Your super neighborhood at-a-glance:
Location
Third Ward is conveniently located southeast of Downtown, and is bounded by I-45 on the east,
State Highway 288 on the west, Wentworth and Blodgett to the South and then along Spur 5 up to I-45.
Cultural identity and general
community characteristics
Greater Third Ward is the home of some of the most important institutions in Houston's African American
community, including Texas Southern University, Riverside Hospital, and dozens of prominent churches.
Brief History of Greater
Third Ward
Very few areas in Houston are able to boast of such longstanding traditions as the historic Third Ward. Originally a small community of shotgun style houses and modest frame homes, the area called Third Ward expanded to the south into neighborhoods such as Washington Terrace. Established in 1840, Third Ward became home to many former slaves after 1865. The community began to thrive with Dowling Street becoming the area's main business corridor, lined with black-owned businesses, churches, apartment buildings, theaters and restaurants. In 1926, the second high school for black students in Houston, Jack Yates High, opened at 2610 Elgin (the building is now Ryan Middle School). Third Ward has been the hub of education in Houston as it is the home of the internationally renowned Texas Southern University established as Texas State College for Negroes in 1947 and the University of Houston.
By the mid 1950s, the growing African American middle class found more substantial brick homes and duplexes in areas formerly reserved for Whites. Student protests in the 1960s at Texas Southern led to the closing of Wheeler Avenue as a
throughway from one end of the neighborhood to the other.
Notable landmarks and events
In the 1950s and 1960s, many folks remember the mighty Yates High School Lions whipping their rival Wheatley High School Wildcats from the Fifth Ward area at Jeppensen Stadium (now Robertson) during many Thanksgiving weekends.
Dr. Benjamin Covington's home which was located at 2219 Dowling boarded such notables as Marian Anderson and Booker T. Washington when they were unable to find rooms at the city's downtown hotels.
Emancipation Park, located at 3018 Dowling, was purchased in 1872 by freed slaves in an effort led by Rev. Jack Yates, for the celebration of Juneteenth, which is a celebration to mark the anniversary of June 19, 1865 when all slaves in Texas were emancipated from slavery. The park was donated to the City of Houston in 1916, and for more than twenty years, the park was the only public park in Houston open to African-Americans. As the site of one of the original Juneteenth celebrations, Emancipation Park remains an important symbol of a turning point in state and national history.
Third Ward is also home to the old Eldorado Ballroom, 2310 Elgin at Dowling, which was one of the country's musical epicenters hosting the likes of legends from Count Basie to B.B. King and home to locals such as Conrad Johnson and Sam Lightin' Hopkins.
While the Third Ward is changing and a large Hispanic population is settling in the area, it remains an old stalwart of African-American life.
Community Venues and Schools
- Emancipation Park
- Yates High School
- Texas Southern University
- University of Houston
Famous or Well-Known Residents
- John Jacobs, former National Urban League president
- Debbie Allen, acclaimed Hollywood director and her sister, Tony award-winning actress Phylicia Allen Rashad
- Hobart Taylor, Houston's first African-American millionaire
Greater Third Ward Stats
|