394- He Hss BANCROFT LIBRARY HOUSTON BUSINESS LEAGUE HOUSTON, TEXAS University of California Berkeley NEW SPELLING USED iiiu North from Maiu Street and Capitol Avenu HOUSTON, TEXAS INTRODUCTION. X ORDER that the great volume of ques- tions relativ to Houston and the adjacent territory , known as the Gulf Coast Country of Texas, may be redily anserd, the HOUSTON BUSINESS LEAGUE has com- piled this book. Every precaution has been taken to gard against exaggerated statements and misrepresentation. To the investi- gator these facts and figures are frankly submitted. You will lern here why Houston stands as the greatest cotton center in the world, why she is supreme as a shipping and distributing point, why she has gron and expanded by leaps and bounds and why she possesses a briter future than any other city in the great Southwest, towards which the eyes of the nation are now turnd as the section destind to become the mightiest welth producing territory in this empire of states. A city long folloing the path of progress at a quiet but stedfast pace, Houston has, in a few years, undergon changes which have brot her into national prominence, especially as a jobbing and general com- mercial center. Houston's entire history has been without "boom" characteristics; and these remarkable changes have arisen from such a union of natural con- ditions and circumstances as seldom exists. Alredy the cotton center of the world, and being in tuch with all the great trunk lines of the vast and groing South- west, there was nothing needed to bring about large city groth. save a denser settlement of the fertil lands in the country of which Houston is the natural con- centrating and distributing point. The discovery of rich oil deposits in adjacent fields has given great impetus to the business of Houston ,md the Coast Country, which is now rapidly filling with new home- seekers and business-seekers from every part of the Union. The work of improving the Houston Ship Channel, undertaken by the United States Govern- ment at a cost of $4,000,000, will soor admit to our furnaces, at much lower cost than heretofore, the coal fuel available to ocean craft at many ports. The energy and frendship of the great railway sys- tems centering or ending in Houston, and other potent agencies, hav helpt to* set before the world the welth of the Coast Country to such an exten": that the tide of immigration has now set strongly in this direction. The erly groth of Houston was regarded by the disheartening calamities of the Civil War, with the long years of healing required to put her again on good footing, under altogether changed conditions, by replacing with a new generation of men those who lost their lives and their hopes in battle ; but Houston has wholly triumf t in her second grot'i , and has be- come the largest and most firmly founded city of the Southwest. Kept together thru her years of trial and remaking by a helthy determination and conserva- tism, which alone could win under the circumstances, Houston is now in the day of her power a cosmopolitan and enterprising modern city, dominated by a fortu- nate combination of the Southern spirit and the tru ""' . fa* Government Work in the Ship Channel Western spirit, which has made Texas the greatest State of the entire South and Southwest. In the past fifteen years particularly Houston has been blest by the coming from all parts of the country North, South, East and West of large numbers of vigorus and loyal people; and the best elements of the old and the new form a prosperus, confident and con- genial whole. The writer of this, a man from the far North, can unhesitatingly say that the newcomer is not met here by any spirit of sectionalism, but finds himself, if a good citizen, in an atmosfere of good will and good cheer. These conditions, together with other elements of substantial strength and merit, some of which appear in the following pages, cannot fail to impress those who investigate Houston and her resources with the fact that it is Houston's destiny to be and remain for all time the transportation, manufacturing and jobbing center of the Southwest. The reader is referd to the various paragrafs upon subsequent pages for information upon particular sub- jects in which he may be interested. As a Place of Residence. Aside from the strong attraction offerd in the way of business opportunities, Houston's many advantages as a residence city hav greatly aided her groth. The wide and leafy appearance of the place, the profusion of flowers and fresh vegetables of all varieties thruout the year, the mild winter climate, the almost ceaseless Gulf breezes in summer, resulting in a temperature and atmosferic condition in which sunstroke is un- known, the modern street paving and the excellent street car service, the many direct railway outlets to all points of the compass, the number of beautiful driveways extending far into the country, the un- dWpri.T* 1 * j i Hardware House NESS LEAGUE, or to write to the Secretary, who will be glad to furnish required data. An index to this city's groth in trade and com- mercial conditions is found in the charter record in the office of the Secretary of State. That record for the year ending August 31, 1907, shows 146 new en- terprises were charterd in Houston between that date and August 31, 1906, with a total capital stock amounting to $14,836,375, while twenty -eight Hous- ton corporations increast their capitalization $3,340,- 000. In this respect Houston leads all other Texas cities. Houston