South Belt/Ellington is a neighborhood located around 20 miles southeast of

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

History

Before the Spaniards came to America the South Belt area was dominated by the

Karankawa The Karankawa were an Indigenous people concentrated in southern Texas along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, largely in the lower Colorado River and Brazos River valleys."Karankawa." In ''Cassell's Peoples, Nations and Cultures,'' edited by John ...

natives. Explorers that came into the area feared the Karankawas and viewed them as savages and cannibals. However when settlers first began to settle in the area they were greeted by somewhat neighborly natives. In the 19th and early 20th century the area that is now known as South Belt was mainly used for farming and ranching. By the 1960s however the Ayrshire Development Corp., who had bought the land, began to look into developing the area. In 1963 Ayrshire built five homes and established a water district. A year later he sold the first home to the George West family. The area began to grow and develop quickly until the 1980s when it became known that toxic waste had been dumped in the area by Brio Refining Inc. and was causing a high number of birth defects in children living in the South Bend subdivision. Because of this 677 homes and Arlyne S. Weber Elementary were demolished and the site became the Brio Superfund site. In the 2000s the area began to flourish again as many new homes and businesses were built in the area including the Clear Brook Landing subdivision which was built near the Superfund Site and a new Weber Elementary which is on Blackhawk Blvd.

Libraries

South Belt/Ellington is serviced by branches of both the

Harris County Public Library Harris County Public Library (HCPL) is a public library system serving Harris County, Texas, United States. Since its inception in 1921, HCPL has grown from a system of small book stations in homes, stores and post offices to 26 branch librarie ...

(Parker Williams Library) and

Houston Public Library Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States. History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in 1 ...

(Bracewell Library).

Education

Public schools

South Belt is served by both the

Pasadena Independent School District Pasadena Independent School District is a school district that is based in Pasadena, Texas, United States. Pasadena ISD serves much of southeast Harris County. The district includes most of Pasadena, South Houston, a portion of Houston (incl ...

and

Clear Creek Independent School District Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) is a school district based in League City, Texas, United States. The district serves most of the Clear Lake Area and some other neighboring parts of the Houston metropolitan area. CCISD is the 29t ...

. Pasadena ISD schools: *High schools:

J. Frank Dobie High School J. Frank Dobie High School is a public secondary school located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1968, it is named after the Texas writer of the same name. It houses grades 10-12. A Ninth Grade Center was opened recently to help with the influx of ...

*Intermediate schools: Beverly Hills, Thompson *Middle schools: Morris Fifth Grade Center, Rick Schneider, Dr. Dixie Melillo Middle School *Elementary schools: Atkinson, Bush, Burnett, Frazier, Genoa, Jessup, Meador, Moore, Stuchberry and South Belt

Private schools

Lutheran South Academy Lutheran South Academy is a private pre-kindergarten through 12th grade Lutheran school affiliated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod located in Houston, Texas, United States. It is a member of the Houston Area Independent Schools, a gro ...

Colleges

Residents of Pasadena ISD (and therefore Southbelt/Ellington) are zoned to

San Jacinto College San Jacinto College is a public community college in the Greater Houston with its campuses in Pasadena and Houston, Texas. Established in 1961, San Jacinto College originally consisted of the independent school districts (ISD) of Channelview, ...

.Texas Education Code, Sec. 130.197. SAN JACINTO COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.
*San Jacinto College South Campus

References

External links

South Belt-Ellington Leader
(local newspaper) {{DEFAULTSORT:Southbelt Ellington, Houston Neighborhoods in Houston Geography of Pasadena, Texas