Fourth Ward, Houston

Historic district in Houston, Texas, United States of America

Fourth Ward is one of the historic six wards of Houston, Texas, United States. The Fourth Ward is located inside the 610 Loop directly west of and adjacent to Downtown Houston. The Fourth Ward is the site of Freedmen's Town, which was a post U. S. Civil War community of African Americans.

The Fourth Ward was established as one of four wards by the City of Houston in 1839. By 1906 it included much of what is, as of 2008, Downtown and Neartown; at that point the city stopped using the ward system. The area was the site of Freedman's Town, composed of recently freed slaves. The neighborhood became the center of Houston's African American community in the late 19th century and early 20th century. An oral tradition said that in the early 20th century, members of the congregation of the Reverend Jeremiah Smith paved Andrew Street with the first bricks after the City of Houston refused to pave it. Yates, Smith, and Ned P. Pullum were three of the major Fourth Ward area ministers. Located on the north side of the Fourth Ward, it originally was an all White development that had the name San Felipe Courts. The freeway also severed the community's connection with Downtown itself. After the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, black homeowners began leaving the Fourth Ward, leading to further decline.

By the 1970s many of the original Fourth Ward residents left to go to other communities. Crime and the prevalence of crack cocaine became issues affecting the community. The Handbook of Texas said "In the 1980s and 1990s the continued future of the Fourth Ward as a black community came under serious attack" due to plans to demolish Allen Parkway Village and replace the complex with housing for high income people and office buildings. The Handbook of Texas said that citizen opposition and "more importantly" the mid 1980s economic decline delayed those plans. The Handbook of Texas said that the neglect of the housing units and the resulting disappearance of those units, the reluctance of investors to invest capital into the Fourth Ward, and "future of the neighborhood" all "undermined" "[t]he viability" of the Fourth Ward. On January 17, 1985, Freedmen's Town was added to the National Register of Historic Places list. Because it was placed on the register, federal redevelopment funds could no longer be used to demolish structures. On Tuesday May 21, 1991 several residents attending a community meeting told Dennis Storemski, then Deputy Chief of the Houston Police Department, that police officers routinely harassed community residents. The people attending the meeting accused police of extorting drug dealers, harassing and stealing from young people, and treating Fourth Ward residents with disrespect. In the northern hemisphere summer of 1991, beginning in May several fires occurred in the Fourth Ward, with three buildings affected in each 30 day interval. By August 1991 nine houses, all previously run down, had been affected by the fires. Gladys House, former head of the Fourth Ward Freedmen's Town Association, and other area activists expressed a belief that the fires were arson intended to allow the owners of the houses to collect insurance money and facilitate redevelopment of the Fourth Ward. Similar fires that occurred during the previous winter were originally believed to have been started by vagrants trying to stay warm, but House said that suspicion increased when fires began occurring in the spring and summer. H. G. Torres, the assistant chief of the arson bureau of the Houston Fire Department, said that the timings of the fires made the bureau suspect arson. The association offered a $1,000 reward for information that resulted in the arrest of any suspect. The legal campaign reached the 5th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In the late 1990s and 2000s, the area underwent gentrification, and many new mid rise apartment complexes and upscale townhomes were built. During the late 1990s the Fourth Ward Redevelopment Corporation was founded in order to preserve historical aspects of the community. By 1999 the remaining 500 residential units of the Allen Parkway Village were renamed to The Historic Oaks of Allen Parkway. Of the 500 units 280 were existing units and 220 were newly constructed with $30 million federal funding. The first new group of tenants consisted of 156 low income elderly individuals. The Houston Chronicle said that the re development of the Fourth Ward reflected a general trend of city officials and city residents allowing the destruction of historic houses and that the Fourth Ward was becoming "a western extension of Midtown's condo and loft district." In 2011 Lisa Gray of the Houston Chronicle said "Hardly anyone calls it Freedman's Town or the Fourth Ward anymore. Now it's just Midtown." Due to areas like Midtown, Montrose, and the Heights becoming low on land for use, plus the Fourth Ward's close proximity to downtown Houston, many developers are now finding the area prime for apartments, office space, and retail developments. New apartment developments have arrived to the Fourth Ward at the intersections of Dallas and Gillette Streets, Saulnier and Crosby Streets, and West Gray and Bailey Streets. Houston based DC Partners and Tianqing Real Estate Development LLC are in the process of developing The Allen, a multiple high rise, mixed use project off Allen Parkway and Gillette Street featuring a Thompson Hotel, condos, apartments, office spaces, and retail/restaurants. This project will connect to Buffalo Bayou Park with a skywalk over Allen Parkway.