the Rice Center. A RICH STAPLE. As alredy shown, Houston has risen to first place in the commerce of the Southwest. By reason of her location and her union with so many lints of railway, Houston taps directly all of the broad coast country and its vast "hinterland" of fertil prairie. Altho the industry is yet in its infancy, the cultivation of rice has gon far beyond the experimental stage. In 1895, when the cultivation of rice in Texas was wholly an experiment, the crop of the State was planted on 2,000 acres. The experience of rice farm- ers since then has been so satisfactory that the acreage has increast stedily and rapidly, and the Texas rice crop of 1907 came from something over 250,000 acres. There is a total canal mileage in the Houston rice territory of 844 miles, in addition to the many large farms that are supplied with abundance of water from private wells. The government statistics gave the Texas crop for 1906 as 2,107,134 bags, on approximately 230,000 acres. Conditions in 1907 were such that it was thot the yield wud be short, but these conditions were relievd, and it is safe to say that the yield off the 250,000 acres was at least equal to the yield off 230,000 acres in 1906, altho at this writing final figures are not at hand. The highest price paid in 1906 for No. 1, both Honduras and Japan, was about $3.90. During the year 1905 the price went as high as $4.25 for first grades. This was caused by a short production, due to the decreast acreage. The greater part of the Texas crop isnowhandeld by the Houston market, and this will always be the case, no matter what proportions the cultivation of rice shall reach, because the unequald facilities here af- forded must make and keep Houston the center of distribution and sale for rice, as they hav alredy done for cotton, lumber and other important products. Houston's gross bank clearings as certified by the Manager of the Houston Clearing House are set out as follows: 1901 $ 466,426,159 1902 602,931,516 1903 696,928,866 1904 663,672,543 1905 763,757,337 1906 1,012,499,099 1907.... i 1,125,856,913 These institutions are not only redy to encourage legitimate enterprises on the part of citizens now en- gaged in business, but they are on the alert for some- thing new to which they can lend financial assistance. A New and Important Factory Houston has four rice mills with a capacity of 4,500 bags per /lay, and the largest exclusiv rice elevator in the rice belt. Banks and Banking. Houston's groth along all lines is reflected in her banks, the certain barometers of trade and material progres. The stability of these institutions is ada- mantin. In the panic of 1907 this city did not witnes the failure of a single one of her national or state in- stitutions, and never for one moment did there exist a feeling of uneasiness. Accommodations were but little restricted thruoutthe trubelsome period, and the day the New^York banks announced that their scare was over there was shipt from Houston $200,000 in gold from one of her State^banks, indicating the ample protection afforded depositors. The unusually strong lending capacity of Houston banking institutions makes it as easy for reputable merchants, manufacturers and other business men to secure needed funds in Houston as in any city in America. In bildings and equipment the Houston banks are at the front; the handsome structures occupied by the First National and Commercial National and the new home of the Houston Land & Trust Company and Lumberman's National Bank exciting the admira- tion of every visitor to the city. In August, 1905, a new State banking law went into effect. This law is at once liberal to and watchful of the institutions founded under its provisions. It cre- ates a^wider field than^that open to the National banks ^and .makes available sources of revenu for banking and trust companies heretofore denied. Street Car HOUSTON IS THE RAILROAD CAPITAL AND C A Scene in the S EARING HOUSE OF THE GREAT SOUTHWEST Educational Advantages. The public scool facilities of Houston are most ex- cellent. There are thirty-four public scool bildings, over 14,594 children of scolastic age, the largest scool population in the State, and 228 teachers, occupying 214 rooms. Additions are rapidly provided, from time to time, on account of the increasing demand upon existing facilities. Adequate appropriation is made in February of each year by the city for the maintenance of the scools, and, in addition to this, there is the per capita payment by the State of about $5.00 annually. There are also in Houston thirty -four the State, and of two excellent musical col' eges, Diehl's Conservatory of Music and the Houston Conservatory of Music ; besides which there are the nurses' training scool of St. Joseph's Infirmary, the Barnett School, and five modern business and commercial scools. The Rice Institute, the greatest of our educational establishments, is treated fully in the next article. Texas has the largest permanent scooi fund in the Union, being more than $50,000,000, including the funds of the State University and the other State edu- cational institutions, Of this approximately $34,000,- 000 are in Texas county and city bonds and land notes, and the remainder chiefly in lands. A SI 75.OOO Church private educational institutions, mostly of small size, but a number take high rank in the State and South. St. Thomas College for young men and boys has but recently completed a college bilding and dormitories, involving an outlay of many ^thousands