Harris County Historical Society

WEDNESDAY, March 13, 2024

An Evening with Kyle Stallones and "A Glimpse of Tomball."

The Tomball area of North Harris County and South Montgomery County is rich in history and stories! We will journey through time as we explore historical events and places and remembrances of families living in this area.  Beginning in the late 1960s, the Tomball Museum Center of the Spring Creek County Historical Association took a significant role in the 1960s in collecting historical buildings and stories of area residents.  Last year, we began a Tomball Oral History project, documenting some of the memories of area families.  We invite you to walk with us on a journey through time to glimpse our area!

Kyle’s grandfather, BE Stallones, moved from the Heights to Tomball in 1929 to start a dairy farm.  Kyle was born at the old Tomball Hospital on the East side of town.  After graduating from Tomball High, Kyle graduated from Texas A&M University (Economics).  After working a few years at Tomball Tractor Co., Kyle attended the University of Texas School of Law.  Kyle then lived and worked as a lawyer in Houston for 31 years.  Upon retirement, Kyle and his wife Lynn moved back to their hometown of Tomball, where Kyle now keeps busy by volunteering with the Tomball Museum Center.  

Social Time- 6:00
Dinner - 6:30
Program - 7:00

RSVP Required
Guests $50

The Houston Racquet Club - 6 pm
Make your March 13 dinner reservation online.


WEDNESDAY, February 14, 2024

An Evening with Dr. Larry Mallette
and the “Early Houstonian Dr. George Fisher:
A Remarkable Life of Service and Adventure.”

SYNOPSIS
George Fisher, the first Serbian known to immigrate to the USA (1815), was classically educated and spoke sixteen European languages. He was a citizen of Hungary, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the USA. He strove to serve his government and others wherever he lived, always opposing despotic rule and advocating democracy. Some consider him a villain in Texas history for his brief role as the tax collector for the Mexican government at Anahuac during the disturbance of 1832. However, Fisher was banished from Mexico in 1835 for editorials criticizing Santa Ana for abandoning the 1824 Constitution. He then advocated vigorously from his base in New Orleans for the Anglo settlement of Tejas and Texas independence. He settled in Texas in 1837, where he became a Houston city council member, member of the bar, and advocate for statehood. 1846-47, he ran the new Texas Land Commission in Austin. Dr. Mallette will review Fisher's life and contributions as a politician, linguist, lawyer, judge, and ambassador.

Dr. Larry Mallette grew up in Tennessee, where he attended Vanderbilt University, earning a BA in Chemistry, an MD, and a PhD in Physiology. After residencies at Massachusetts General Hospital and the National Institutes of Health, he moved to Houston, where he taught and researched from 1974-1998 as an Associate Professor in Endocrinology at Baylor College of Medicine. He practiced privately in Houston from 1998-2011. Now retired, Larry enjoys spending time with his nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. His interests include music and genealogy. He has played Irish flute in several Irish bands and a duo with his wife, professional harpist Therese Honey. Larry's interest in genealogy came from his grandfather, who in the 1950s tracked his Mallett family tree back to Virginia in 1699 and happened to discover that one of Larry's third great-grandfathers was the adventurous Serbian-Texian who is the subject of this talk



WEDNESDAY, December 13, 2023

An Evening with Andy Smith, offers his insights about
the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site.

San Jacinto Battleground has been memorialized as sacred ground since shortly after the battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Those efforts to remember the men who fought in the Texas Revolution took a grandiose step during the centennial celebrations in 1936 with the beginning of the construction of the San Jacinto Monument. Using construction methods that were groundbreaking at the time and a labor force put together under the W.P.A., construction was completed in 3 years, with construction beginning and ending on April 21st (1936 and 1939, respectively).  The Monument was and remains the tallest memorial column in the world, reinforcing that everything is bigger in Texas!

 

Presented by-
Andy Smith (Jason Andrew Smith) is a native Houstonian, US Army veteran, and graduate of the University of Houston.  He is happily married with three teenagers (please pray for me!) and is currently the Site Manager of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. He graduated from South Houston High School and tried college for a year or so but decided he needed some help from his Uncle Sam. He spent five years in the US Army and was stationed in Colorado, Korea, and Killeen. Upon completing his active-duty service, he returned to Houston, re-enrolled at U of H, and joined the Texas Army National Guard. After graduating in 2000 with a degree in anthropology (archaeology focus) and completing his service with the TxANG,  he began working in museums and as a field archaeologist. In 2006, he became the site manager for Battleship TEXAS until he transferred to San Jacinto Battlegrounds in 2019.

