The Baytown Sun from Baytown, Texas • Page 11

THE BAYTOWN SUN Sunday, January 29, 1984 S-B TORY IGHLIOHTS Highlands History Community Site Of Farms, Orchard, Electric Rail By SHERRI CARVER Like the San Jacinto River that forms its western boundary, the' early history of Highlands is rich, varied and colorful sometimes slow and meandering, sometimes turbulent, always surprising. Early History Shell middens scattered along the river are the only trace of the Indians who first inhabited the site that is now the community of. Highlands. Qrcoquisac Indians lived all along the San Jacinto River, and their principle staples, were small animals and the clams they dredged along the river banks. First of a series Although they built only temporary dwellings, the enormous piles of discarded shells remain as a permanent chronicle of their residence here.

Some of the shell has been used as landfill, or to stabilize driveways and parking lots, but much remains just below the surface, a prehistoric reminder left to plague contemporary construction workers and gardeners. Spanish Friars passed through the area in the 1800s, making preliminary explorations and searching for an appropriate site to build a mission. They may have crossed the river where McComb's Landing, which connected Wallisville Road from Houston to Anahauc, was located on the east bank. The river was an adversary, wild and so choked with hyacinths the friars had to chop their way across. They gave the river its first name San Jacinto either because of the hyacinths, or because they came to the crossing on Aug.

17, Saint Hyacinth Day. The friars did not remain Jong in Highlands. They built their mission, Our Lady of Light, on the Trinity River near Wallisville. Although they did not stay, they sent back word of the beautiful country and the beautiful river. Other explorers wrote of travels along the hyacinth river, but none stayed to made any permanent impression on the humid, languid landscape.

Nathaniel Lynch, one' of Stephen F. Austin's "Old Three Hundred," was the first to build a lasting edifice on the wild river banks. His ferry opened for business in 1622, taming the river, making it safe for the heavy wagons of pioneers to cross, and opening the way for permanent settlement. George White obtained a land grant from the Mexican government in 1824, in the area between Highlands and Crosby. In 1892, a one-half acre tract used as a family burying plot was set aside for a cemetery White's Nearby, a settlement school was constructed.

A small community was established, trading in cattle and lumber. R.K. Macomb came to the area at the close of the civil war to establish a boat landing on the east side of the river. Small boats and ocean-going ships would come up the river and dock at the landing to deliver supplies and passengers. His daughter, Sadie Elizabeth, married L.B.

Masterson until 1910, Masterson carried the mail on horseback from Cedar Bayou toLynchburg. Thad Magee moved to the area in 1893, and operated his own shipping line. Around 1915, he ran a "jitney" line between Highlands and the Goose Creek Oil Fields. Magee donated land near his home for the construction of a Catholic church, site of the present St. Jude's Catholic Church.

Elena, Rice And the Tyrell-Garth Company Dan Tompkins supplied the community with its first official name. Tompkins, who probably ran the post office substation in the area, was searching through some old letters and happened upon the name "Elena." He was so taken with the title, he submitted it to the U.S. Post Office. It was accepted and the town prospered under the name Elena until 1926, when it was changed to Highlands, In 1902, a Beaumont corporation called the San Jacinto Rice Canal Corporation bought 17,000 acres of land near Highlands. A pumping plant was built near Crosby to lift water from the river into a system of canals that fed rice fields stretching from Crosby to the bay.

J.W. Denny was sent from Hampshire to oversee the rice operations. He built a house on what is now North Main Street. The rice business flourished during World War helping to supply the country's need for grain. After several years of suc- cess, the San Jacinto Rice Canal Corporation sold a large part of its acreage to the even more prosperous Humble Oil and Refining Co.

Capt. W.C. Tyrell bought a large portion of the land to plant a cotton crop. Tyrell's son, Harry, and grandsons, J.W. and Thomas, formed the Tyrell-Garth Co.

in the early 1910s, and bought'out the rice company. Following World War they converted much of the land into a fig orchard, plotted a townsite and built several small farms and houses. Elena Grows M.L. Doss and his wife, Annie, moved to Highlands from Goose Creek in 1925. Mrs.

Doss kept a diary of her life in Highlands and on her death in 1969, her records were given to the Stratford Branch Library. In 1925, Mrs. Doss listed 21 families residing in' Highlands. By this time the town boasted a 51-room hotel und commissary, built on the site of what is now James' Drive Inn. Elena Primary School had been built at the corner of North Main and West Houston, offering education through the eighth grade.

Older children were transported by bus to Crosby High School. Evelyn Green and her husband, Arthur, also came to Highlands from Goose Creek in 1925, and were good friends of the Doss family. Mrs. Green still lives on North Magnolia, on the site of their first home. "When we came to little Elena in 1925, there were only dirt streets," she says, "no lights, no water, no gas.

