Southside Place, Texas

Southside Place opened on Easter Day in 1925. Edlo L. Crain, the developer, placed a pool and a park in a subdivision to attract residents to the townsite. The first section to open was south of the park. It was in close proximity to Bellaire Boulevard and the streetcar line, which was nicknamed the "Toonerville Trolley". In 1926, development of the second section of Southside Place, which spanned from Harper Street to University Boulevard, began. The Great Depression slowed development. The site of Southside Place previously housed the Harris County Poor Farm. The Haden and Austin company had purchased the poor farm and, after a period, sold it to the E. L. Crain and Company.[7]

Southside Place incorporated in June 1931 with 600 residents. The city council first met on June 15 of that year. On August 3, 1934 the city council passed a resolution that declared Southside Place an incorporated city.[4][7] Because of the incorporation, Houston did not incorporate Southside Place's territory into its city limits, while Houston annexed surrounding areas that were unincorporated.[8] A post office opened in 1940. Before World War II the population stabilized around 1,400. In the 1960s the city reached a high 1,500 residents. By 1979 the number of residents fell to 1,263. In 1988 the city had 1,560 residents. In 1990 the city had 1,384 residents.[4]

In early 2009 Southside Place announced that it would demolish its previous municipal buildings and build a new multi-story municipal complex.[9]

Glenn "Pat" Patterson is to serve as mayor until May 2021. There will be a mayoral election on May 1, 2021; Patterson will not seek reelection.[10] Savvas T. Stefanides and Andy Chan are the candidates; the latter moved to Southside Place in 2004.[11]

Map of Southside Place

Southside Place is located at 29°42′35″N 95°26′8″W (29.709629, –95.435442).[12] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.2 square miles (0.6 km²), all of it land. The city is surrounded by the cities of Bellaire, Houston, and West University Place.[4]

The Blair House, a two-story, red-brick, 183-unit apartment complex, opened in 1963 and was on a 4.2-acre (1.7 ha) site. As the value of land rose in Southside Place, pressure came to redevelop the land. The complex close on September 11, 2015 and was bulldozed in November of that year. Trammell Crow Residential built the four-story, 269-unit Alexan Southside Place in its place.[13]

A portion of Braeswood Place, Blocks 1 and 2 of Braes Heights Section 1, is in Southside Place.[14][15] The rest is in the City of Houston.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,835 people, 537 households, and 402 families residing in the city.

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 1,546 people, 618 households, and 370 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,270.9 inhabitants per square mile (2,421.2/km²). There were 647 housing units at an average density of 2,624.4 per square mile (1,013.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.72% White, 1.03% African American, 4.14% Asian, 1.81% from other races, and 1.29% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.47% of the population.

A marker indicating the city of Southside Place

There were 618 households, out of which 40.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.2% were married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.1% were non-families. 38.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.44.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 33.2% under the age of 18, 3.2% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.7 males.

A billboard owned by the city of Southside Place

The median income for a household in the city was $81,267, and the median income for a family was $163,303. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $48,654 for females. The per capita income for the city was $57,021. About 3.3% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over.

Shell Oil Company Bellaire Technology Center

The Braes Heights Shopping Center, a two-story mid-century modern shopping center, is located in Southside Place.[28][29] In 2012 the Houston Press ranked the center the "Best Strip Mall - 2012" due to its abundance of small businesses that made the editors feel nostalgic. The editors said "In many ways, Braes Heights seems more like Rice Village than Rice Village" because many iconic small businesses had left Rice Village by 2012.[28]

Shell Oil Company's Bellaire Technology Center had been located in Southside Place.[30] The 310,000-square-foot (29,000 m²) facility opened as a geophysical processing center in 1936. For decades many scientists and engineers discovered and studied facts related to oil and natural gas. In 2008 Shell announced that it would close the Bellaire facility and expand the Westhollow Technology Center in Houston to accommodate the most of the staff employed by the Bellaire center, while some staff would go to the Woodcreek Technology Campus in western Houston. Shell said that it closed the Bellaire facility partly because two thirds of the land was leased, and the lease was set to expire in 2010.[31][32] The move decreased tax revenue into the City of Southside Place; the city rezoned the parcel for various land uses.[33]

The Palace Bowling Lanes bowling alley, a two-story, 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m²) structure that was built in 1955,[34] was on a 2.8-acre (1.1 ha) plot of land in Southside Place. In October 2016 the owners sold the alley, which had been renamed Bowl on Bellaire but still had signage reading "Palace Bowling Lanes", to Sparkle Frame, and that group closed the business later that month.[35] In September 2018 the real estate firm Triple Crown Investments stated that it would remodel the building into the Southside Commons complex, and Arch-Con Construction will be the construction company.[36] A bowling alley, restaurants, 10,000 square feet (930 m²) of retail space, and other entertainment facilities will be on the first floor; the restaurant and entertainment businesses would take up a total of 30,000 square feet (2,800 m²) of space. Offices, including medical and non-medical purposes, occupying 40,000 square feet (3,700 m²) are to go on the second floor. The building is scheduled to re-open around Summer 2020.[34]

Fire Truck Park

The park and pool facilities are operated by the Southside Place Park Association, which is not affiliated with the City of Southside Place. The SPPA is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors and managed by two paid employees.

The park/pool area is located between Auden and Edloe on the streets of Garnet and Farbar. Facilities include a park, tennis courts, baseball field, basketball court, swimming pool and clubhouse. Only the park, field and basketball court are open for public use. Use of the tennis court, pool and clubhouse require a park membership. Annual membership is $425 and is open to residents of Southside Place. Approx. 80% of Southside Place residents are also park members. The clubhouse is home to a summer camp that is run by the Parks Department. The park staff consists of 1 full-time Parks/Recreation Director, 1 part-time clubhouse manager, 30+ camp staff members, 2 assistant pool managers, 2 swim lessons instructors and 35 Red Cross certified Life Guards. The pool is also home to a 150+ member swim team that competes with other pools in the Houston area. Swim team season runs from mid-May through the end of June. The Parks Director is Andrew Devers.

The Weekley Family YMCA is in the area. It opened in 1951 as the Southwest YMCA,[47] in West University Place. The current facility in Braeswood Place, Houston broke ground in 2001.[48]

The Houston Chronicle is the area regional newspaper. On Thursdays, residents receive the Bellaire/West U/River Oaks/Meyerland local section.

The West University Examiner is a local newspaper distributed in the community .

The Village News and Southwest News is a local newspaper distributed in the community.

The dismantling of the Southside Place water tower

The city government publishes Southside Place Today, a community newsletter that is included with resident water bills.[49]

In the mid-20th century the community newspaper Southwestern Times served Southside Place and surrounding communities.[50] The paper was headquartered in Rice Village, and it served as an official publication for the city.[51]

A Southside Place street sign and street light

Southside Place is a member city of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO). The city is served by bus lines 2 (Bellaire), 68 (Brays Bayou Crosstown), and 73 (Bellfort Crosstown).[52][53][54]

• List of cities in Texas

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southside Place, Texas.

• City of Southside Place official website
• Southside Place, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online