The Houston Racquet Club - 6 pm
Make your December 13 dinner reservation


WEDNESDAY, November 8, 2023

An Evening with Dan Becker
and What is the History that is “Around La Porte”

The history of La Porte and its neighboring communities is laden with important events and personalities. Pioneers began settling the area 10 years before Texas won its independence from Mexico; the land that was to become the cities of Morgan's Point, Shoreacres, Lomax, and La Porte was home to such Texas luminaries as Gen. Sidney Sherman, Gov. Ross Sterling, Andrew Jackson Houston, and James Morgan. The area's beauty attracted legions of summer visitors, including Sam Houston and Dr. Ashbel Smith. Years later, Texas oil pioneers looked to the shores of La Porte's Galveston Bay to build summer places. La Porte was legally organized on January 1, 1892.

Dan Becker, past president of the La Porte Bay Area Heritage Society and the Harris County Historical Society, has written several books on the area.

The Houston Racquet Club - 6 pm
Make your November 8th dinner reservation



TUESDAY, October 3, 2023

The Centennial Celebration


The Harris County Historical Society celebrated their 100th anniversary with a gala held at The Junior League.

Story Sloane III, and Ron Stone, Jr spoke about the expansive evolution of Harris County in the past 100 years.

Charles Fitch, (treasurer) presented the innuagural Harris County Hisorical Society Scholarship Award of Excellence to two University of Houston History students: Emily Morgan Harris and Megan Ruth Dagnal.


 

WEDNESDAY, September 13, 2023

An Evening with Story Sloane III

Story Sloane III's dedication to preserving Houston's visual history through the Sloane Collection of historic photography is commendable. With such a vast archive of photographs, it's understandable that he might find it difficult to choose just one favorite. His presentation is sure to be enlightening and entertain-ing, taking you back in time through the eyes of
professional photographers in Houston.

Download the pdf of the program

The Houston Racquet Club - 6 pm

Make your May dinner reservation


 

WEDNESDAY, May 10, 2023

An Evening on the History of the Memorial Park Area
Featuring Shellye Arnold and Jaime Gonzalez

Shellye Arnold is President and CEO of the Memorial Park Conservancy. She is a graduate of UT at Austin and holds a master’s in public policy from Princeton. Shellye joined the Conservancy in 2013 and, with her staff, Board, project partners, and design team, has led the transformation of Memorial Park. She will speak on the park's cultural history, and how it relates to the land itself and will bring us up to date on evolving endeavors regarding Camp Logan.

Jaime González, M.Ed. Community and Equitable Conservation Director, The Nature Conservancy in Texas  He is an award-winning conservationist, educator, communicator, and network who works with community partners to co-create healthier, more climate-ready, more equitable, and wildlife-rich places using nature-based solutions. He also works to ensure that TNC-Texas provides more equitable outcomes and that more Texans can both participate and benefit from conservation work. Mr. González earned an M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction-Science Education and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Houston. 

The Houston Racquet Club - 6 pm

Make your May dinner reservation


 

WEDNESDAY, April 12, 2023

An Evening with Chuck Chandler:
The History of Baytown
1822 to Present

The early history of Baytown is intertwined with the early history of Texas. The first president of the Republic of Texas, David G. Burnet, and two-time president Sam Houston both lived in the neighborhood. Dr. Ashbel Smith, Texas ambassador to France and England, first president of the University of Texas in Austin, and a founder of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, called Goose Creek home. After the last president of Texas, Anson Jones, committed suicide, his widow Mary Jones moved here with their children. She later helped form the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and served as its first president. The major industry in the 1800s was timber and brick making, and over a 100-year period, up to 12 million bricks a year were made on Cedar Bayou and shipped to Galveston, where many buildings built with these bricks still stand. In 1908, the industry became oil with the discovery of the Goose Creek oil field, which, for a while, was the largest producing field in Texas. Because of the proximity to the oil field and access to shipping, the huge Humble Oil Refinery was built at Baytown, and started up in 1920. 

From the 1920s through the 1940s, the towns of Baytown, Goose Creek, and Pelly comprised what was known as the Tri-Cities. The towns consolidated and, in 1948, voted in a new city charter establishing the city of Baytown. At the time, Baytown was the second largest city in Harris County. Since 1948, the communities of Cedar Bayou and Wooster have been taken into the city. 

