Pomeroy Homestead

The Pomeroy Homestead represents the very essence of Pasadena's history. The homestead is nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, in the area of Community Planning, at the local level of significance. The two houses are located in the historic section of Pasadena, a city that has experienced major growth to the east and south in the past fifty years. The homestead is associated with events of the development of the community as it evolved from a small successful farming village to a major industrial city. The homestead is nominated under Criterion B at the local level of significance for its association with John D. Pomeroy and Anna Pomeroy. John Pomeroy played an important role in the development of the commercial, religious, educational, and governmental institutions of the city. Anna Pomeroy led the effort for Pasadena to incorporate in 1928 to stave off annexation by the City of Houston. The homestead is nominated under Criterion C, in the area of Architecture, at the local level of significance. The 1908 modified L-plan and adjacent 1922 Craftsman-style bungalow both retain a high degree of architectural and historic integrity. The houses embody the distinctive characteristics of early 20th-century domestic building types which were prevalent in Pasadena's early history but are now rarely found.

Historical development of Pasadena

The community of Pasadena was established in 1893 as one of a series of new towns in southeastern Harris County associated with the opening of the region by the construction of the La Porte, Houston, and Northern railroad lines through the area. Located in the upper Gulf Coast region of Texas, the basis of the economy became agriculture, including truck crops. The mild weather, abundant rainfall, and fertile soil were perfect for this pursuit. Many of the early settlers to the area were Kansas farmers escaping droughts and bankrupt farms. The area southeast of Houston is along the southern side of what was then known as Buffalo Bayou. Today that waterway is the Houston Ship Channel and is one of the major seaports in the United States.

Col. John H. Burnett acquired the land for investment and laid out lots for a new town development late in 1892. Not confident that his new town would develop, he did not file the plat until May 25, 1896. Unlike other developers nearby, Burnett did not build a hotel or set aside school and church sites for his new community. His lack of commitment to the new town meant that the development of Pasadena depended on the early residents. When state legislation in 1898 allowed a local community to incorporate for school tax purposes instead of relying on the county school system, the residents of Pasadena were the first in Harris County to elect to establish an independent school system. The school system and its local control provided the backbone for the future survival of the community.

The small farming community survived two major freezes and a devastating hurricane in its first decade. The freeze of 1895 still stands as the deepest snow fall in the area. Temperatures dropped to below 10 degrees in the freeze of 1899. The famous Galveston Hurricane of 1900 remains the worst disaster in North America, as more than 7,200 lives were lost. Clara Barton of the American Red Cross shipped in 1.5 million strawberry plants from Louisiana after the hurricane to provide the local farmers with a spring crop and self-sufficiency.8 The Pasadena farmers took advantage of the offer and strawberries quickly became the major cash crop for the community. In 1900 the population of the community was approximately 200 people. With a strong economy and an empty schoolhouse on Sundays, two churches were organized which provided social cohesion for the small community. They shared the structure on alternating Sundays and held a common Sunday school each week. Mercantile stores, a railroad express agency, and then two banks by 1920 formed the commercial center of the community.

The residents of Pasadena initially ignored the implications of the Houston Ship Channel, namely rapid industrial development along the northern boundary of the community in 1914. However, the Channel's influence eventually began to reshape Pasadena. The small family farms continued to grow and larger commercial operations increased the productive yields of the community. The new industries associated with the Houston Ship Channel hired several of the local farmers, but increasingly non-agricultural workers began settling in the community. The demands of higher density development forced the community to consider incorporation in order to provide the necessary city services. The community struggled with incorporation and fought off an annexation attempt by Houston. Pasadena first incorporated as a city in 1923 but dissolved the incorporation the following year to avoid a legal contest with Houston and the State of Texas." The community had attempted to include the new industries being developed along the Houston Ship Channel and Houston, as the author of the Ship Channel concept, had its own plans for incorporation of those industries. By 1928 the city of Houston was attempting to annex Pasadena. That action was blocked when the community again voted to incorporate it on December 26, 1928. The new city immediately set out to provide much-needed municipal services. Fortunately, bonds were approved and sold before the Great Depression hit." The population of Pasadena in 1930 was 1,647. The agricultural roots of the community and the solvency of the school system continued the community's growth during the Great Depression years.