The population of the Fourth Ward has also been steadily decreasing with each decade. According to the 2000 Census, of the "super neighborhoods" defined by the City of Houston, the Fourth Ward super neighborhood had the lowest population, with 590 households or a total population of 1,706. That year 54% of the residents were Hispanic, 37% were non Hispanic black, 7% were non Hispanic white, 2% were non Hispanic Asians, and 1% were non Hispanic others. In 2015 the super neighborhood had 4,085 residents. That year 46% of the residents were non Hispanic whites, 27% were non Hispanic black folk, 18% were Hispanics, and 9% were non Hispanic Asians; the percentage of non Hispanic Asians was zero. In 1870 36% of the African Americans in Houston lived in the Fourth Ward, while in 1910 27% lived in the Fourth Ward. While the area around Freedman's town is traditionally black, Hispanics and non Hispanic whites have moved to the area in recent years. There were 1,421 black people living in the Fourth Ward census tract in 1990; 635 remained in 2000. Overall, Houston has a dissimilarity index of black as compared to whites of approximately 75% according to CensusScope's segregation breakdown of the city, which is higher than the United States national dissimilarity index of 65%. In 1980, approximately half of the ward's residents were below the poverty line, while 95% of residents did not own their own homes. In 2000 J. Don Boney said that blacks owned less than 5% of the land in the Fourth Ward, and much of that land is owned by churches.

The community is served by the Houston Fire Department. Station 2 moved to the intersection of West Dallas and Bailey in the Fourth Ward from what is now Downtown Houston in 1965. The station closed in 1986. The Fourth Ward is within Houston City Council District C. Prior to 2011 it was a part of council district I. The community is within the Houston Police Department's Central Patrol Division, headquartered at 61 Riesner. The following Houston Housing Authority public housing complexes are in the Fourth Ward: Historic Oaks of Allen Parkway Village, Historical Rental Initiative (30 single family houses), and Victory Place. The Fourth Ward is in Texas's 7th congressional district. As of 2021 Lizzie Fletcher represents the district. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Houston Branch is located in the Fourth Ward. It sits on the former location of the Jeff Davis Hospital. Harris Health System (formerly Harris County Hospital District) designated Casa de Amigos Health Center in Northside for the ZIP code 77019. The nearest public hospital is Ben Taub General Hospital in the Texas Medical Center.

The modern day area that is the Fourth Ward is west of Downtown Houston and extends roughly to Taft and Webster. The modern day definition corresponds with U. S. Census tract 4101. The Downtown Houston skyline is less than 1 mile (2 km) from the Fourth Ward, and is the site of Houston's first city cemetery, which still stands today as Founders Memorial Cemetery. Allen Parkway Village occupies of land. The former political district, when it was disestablished in 1906, extended south to Richmond Avenue and west to Montrose Boulevard, and included much of what is now Downtown today. In 1984 the community had 563 surveyed historic structures. Debbi Head, a spokesperson for the Texas Historical Commission, said "What's distinct about Freedmen's Town is not just a given building but the concentration of these buildings in their original setting on the relatively narrow streets. That gives you an indication of what life was really like." Beginning 1908 the area "The Reservation" served as a red light district, but it was demolished by 1944 to make way for Allen Parkway Village. The traditional shotgun houses that were first built by freed slaves are now mixed with skyscrapers and parking lots. Sherry Thomas of the USA Today stated that the lack of regulation construction in Houston has taken away from the historical landscape of the Fourth Ward. Originally most of the housing consisted of shotgun houses. In 2011 the Harris County Appraisal District stated that the houses were together worth fewer than $750 while the land they stood on was worth over $500,000 more than the house value. The district referred to the houses as an "economic misimprovement." and Heights High School (formerly Reagan High School). Carnegie Vanguard High School, a magnet high school, is in the Fourth Ward. At Gregory Lincoln for the 2006 2007 school year, the student body was 68% African American, 31% Hispanic, and less than 1% white. Also, 94% of the school's 211 students qualified for free or reduced price lunch, while 78% of Gregory Lincoln's attendants are classified as being “at risk." As part of the Houston Independent School District, schools like Gregory Lincoln have around the city average per pupil spending of $5,558 for the 2001 2002 school year, which is considerably lower than that of the state of Texas at $6,850 and the United States average of $7,548 for 2002. The Freedmen's Bureau opened schools for children in the area after the establishment of Freedmen's Town. The Texas Legislature authorized the creation of public schools for Freedmen's Town by 1870. By 1872 most of the students and teachers who were at the bureau schools, which were closing, left them to attend the state managed Gregory Institute, named after Edgar M. Gregory, an officer in the Union army in the U. S. Civil War and the assistant commissioner of the Texas area's Freedmen's Bureau. a elementary school building, opened in 1926. which at a later point was solely Lincoln Junior High School. In 1980 the district closed the Gregory School and consolidated its students, including elementary ones, into Lincoln. The quoted document stated that area residents perceived the move as trying to destabilize the Fourth Ward and "The closing of Gregory and the shifting of its students to Lincoln was met with intense opposition from Fourth Ward residents." From that period the Gregory School was vacant until its re purposing as a library. On March 21, 2002 the HISD board voted 5 3 to acquire a six block tract of land bounded by Andrews, Genesee, Taft, and West Gray, adjacent to Gregory Lincoln, for construction of a new school. 70 families were to be evicted from their houses. Anthony Pizzitola, an owner of one of the houses and a resident of Braeswood, started a campaign against the acquisition, arguing that the district was trying to take valuable real estate rather than genuinely trying to build new schools. In 2009 the HISD administration proposed relocating Carnegie Vanguard High School from a location near the Sunnyside neighborhood to the Fourth Ward. District administrators favored the move because students come from across the school district, and the central location would make transportation easier. During that year the school board approved of the plan.