The Houston Racquet Club - 6 pm

Make your April dinner reservation

 


 

WEDNESDAY, March 8, 2023

An Evening with Jim Bailey, Houston historian
and documentary filmmaker.

A Fascinating Visual History
A visual presentation on the history and restoration of the 1910 Harris County Courthouse and other Historic Texas County Courthouses. Listed on the national register of historic places, the Harris County 1910 Courthouse is the cornerstone of houston’s downtown judicial campus. This 162,360-square-foot, six-story palladian-style domed courthouse is considered one of the most significant judicial buildings in Texas. Before its restoration, the 1910 courthouse was dark and dreary, with inefficient use of space and outmoded technology. Jim will discuss this phenomenal renovation.

Make your March 8th dinner reservation click here

The Houston Racquet Club - 6 pm


 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2023

An Evening with Alison Ayres Bell

Executive Director, The Heritage Society

The Heritage Society (THS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1954 whose mission is to tell the stories of the diverse history of Houston and Texas through collections, exhibits, the arts, educational programs, film, video, and other content.

The Houston Racquet Club - 6 pm

Make your February 8th dinner reservation click here

 


WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2022

An Evening with Louis F. Aulbach

The Houston Racquet Club

Inside Camp Logon

 

 


WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER, 2022

An Evening with Meg Booth

The Houston Racquet Club

A talk on Jesse H. Jones and his legacy in the Houston Arts Scene"

 


WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022

An Evening with David Falloure

The Houston Racquet Club

Railroads and the Post of Houston

 

 


WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

An Evening with Dan Worrall

The Houston Racquet Club

The discovery of Bowser Mound, a Houston Area Cultural Treasure, and a Southwestern Outpost of Eastern Woodlands Culture.

 


TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2022

The Amazing Mickey Herskowitz

The Village of Tanglewood

Milton Leon "Mickey" Herskowitz (born April 4, 1933 in Houston, Texas) is an American journalist and biographer. He has written more than 50 books and has published autobiographies with several athletes. He was a sportswriter and columnist for the Houston Post and the Houston Chronicle, and a former ghost writer for George W. Bush.


TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

Crossing Paths with Texas Oilmen
from the beginning - A Bludworth
Family History

The Village of Tanglewood

 



TUESDAY, FEBRUAY 8, 2022

An Evening with
Dr. Kenneth L. Brown

The Village of Tanglewood

 

 


TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2021

An Evening with Robert Sakowitz

The Village of Tanglewood

He inherited the family stores. He gave them glitz and flash and brought the hottest European styles to Texas. He wanted to grow, and he did. But he went too far and he went too fast.

 



TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2021

An Evening with Margaret Culbertson and the William J. Hill

The Village of Tanglewood

The Incredible William J. Hill’s Texas Artisans & Artists Archive” is a treasure trove for those who love Texas history. We are excited to hear Margaret Culbertson, the Director of the Kitty King Powell Library and Study Center at the Bayou Bend Collections and Gardens, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2021

An Evening with Jonathan Day and Scenic Houston

Harris County Historical Society - Online event

 

 


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

An Evening with David Falloure
and Nautical Texas

Online Event

Texas is known for vast open spaces, cattle, and oil. But few are aware that there is a nautical Texas, and Houston is at the heart of it with a rich history driven by our port that stretches back to the days of our state's independence. And part of that story inspired Counterclockwise, a novel set in the terrifying first year after Pearl Harbor. David Falloure will talk about Houston's port and how it was crucial to the US war effort--more than most know. And there'll be a tidbit or two about our cultural underground in 1942.


Spring 2021 - Meeting Break due to Covid

Due to Covid-19 pandemic, our in-person seven yearly meetings were canceled as of March, 2020. We will resume in-person meetings as soon as the pandemic has subsided. Stayed tuned for our newsletters, and keep informed on the website and facebook.


Virtual Event - November 8, 2020

Zoom Lecture on Reconstruction Houston Topic: Reconstruction Houston 1860 to 1900 including E.H. Cushing and Bohemia!
Hosted by: Ann Becker, President

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

© 2020 harriscountyhistory.org
Harris County Historical Society. P.O. Box 55776 Houston, TX 77255
832.839.0560
harriscountyhistoricalsociety@gmail.com