However, with the post-Depression boom fueled by the war in Europe and then Japan, the importance of the industrial base in the community stimulated an unprecedented population growth that overnight shifted the community's economy from an agricultural base to an industrial one. Farms yielded petrochemical plants and their supporting subdivisions. With its community infrastructure well in place, Pasadena was able to handle the transition and growth and quickly became the dominant community in the region. Having developed with the help of many responsible residents taking their turn to contribute to the community, Pasadena was not dependent upon the talents or finances of a small elite group of benefactors, development organizations, or industry. This philosophy of sharing leadership and providing necessary community services as appropriate transformed Pasadena into the second largest city in Harris County, Texas, after Houston. Pasadena doubled its population during the Depression and the years leading up to World War II, ending in 1940 with 3,435 people. By 1950 the population had jumped to 22,483 and then to 58,787 in 1960. The rapid post-war boom continued as the community left its agricultural roots behind. Today the population of Pasadena is approximately 125,000.

Pomeroy family history

Payson and Anna Lousie Pomeroy and their son John moved to Pasadena from Galveston shortly after the 1900 Hurricane and purchased one of only two buildings then existed in the downtown area of the small farming community. Most of the development of the community had been on the "out-lots" of the community plat as small family farms. The Harrisburg-Lynchburg Road (later the Houston-La Porte road) ran east-west through the community with the railroad along the southern side. The Pomeroys purchased the Jasper Hayes home just south of the railroad track. It had served as the first post office for the small community. In addition to farming, the Pomeroys operated a dairy from their home. The homestead was located at the corner of Main Street and Sixth Street (now Eagle). Payson Pomeroy died in 1906. In the early summer of 1908 son John Pomeroy built the current structure adjacent to the little shotgun house (Hayes post office) that had served as their home for seven years. It took John Pomeroy two months with two helpers to build the six-room house for his widowed mother and himself. At the time electricity, gas, water & sewer services were not available in the community. There was only one telephone in town. The size and design of the house were indicative of the success of the family farm and the increasing status of the Pomeroys in the community. It was one of the larger houses in town and had a modest touch of gingerbread on the public sides of the home. According to the diary kept by John Pomeroy, the total project cost $1,081.62.

The house was built in the geographic heart of the community. It was located across the street from the community artesian water well that the railroad had drilled. During the day the residents filled their potable water barrels from that well. Subsequently, that area became the focus of the newly developed commercial, social, and religious center of the community. The town literally grew up around the Pomeroy home. The schoolhouse was moved to a site a block away in 1905. That same year Dickerson and Tilley opened the first mercantile stores in town next to the community water well. The Dickerson store separated the Pomeroy homestead from the railroad track. Across the tracks from Tilley's store was the newly built depot and across from Dickerson's was one of the strawberry loading sheds. The Baptist church was built on the other end (south) of the same block as the Pomeroy home in 1905. Two years later the Methodists completed their first sanctuary on the south end of the block just west of the Pomeroy homestead. John Conn opened his mercantile store across Main Street from the Pomeroys. By 1910 the Pentecostals opened their church next door to Conn's mercantile. A merchant named Whitten built the fourth mercantile store nearby.

Like the other settlers, the Pomeroys farmed. They raised strawberries, cane, corn, peanuts, and other truck crops. In addition, they were one of several families in town with a dairy. Each dairyman had his special routes into Houston, which would take all day to service. During the winter, sausage would be added to the usual offerings of milk, eggs, and butter. In 1912 John Pomeroy began drilling water wells for the area farmers to help them increase their crop yields. Later the water well company would assist in the transformation of the community from an agricultural base to an industrial one and became the principal income for the Pomeroys. By the 1920s the retail establishments expanded northward two blocks, two banks opened and a high school was added across the street from the Methodist Church. A city hall and fire department were built at the end of the decade. The first telephone switching office in Pasadena was built in 1928 on the lots purchased from the Pomeroy and literally in their backyard. In 1937 a junior high school (now Jackson Intermediate) opened behind the elementary school (south side). For over fifty years this was the heart of the community and the Pomeroy homestead was geographically at its center.

