From question to inspiration….

Missouri City: a bedroom community.  That is about the extent of my knowledge of Missouri City. And it isn’t hard to figure out; there is a sign as you come down Texas Parkway that says the population is 67,000+ and there are grocery stores, shopping strips, government buildings, CARS and houses.  There are no high-rise office buildings, no hospital, no manufacturing.  Most of  the houses seem to have been built in the 70s and 80s and now south and west of  here there are two large areas of even larger, very upscale houses being built.  Yes, there is work someplace that pays very well and everyone drives there to work, and then drives home again to sleep – the typical bedroom community.

To tell the truth I haven’t thought much about its history, really didn’t think it had one.  I thought that it is just another add-on to Houston as it spreads itself across the southern plains of Texas, but with a little internet search (thank goodness for Google search) I found out that the towns in this area date back into the mid 1800.  That Missouri City itself sprang up as a railroad town.  And that, what is now highway 90 was once its main street that ran parallel to the still existing and active railroad tracks.  That, even then it was a bedroom community, its citizens taking the train to Sugarland to work in the sugar mills. 

During this time the area also had farms, ranches, and sugar and tobacco plantations, (needing the train ) and around 1925 oil was found, and still more recently natural gas fields.  (I am getting to the point….)  One of the sugar plantation was owned by The Dew brothers, in fact it was called the Dew Brother Plantation. (!) The original home has been blown down, burned down, neglected and modified, but still stands.  The city picked it up, lock stock and barrel, as we say in these parts,  and moved it to Kitty Hollow Park and named it the Dewalt Heritage Center.  It is now used for classes, weddings and other official functions.  I need to go see the inside spaces.  If the photos seem to be tilted this was soon after the house was dropped here and there were yellow/orange temporary keep out fences all around….  and I was walking the dog.  “… sit Spritzer, sit, stay… NO sit – just sit for a minute….OK lets walk….”

      

Outside of Houston City Limits

The area surrounding Missouri City (my new home base) is dotted with oil wells, new and old.   Some days you can smell the fresh pumped oil well before passing it by. “Black gold, Texas Tea”

A few years back an artist friend of mine, Silvia Pinto Souza, took time from her busy schedule to ride out into the countryside over on my side of town.  She is always in search of a photo that someday might inspire a painting or even better a series of paintings.  I enjoyed the day, stopping and starting, taking shots that I found interesting while she found colors and textures that pleased her eye.  I think I may have posted about this photo shoot before but I didn’t go back and hunt it down,  so if you remember any of these photos my apologies. 

Today a few of the machines, in my own back yard, that bring up the oil that fuels the Houston economy.  These pumps sit amongst rough fields, grazing cattle and sleek horses.  There are some pretty crude barns, and ill-kept tanks and many a dot of spilt oil.  I can see why conservationist fight having wells put onto pristine parklands.