of dollars. The Dominican Sisterhood has^ lately established St. Agnes Academy, for the education of girls and young women, with a magnificent college bilding occupying a splendid site, broad grounds and ideal location. Houston is also the home of the Texas Dental Col- lege, the most complete and modern institution of the kind in the South, and the only one of importance in S20O.OOO Y. M. C. A. Bilding Rice Polytechnic Institute. Plans are now under consideration for the erly construction of the William Marsh Rice Institute for the advancement of Literature, Science and Art. On December 29, 1907, Prof. Edgar Odell Lovett, of Princeton University, who possesses an enviable rec- ord among the country's educators, was selected as the hed of this great institution. Under his direction this important college will be organized. The Insti- tute was founded in the year 1892 by the late William Marsh Rice, of New York City, who endowd it with A New Car Wheel Plant (Houston has two great plants of this kind) A Great New Steel Plant (Showing: begrinninjr of additional construction) his promissory note, payable at his deth,in the sum of $200,000. Policing this he made during his life additions to the endowment fund consisting of a tract of six acres of land in the City of Houston, now worth about $100,000; nearly 10,000 acres of pasture and agricultural lands in Jones County, Texas, worth about $10.00 per acre; the Rice Hotel property in the center of the city, worth about $800,000, and two bodies of hevy timber lands in Louisiana, aggregating 48,000 acres, worth about $3,000,000. In addition to these gifts, which Mr. Rice, joined by his wife, Elizabeth Baldwin Rice, made to the en- dowment fund of the Rice Institute, his will bequeaths tration; a museum of the materials of the arts, sciences, trades and commerce, in their raw state, and in their succesiv proceses and stages c f manufacture and use; and a great laboratory for demonstration and experiment in teaching and lectures. *\ Tuition will be free and open to all, non-sectarian and non-partisan ; but residents of the C ity of Houston will hav first right of entrance. Afte-'i Houston, res- idents of any other part of the State of Texas'will be admitted to the benefits and enjoyments of the in- stitute. The William M. Rice Institute, witl its very large endowment fund, is easily the welthicst educational A Part of a Great Car Wheel Manufactory the bulk of his estate "unto the Wm. M. Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art. a corporation domiciled in the City of Houston, in Harris County, Texas." Putting all these gifts together, the endowment fund will reach a sum in excess of $6,000,000 at present valuations. This institute is to be a polytechnic scool for males and females, designd to giv instruction on the ap- plications of science and art to the practical occupa- tions of life. It will establish and maintain a free library and reading room, and galleries of art; com- plete collections of apparatus and models for illus- institution, public or private, in the entire South. Its important bearing upon the destinies of the city so fortunate as to be its home will be appreciated by in- telligent people everywhere. Churches, Libraries, Societies and Clubs. As to churches, all the important denominations are represented; the bildings are creditable in arki- tecture and ample in size, and propoi tionate to the welth and population of the city. One of these church edifices is the largest in the entire South, and compares favorably with the most costly churches in A Group of Good Apartment Bildings the great cities of the North. The churches keep pace always with the general groth of the city. Houston has a magnificent public library, endowd in part by Andrew Carnegie, others having made liberal gifts for a Juvenil Library and a Western His- torical Librarv. The recently completed home of the Thalian Club is one of the most beautiful club houses in the entire South, reflecting the taste and culture of its mem- bers. At the corner of Fannin Street and McKinney Avenue is the magnificent $200,000 Y. M. C. A. bild- Elevator and Rice Mill Scenes All of the important secret orders are here, with large membership rolls; and there are many useful, activ and interesting private clubs of every kind and character, some of the latter having expensiv bildings of their own. ing, the funds for the construction of which were raisd in a campain of but two weeks duration. One of Houston's citizens, George H. Hermann, has recently donated a block of ground and $50,000 for the erection of a Charity Hospital. A New Oil Plant, Showing Shipping Facilities A Group of Factories The Houston Press. _Houston has thirty -two newspapers and periodicals, two of these being daily papers, sixteen weeklies, two semi-weeklies, six monthlies and one semi-monthly. Besides the papers devoted chiefly to general news and comment, this list includes publications in the interest of ethics, education, religion, general agri- culture, the rice industry, the lumber, cotton and kindred trades, medical science, sporting, truck groing Main Street From Franklin Avenu Some Fine Churches and shipping, wit and humor and insurance. The Houston Daily Post is the leading morning paper of the State, and the Houston Daily Chronicle occupies the same position among the evening papers. Kew Government Bilding. POSTOFFICE STATISTICS. Houston's posto'rice is perhaps one of the surest Some of the Finer Residences of Houston indices to her groth and progres. The following table of postoffice receits for the past seven years, being for the fiscal year ending June 30 in each case, is worthy of careful reading: 1901 $118,180.93 1902 143,730.92 1903 168,514.78 1904 194,102.44 1905 210,456.34 1906 229,897 . 