After World War II the community began to grow southward and the center of the community gradually shifted accordingly. Houston was on the west, the Houston Ship Channel and its industries on the north, and the city of Deer Park on the east side of the community. Sears, Roebuck & Co. opened a store on the southern boundary of the original plat in 1950 and the trend south was confirmed. New schools, new businesses, and new churches began located south and southeast of the old town area. By the mid-1960s the retail center of town had also moved south along with the city hall. The railroad track was replaced with an elevated freeway as more vehicular traffic serviced the new industries along the Houston Ship Channel in 1966. The churches remained until the 1990s and then they relocated south to be near the larger residential areas. The elementary school and the high school were remodeled and expanded in the late 1990s. The school district purchased all of the old church lands and most of the residences in the immediate area for use in the high school expansion. One by one the old residential structures began to disappear. The intermediate school was moved out of the neighborhood to make room for the high school expansion. In 1999 the school district obtained a Texas Historical Marker noting its longevity and commitment to the site.

The Pomeroy house became one of the community centers as the Pomeroys and their relatives were involved in every facet of the community's development. The Pomeroys were related by marriage to the McMaster and Williams families of early Pasadena. Payson Pomeroy and son John each served on the school board and Pomeroy Elementary is named in their honor. When John was chairman of the board, he kept the school records in his home. Also serving on the school boards were relatives Ben Williams, Clyde McMaster and Walter Williams 33 Most of the Pomeroy women taught school and Loise Williams Pomeroy started the first kindergarten in town. In addition, Anna Louise Pomeroy always had a room to rent to unmarried schoolteachers and provided meals for those living nearby. In fact, she got a daughter-in-law and grand- daughter-in-law that way. Son John married schoolteacher Gertrude Lucinda McMaster in 1911 and each of their four children was born in the house: Marguerite (1912), Edward (1914), Bessie (1920), and Clyde (1922). At the appropriate time the doctor would ride out from Houston and spend a few days. After the baby was born the doctor would take some time to hunt and fish before returning back to town. Anna's grandson Edward would wed Loise Williams, another of the schoolteachers who boarded with Mrs. Pomeroy.

The Pomeroys were charter members of the Pasadena Missionary Baptist Church (now First Baptist) and then subsequently Memorial Baptist Church as well as South Main Baptist Church. Many of the family and relatives served in positions of leadership in these religious organizations. John Pomeroy and brother-in-law Ray Williams were active in the creation of the Mexican Church of Pasadena on July 8, 1933, and John leased them their land for one dollar per year and provided water well for their needs. John's brother-in-law (and business partner) Clyde McMaster served as Commissioner in the first government of the newly incorporated city and then was elected mayor of Pasadena, serving from 1931 to 1939. W. F. Williams took over the street and bridge commissioner's job when McMaster became mayor. Cousin Everett Williams later served in that capacity for eight years. Pomeroys and Williams served as election judges and precinct chairmen." Payson Pomeroy ran for the state legislature in 1906 and carried the local precinct. Payson Pomeroy was also instrumental in establishing the community cemetery and was the first person buried there. John Pomeroy and brother-in-law W. C. McMaster were charter members of the local producers association during the farming years and were original stockholders of the local merchants' bank (Pasadena State Bank, the predecessor to current Bank One, Pasadena). Relatives James Williams, J. R. Williams, and W. F. Williams were also stockholders in the bank. W. C. McMaster served on the initial board of directors of the bank. Later John Pomeroy and his son Clyde would also serve on the bank's board of directors. Grandson David now serves on the board of another community bank (Texas Coastal Bank).