The Houston Public Library operates the African American Library at the Gregory School. The library preserves historical information about the African American community in Houston. It is the city's first library to focus on African American history and culture.

On Wednesday March 25, 2009 the City of Houston bought the remains of the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, which received damage in a fire in 2005. The city plans to convert the church into a park. The city purchased the church, one of the oldest in Houston, for $350,000 of special tax increment re investment zone money. The city planned for the restoration project to take two years. Prior to the city's purchase of the church, area residents feared that the church ruins would be demolished to make room for more townhouses. Since the fire occurred, the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church congregation relocated to a new building. Pastor Robert Robertson, the leader of the church, supported the city's purchase and restoration of the church facility. The church was founded by Jack Yates. Rutherford B. H. Yates Museum Inc. owns six houses on ten lots as part of the Educational and Cultural Corridor Park. All of them are National Register of Historic Places houses, three have State Historic Land Marks, four are designated by the City of Houston as protected landmarks, and all properties have State Archaeological Trinomial registrations. The houses include the Rutherford B. H. Yates Sr. House, the former home of the son of Jack Yates, and currently the Yates Community Archaeology Lab and Yates Printing Museum. Most of the houses were designed by black architects and built by black contractors who were the freedmen or descendants of slaves. The J. Vance Lewis homestead at Andrews and Wilson includes the 1907 J. Vance Lewis House, named "Van Court," and built the house 1218 Wilson. Lewis, born c. 1860 became an attorney, named the house after himself. The Pauline Gray Lewis, was his wife, a teacher and worked as a librarian at the Carnegie Colored Library. A relative, Isabella Sims lived at 1216 Wilson on the same homestead. The organization plans to turn the Lewis house into a Museum of Legal Professions & Educators. 1319 Andrews St., a house built in 1898 on the south side of Andrews Street, across from the Lewis homestead, was the residence of the Reverend Ned P. Pullum and Emma, his wife. Rev. Pullum founded a brick yard that was producing 20,000 bricks a day, three pharmacies, a shoe business, and donated to the building of a church and the first hospital for Blacks, the Union Hospital. The organization plans to convert it into a Health and Business museum. Antonio Tomasino Jr., a grocer, owned two buildings, built by black contractors, including the shotgun at 1514 Wilson and the workman's cottage at 1404 Victor. 1514 Wilson will become the site of the Archaeological Field School Lab. 1404 Victor, a workman's cottage built around 1900, will become a Barber/Beauty Shop museum.

Jack Yates The house Yates occupied was originally in the Fourth Ward. It was later moved to Sam Houston Park and it was opened to the public on Wednesday December 11, 1996. Lenwood Johnson An activist who campaigned to prevent the demolition of Allen Parkway Village and later to preserve the history of the Fourth Ward itself.