63 1907 292,114.35 In order to provide adequate facilities for the hand- City Drainage and Sewerage. We have a first-class modern systerr- for disposing of the sewage, with forty-six miles of se.ver mains and condits. The drainage, has been much improved in the past few years, and further great improvements will soon be undertaken. An inexausiible supply of pure artesian water, suitable for all nanufacturing and household uses, is easily obtainable in any part of Houston at depths of from 500 to 1 ,000 feet, and the water works system furnishes this thruout the city. The surface of the ground upon which the city stands has sufficient elevation to be craind at mod- Scene at Sam Houston Park ling of this rapidly j^roing business, Congress has ap- propriated the sum of $400,000 for the construction of a modern Federal bilding in this city. In addition to the sum appropriated for the bilding, there was appropriated $120,000 with which a block of ground was purchast near the center of the city. Before this issu of the League's booklet is exausted the govern- ment will begin the erection of a splendid home for the postoffice, as well as the offices of the collector of this port, the United States District Court and all Federal officers. Bids hav alredy been accepted and the work is to be rusht, because of the crying need for even the necessary room to accommodate the postal business of this rapidly groing city. erate expense, yet is sufficiently smooth to be well suited to all kinds of local carrying, especially the hauling of hevy merchandise, which, in a commercial city, is of much importance. Streets and Roads. The city government has paved the entire main business part of the city with asfalt or paving brick, an aggregate of forty -four miles, and within the past three years has expended over $325,000 in improve- ments in the more important streets leading to every section of the city. In addition to this, Harris County, of which Houston is the center, has recently expended about $700,000 in making permanent and first-class country roadways leading from the city in all direc- Some i>i the Public Scools tions. The importance of this need not be pointed out, as it will bejseen by all that these modern scien- tific roads must be of unmesurd valu, alike to city and county. An additional fund of $500,000 has been pledgd to -be expended in furthering road and bridge improvements^thruout the county, this special bond issu having'just been voted, along with a bond issu for $500,000 for the construction of a new county court house to accommodate the three district courts, the county court and the various county offices. Climate and Health. Many of our Northern frends who hav not spent a summer in Texas think that our summers are op- Infirmaries presivly warm; but this is an error. The thermom- eter has never been known to record a higher temper- ature in this section of the country than it does in many Northern cities every year. A record kept for the last thirty years shows the mean annual temperature to be 69 degrees; in July, SO to 85 degrees; in January, 55 to 65 degrees; maxi- mum, 95 to 100 degrees; minimum, 20 to 30 degrees above zero. The average rainfall is about the same as in Illinois and Missouri. The prevailing winds are south and southeasterly. The average annual deth rate in Houston for the past ten years has been about 15 per 1,000, which is belo the average deth rate of cities of like popula- tion. There is no more helthful city in the United States than Houston, the glorius Gulf breezes, the excellent sewerage system, the semi-outdoor life and the general sanitary conditions affording relief frorr diseases that afflict many other places. Draining the Gulf Coast Country. Nineteen hundred and seven has seen the beginning of a general movement to drain Texas Gulf Coast lands. Operating under the law enacted by the Texas legis- lature in the winter of 1906-7, the taxpayers are form- ing local drainage districts and opening public drains that will carry off the surplus rainfall of the winter reason. This is a most excellent system, as districts whe e such drains are needless are not required to pay part of the expense, and it is wholly within the con- trol of the different localities. Such drainage in every case doubles or triples the market valu of the land. This Gulf Coast land, as rich as any that lies out of dcors, is capable of producing, when draind, winter f r uit and garden truck as fine as any grown in Florida or Southern California. Alredy a large and profit- able business of this kind has been bilt up in the ter- ritory tributary to Houston. Men are making a good living and putting money in the bank with their ernings from five and ten-acre farms. There is so much land available, and so few people on it, thus far, that land values are still lo. The opening of the year 1908, however, has witnest a tremendus inflo of home-seekers eagerly examining and buying these coast fruit and truck lands. Values ire rising, and it is certain that here in the Houston country the ex- perience of Southern California is rap dly to be re- peated. Lands that are selling for from $10 to $20 an acre today will, without a dout, be made worth s.