When the city was unincorporated in 1924, John Pomeroy drilled a water well in his backyard and provided the first county-approved municipal water service to the community. The first indoor plumbing in the city was installed in the Pomeroy house, and the first bathtub is still there. McMaster and Pomeroy Water Well Company, headquartered in the house with equipment outside, drilled irrigation wells for the farmers initially and then wells for all of the new industries developing along the Houston Ship Channel. After the city of Pasadena purchased the Pomeroy municipal water works, the company continued to drill the city's water wells for the next 30 years. The company drilled over 2,000 water wells in its history and continues today as Pomeroy Energy Company, developing oil & gas wells in Texas. Although the original water wells were for individuals and farmers, the bulk of the wells have been for industry and commercial businesses. The list of customers is literally a who's who of the businesses that transformed the Houston area into an industrial giant. The company is the oldest private business in Pasadena (the school district is the oldest business in town).

When the Rotary International service club was organized in Pasadena in 1936, brother-in-law Clyde McMaster was a charter member, and John Pomeroy joined shortly after." John's son Clyde and his son, David, continue to be members of that club. Relatives Gene Stack and Gary Petty have also been members. Relatives W. F. Williams and C. A. Williams were charter members of the Masonic Lodge in Pasadena in 1921. And in other ways, the family continues that tradition of community service.

With its inhabitants involved in all facets of the community's development, the Pomeroy Homestead has been at the center of the community's history. It has been the meeting place and listening place for all of the issues of the growing town. Schoolmistresses roomed and boarded there, and school professors worked summer jobs with the water well company to make extra money. John Pomeroy was often the mediator of church and community fights. Anna Pomeroy led the community effort to prevent Houston from annexing the village and thus bought time for the town to incorporate itself. Numerous church parties and classes were held in the house. Due to the efforts of John Pomeroy, there had been a church at the other end of the block from the homestead for ninety years. When First Baptist Church wanted to relocate to the booming south end of town, John Pomeroy lead a group that organized South Main Baptist Church and bought the old church assets so that the church would continue to operate at the corner of Main and Broadway. After John Pomeroy's death the school district purchased the church property as well as most of the other land in the area for its expansion program. Ironically, John Pomeroy had been a driving force on the school board when it decided to build the first high school, and then later to build the first intermediate (then called “junior high") school in the district.

Anna Louise Pomeroy continued to offer her spare rooms to schoolteachers after she moved into her own house at 202 North Main Street in 1922. It was in this house that Anna organized the incorporation effort in 1928 that kept Houston from absorbing Pasadena. After Anna died in 1948, the house was used as the offices of the Pomeroy well drilling company and continued in that capacity until 1975. The two houses remained in the Pomeroy family for their entire existence.

On December 15, 1986, the Pomeroy descendants donated the John Edward Pomeroy house (204 S. Main), the Anna Louise Pomeroy house (202 S. Main), and several outbuildings on nine city lots to the city of Pasadena for historical and cultural purposes. The homes are original to the site and only minor changes have been made to the Pomeroy houses over the years. The city has subsequently restored the houses to their original condition and design (with the exception of later-introduced utilities). Sheldon Kendall, archeology consultant to the Texas Historical Commission, and Jamie Wise, architectural specialist, of the Texas Historical Commission, consulted in the restoration. The property has been designated the Pasadena Heritage Park and the two houses, now available to the public for touring, are maintained in historic appearance. The Parks House, now operating as a museum property representing the agricultural period of Pasadena's history, will be moved to the site in a consolidation effort to concentrate the historical assets of the community and to better tell the story of its history. The Parks house had previously been moved from its original location. The mission statement for the Pomeroy House has been defined as:

"The purpose of the Pomeroy Homestead Museum is to represent the culture and heritage of Pasadena during its transition from an agrarian to an industrial community, as reflected through the household of a prosperous working family. The general objectives of this renovation are to return the interior style of the house to its appearance during the 1935-45 period."

Although there are several houses in the community dating from the same early years, only one other is known to be on its original site. That house, the Anderson house, is located in the outskirts of the community and its various owners over the years have not been involved in the development and transformation of the community of Pasadena.