We used kerosene for heat, and to cook and light the oil lamps, and we carried water from a deep old well in back of the hotel. I think there was one telephone. "Our first home was two rooms and cost us $51. It was feet, and we bought six windows and two doors and a roof extra. After a while, we added on a porch and a kitchen." Around 1929, the Greens built another, much more comfortable home, adding rooms "a board at a time." Mrs.

Green still lives in the house, and she's still adding on rooms. The Greens also built an apartment house that they rented for S5 per month. There was no doctor in Eiena in those days, says Mrs. Green. When illness or accident necessitated a trip to the doctor, residents went to the hospital located inside the Humble Oil Refinery gates.

A hospital was built later, at the corner of North Main and WallisviUe. HARRY K. JOHNSON completed the Houston-North Shore Interurban Railroad in 1927. The railroad provided an important link between the Pelly oil fields and Houston and passenger service continued to the 1960s. A successful businessman, Johnson built a school in Elena, and installed the first water and electrical service.

(Photos courtesy of the Highlands Star and Stratford Branch Library) Harry K. Johnson And the Houston-North Shore Interurban Harry K. Johnson was born in 1863 in Louisville, Ky. He came to Elena on April 13, 1924, after a successful business career in Mississippi, New- Orleans and Houston. He was a developer and a builder and had already constructed three railroad systems, one a successful interurban operating in New Orleans.

In 1926, Johnson built the first waterworks in Elena, and installed the first electricity. He also built a new one-room schoolhouse, and the county was persuaded to send one teacher to instruct grades one through eight. High school students were bussed to Crosby. Johnson's most prominent accomplishment was the construction of the aJl-electric Houston- North Shore Interurban Railroad, completed in 1927. Intended to provide passenger service from the oil fields to Houston, in its heyday the railroad completed more than 25 roundtrips per day.

Mrs. Green remembers riding the train to Houston. Roundtrip fare was 60 cents, she says. Until the San Jacinto River Bridge was built in 1928, the mile. long train bridge provided the on- ly direct crossing from Elena to the opposite bank of the San acinto River.

Johnson sold the electric railroad to Missouri Pacific at the time of its completion in 1927. Until 1946, the train carried mail from Baytown to Houston. The train also hauled large amount of freight in addition to providing an important passenger service. During World War II, the Houston-North Shore was reported to be the highest grossing system in the Missouri Pacific system. The increasing availability of the automobile killed the Houston-North Shore passenger service.

By 1948, roundtrips had decreased to two per day. On Sept. 25,1948, Missouri Pacific officially retired the electric cars. A very limited passenger service was offered until 1962, when the railroad switched to a strictly freight operation. A Bright Future In 1929, Mrs.

Doss wrote the following entry in her diary: "The fourth brick building was complete at Elena Highlands this week. Evidence of the rapid growth of progress here. "A year ago there were no brick structures at Elena Highlands. Now there are four and foundations being laid for a fifth. "The Dixie Gas and Fuel Co.

are working three shifts a day in order to finish laying the gas main from Crosby to Highlands on scheduled time. Work will be begun on piping the homes for gas about the first of August. "There have been about 175 houses erected in our community during the past year.Plus a brick store and office three brick stores a picture house apartment house drug store canning plant a gin and pressing shop bringing the total expenditures in Highlands during the year to over 5300,000. "Highlands Elena boasts shell streets, lights, water and gas on the way!" EARLY ELENA residents Ethel Master- shall aiid VtoU lOlgore pose for the camera In son, from left, Mrs. R.M.

Bigham, Mrs. W.W. tbeir "Sunday-go-to-meetin" best. This photo Spivey, Mrs. G.C.

Cautben, Mrs. T.M. Mar- was included in a diary ten by Aaaie Doss. FIG PICKERS feond a harvesting trait in Elena orchards. The San Jacinto Rice Co.

originally purchased much of the land in some was sold to the Garth- 0i Later, Hatry K. Johnson used some of the land to plant EVELYN GREEN and her husband came to. Elena in They built their first home, top, oa North Magnolia Street, at a cost of $51. In the late aos, they began construction on the much more elegant bouse where Mrs. Green still makes her home, bottom.

When the Greens came to Elena there were no utilities kerosene, was used for cooking, heating and lighting, and residents carried water from a well. The Greens also owned an apartment house, which they rented for $5 per month. IN 1929, smart shoppers like Elena residents Evelyn Green, ten, aw Annie Doss traveled to Houston to find the best bargains. The fastest way to get to the big city was on the electric interurban railroad, which in its heyday made 25 trips per day between Goose Creek and Houston. Fare was 60 cents..