~>()() an acre thru the development cf orange, fig, lemon, grape-fruit and other orchards, and thru the groth of the winter garden trucking business, inside of ten years. What can be done ha^ been shown beyond question by enterprising individuals during the ten years last past. For example: R. H. Bush- way bot 200 acres of raw land at Algo;,, twenty -nine miles south of Houston on the Santa Fe, seven years ago. He paid $22.50 an acre for it. He has made it worth an average of $400 an acre, draining it and planting fruits and flowers. Many others thruout the Gulf Coast Country hav done as well. The drainage law, opening a way by which draingae can be got at lo cost and on easy terms, makes certain the de- velopment of the whole region upon the same scale. It is today the best opportunity for investment in productiv lands on the whole American continent. Houston, as the chief shipping center of this region, is rapidly becoming a clearing house for a rich trade in these products. Street Railways. Houston has an excellent and thoroly modern electric street railway system, embracing fifteen routes and covering over sixty-five miles of streets. In ad- dition to rapid extension of lines much attention has been given to betterment of equipment, and the double Park and Driveway Scenes in Houston truck cars are the same as to be found in the large and progressiv centers of the country. Tunnels and sub- ways have been constructed, carrying the lines under the more dangerus railroad crossings, and the Hous- ton Electric Company has completed an elaborate system of car sheds and barns with accompanying repair shops, the outlay in that direction being more than $80,000. The No-Tsu-Oh Carnival. Each recurring November witneses a festival in Houston which is unique. It has no counterpart in all the United States. It has a tuch of the New Orleans . Mardi Gras and of the once popular street fair of the Xorth, and yet is neither. There has been formd what is known as the No-Tsu-Oh Carnival Association , with abundant capital; and each fall, under its supervision, an entire week is given over to fun and frolic upon the streets of the city and within the in- closure where most of the spe- cial shows and amusement de- vices are centerd. Crowds throng the streets and engage in confetti battles and pranks that turn day and night into one grand recess from every- day cares. A gorgeus illumi- nated night parade follows the triumfal entry of the carnival king into the city, and thru- out the week fantastic pa- geants and other demonstra- tions of varius and unusual character hold the attention of the populace and the thousands of visitors who flock to the city to take part in the jollity. The royal ball of King Nottoc, monarch of the carnival, is a State society function that for richness and splendor ranks with the notable amusement events of the country. Other Advantages. There is sound reason for every step in advance that the City of Houston has taken since her birth. Our magnificent shipping facilities are but the out- groth of the situation, which makes Houston the logical distributing center of the great Southwest, the key to land and sea. Here water commerce greeted Pencil Factory Scenes the railroad projector, and the resultart groth was inevitable. Surrounding Houston is a magnificent farming sec- tion. First it was the ideal grazing country. It re- mains such today, but, agricultural damands hav demonstrated the great productivness of the soil, and the plow is driving the herds before it. Rice, cotton, sugar cane, oats, corn and potatoes are making the farmer rich and Houston the center of thickly set- teld and rapidly developing agricultural section. Di- versification has been the cry of the experts to the farmer and planter of the South, and diversification finds its truest exposition in the splerdid farming counties surrounding Houston and thruout the Gulf Coast Country. Truck : arming is an industry of impDrtance, and Houston is the market and shipping center. The last six years hav wit- nest the development in Tex- as of a series of oil fields that hav taken the lead in all the world in point o~ production ; and these oil fields are supply- ing Houston with the cheapest of fuel for manufacturing pur- poses. Texas recently pro- duced the greatest yield of crude oil ever credited to a single state in a single year. Houston is in the very heart and center of the oil produc- ing district, the great Humble field being in Harris County and but seventee n miles from Houston; it is a. so the home of most of the welthy oil op- erators in this territory. New lines of railway, the rice and kindred agricultural industries, the govern- ment harbor work, the concentration o:\ the lumber industries, the incoming of welthy farriers and in- vestors from every part of the country, new industrial enterprises and many other important elements hav enterd into the interesting tale of progres. Inflated claims and unfair advertising hav not been resorted to. The whole story is one of solid facts and legiti- mate business that speak for themselves. These facts hav for several years spoken so clearly that they hav begotten in the minds of the people of Houston the conviction that theirs is to become n great city. This conviction is shared by the state at large and by the Southwest generally, and is so fi-m and wide- spred that it has become an asset of much importance in the groth of the city. Anyone desiring a copy of this pamflet can obtain one by addressing a letter to HOUSTON BUSINESS LEAGUE, HOUSTON, TEXAS. W. H. COYLE & CO.. PHI: