present, Future’

he Political Science Junior Fellows and Huntsville Main Street are showing the “past, present and future” of the city with an art exhibit in the Lowman Student Center Gallery.

“University Corridor: Past, Present and Future” features more than 100 historic photographs, dozens of contemporary photographs specially commissioned for this project and several renderings of future possibilities for the area between downtown Huntsville and SHSU, according to junior fellows adviser and political science visiting professor Mike Yawn.

The “corridor” is an ideal focal point because it “is Huntsville’s street,” said Huntsville Main Street director Harold Hutcheson.

“It was originally called ‘Main Street,’ and for 160 years, it has been a vibrant part of the city,” he said. “We hope to celebrate its rich history.”

The exhibit’s photos date back to 1863 and include such landmarks as the Walker County Courthouse; the district attorney’s office; Rather Park; Old Main; and the Rogers-Baird home, the oldest extant dwelling in Huntsville; the Wynne Home; Gibbs-Powell Home; Sam Houston Memorial Museum; and City Hall.

Local photographers Melody Gathright and Dena Shipley contributed to the exhibit by donating “their time and talents and were wonderful assets to the project,” Yawn said.

Another part of the city’s “past, present and future,” Huntsville’s nine living mayors, will be in attendance at the exhibit’s reception on Monday (April 14), from 5:30-7 p.m. in the gallery.

The exhibit will run through April 25.

Today@Sam: Planning Experts To Open House For Master Plan Input

Sam Houston State University students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to voice their opinions on the direction the university should head in terms of construction during a second campus master plan open house on Jan. 22.

The informal session will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Mall Area.

Participants will be asked to identify issues regarding parking, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, buildings and facilities, open space, and the surrounding community.

The input received will aid the consultant team in identifying issues important to the university community, according to John McCroskey, associate director for the Physical Plant.

“We’re trying to get a vision so we’re not surprising the (Texas State University Board of) Regents every time we turn around,” he said. “It tells us in ballpark numbers what the budget needs to be for the next 10 years.”

The plan will be submitted by campus planning specialists JJR, which will establish a 10-year plan with a 20-year look ahead, McCroskey said.

The process is anticipated to be completed by July, in time for the TSUS Board of Regents meeting in August.

SHSU’s current master plan was established in 2000.

According to McCroskey, the current plan didn’t anticipate the enrollment surge the university has undergone in the past few years, and everything that could be done with it has already been completed.