Montrose is a neighborhood located in west-central

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Montrose is a area roughly bounded by

Interstate 69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of eight unconnected segments. The longest segment runs from Evansville, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, and includ ...

/ U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, South Shepherd Drive to the west, and Taft to Fairview to Bagby to Highway 59 to Main to the east. The area is also referred to as

Neartown Montrose is an area located in west-central Houston, Texas, United States and is one of the city's major cultural areas. Montrose is a area roughly bounded by Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, South Shepher ...

or Neartown / Montrose. Montrose is one of the major cultural areas in Houston notable for its hipster culture, art scene, food scene, and nightlife. In the 1980s, it was the center of the gay community. Established in 1911, the neighborhood is a demographically diverse area with renovated mansions, bungalows with wide porches, and cottages located along tree-lined boulevards. Montrose has been called the "Heart of Houston" and the "strangest neighborhood east of the Pecos".

History

Montrose, named after the town of

Montrose, Angus Montrose ( ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Situated north of Dundee and south of Aberdeen, Montrose lies between the mouths of the River North Esk, Angus, North and River South Esk, South Esk rivers. It is the northe ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, was originally envisioned as a planned community and

streetcar suburb A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Such suburbs developed in the United States in the years before the automobile, when ...

dating back to the early 20th century before the development of River Oaks. Developer

J. W. Link J, or j, is the tenth letter of the English alphabet. J may also refer to: * Palatal approximant in the International Phonetic Alphabet * J, Cyrillic letter Je Astronomy * J, a provisional designation prefix for some objects discovered be ...

and his Houston Land Corporation envisioned a "great residential addition" according to the neighborhood's original sales brochure. Link's planning details for the area included four wide boulevards with the best curbing and extensive landscaping. Link built his own home in Montrose, known as the Link-Lee Mansion, which is now part of the University of St. Thomas campus. A streetcar, the Montrose Line, ran through the neighborhood. Link wrote: "Houston has to grow. Montrose is going to lead the procession." It did, and the procession eventually continued far beyond the neighborhood. Montrose was first platted in 1911.About the Neartown Association
" ''Neartown Association''. September 29, 2007. In 1926, the Plaza Apartment Hotel, Houston's first apartment hotel, opened on Montrose Boulevard. The hotel was home to many of Houston's leaders, including Edgar Odell Lovett, the first president of

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

. Modeled after the Ritz-Carlton in New York, the hotel cost over one million dollars to construct. Prior to 1936 deed restrictions meant that commercial uses were not available to sections of Montrose. When the deed restrictions lapsed commercial development increased. During the 1960s and 1970s, Montrose became a center for the burgeoning

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

movement, with street musicians, alternative community centers and

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

communes A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

, head shops and artisans' studios proliferating. The corner of Montrose and Westheimer was the site of regular demonstrations against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. Street vendors sold Space City! and other underground newspapers throughout the area. Thorne Dreyer and Al Reinert wrote in ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

'' in 1973 that the area "wound a tortuous course from Silk Stocking and Low Rent and back again."Dreyer, Thorne and Al Reinert. "Montrose Lives!" ''

''. April 1973. ISSN 0148-7736. Start
Page 56
Cited
Page 57
Retrieved from ''

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

'' on April 2, 2010. Gregory Curtis wrote in the same magazine in 1983 that Montrose was "the Montrose was at its peak as a community" but that it had declined since then. KPFT – the fourth station in the progressive

Pacifica Radio Pacifica may refer to: Art * ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition Places * Pacifica, California, a city in the United States ** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier * Pacifica, a conce ...

network of listener-sponsored stations – began broadcasting in 1970, and was joined on Lovett Blvd. by

KLOL KLOL (101.1 FM, "Mega 101") is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a Spanish-language Latin pop format. KLOL serves as the Spanish-language flagship station for the Houston Texans football team. ...

and

KILT A kilt ( ) is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill-woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish Highland dress for men, it is first r ...

(Radio Montrose), pioneers in the underground FM format, creating a Montrose countercultural "radio row." KPFT's transmitter was twice bombed by a local Ku Klux Klan group, making it the only radio station in the history of the United States to be blown off the air. The

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

flavor of the Montrose would spawn both the Westheimer Colony Art Festival in 1971 and the subsequent street fair in 1973, which would become known as the Westheimer Street Festival. Also starting around the 1970s the area became known as the center for the gay and lesbian community of Houston. The area sported an estimated 30-40

gay bar A gay bar is a Bar (establishment), drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ+) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBTQ+ communi ...

s at the time, including the Bayou Landing, thought to be the largest gay dance hall between the coasts, and several gay activist groups, including the Gay Liberation Front. During the

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

epidemic of the 1980s, the Montrose clinic was opened by Rev. Ralph Lasher and it later, at a different location in Montrose, became a community health center. Folk music clubs like Anderson Fair and Sand Mountain catered to the folk scene in the neighborhood and other venues featured psychedelic rock and blues. Later, punk and new wave clubs like The Paradise Rock Island, the Omni, and Numbers opened in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Montrose has been "a haven for

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

honkey-tonks, antique stores, wealthy socialites, motorcycle gangs, gays, harmless eccentrics and a broad array of exiles, writers, artists and musicians."Dreyer, Thorne and Al Reinert. "Montrose Lives!" ''

''. April 1973. ISSN 0148-7736. Page 56. Retrieved from ''

'' on April 2, 2010. It has been called "a uniquely Houston kind of Bohemia, a mad mix made possible by the city's no-holds-barred, ''laissez faire'' form of growth." In 1991 Paul Broussard was murdered in the Montrose nightclub area.

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

professor Maria Gonzalez stated that "With this murder ..eople said, 'Enough is enough.' ..A whole new relationship developed between the gay community and the police department." Since the 1990s, Montrose has become increasingly gentrified with a trend towards remodeled and new homes, higher rents, upmarket boutiques and restaurants. In 1997 Katherine Feser of the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'' stated that "Montrose snot for starving artists anymore". On June 6, 2006,Rogers, Brian.
3 years after gang killing, teen wants to 'move on'

Archive
. ''

''. Thursday September 17, 2009. a teenage

MS-13 Mara Salvatrucha, commonly known as MS-13, is an international criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s. Originally, the gang was set up to protect Salvadoran immigrants from other gangs in the Los Angeles area ...

gang member named Gabriel Granillo was stabbed to death at Ervan Chew Park in the Montrose area. The 2011 novel ''

The Knife and the Butterfly ''The Knife and the Butterfly'' is a young adult fiction, young adult novel by Ashley Hope Pérez, published in 2011 by Carolrhoda Books. The novel, which explores the lives of two teenage gang members in Houston, a Hispanic boy named Azael and ...

'' is based on this stabbing.

Culture

Montrose hosts a number of communities including artists, musicians, and the local

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community, and has thrift, vintage, and second-hand shopping stores,

s, and restaurants. On Montrose Boulevard and Westheimer Road, there are few original homes remaining—a majority have been converted to businesses and/or restaurants since 1936. Examples of Houston's historic residential architecture including century-old

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

s and

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

s can be found in Montrose. , the nightclub Numbers, which was established in 1978 and was "one of the most important venues operating in the '80s", remained a landmark of the neighborhood. In 2016, Numbers was named one of the 50 Best Small Music Venues in America.

LGBT culture

Before the 1970s, the city's

s were spread around

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 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45 ...

and what is now Midtown Houston. Gays and lesbians needed to have a place to socialize after the closing of the gay bars. They began going to Art Wren, a 24-hour restaurant in Montrose. Around the time Montrose mainly included empty nesters and widows. Gay men became attracted to Montrose as a neighborhood after encountering it while patronizing Art Wren, and they began to gentrify the neighborhood and assist the widows with the maintenance of their houses. Within Montrose new gay bars began to appear. By 1985, the flavor and politics of the neighborhood were heavily influenced by the LGBT community.Oaklander, Mandy. "The Mayor of Montrose." ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown Houston, Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely ...

''. Wednesday May 18, 2011
2
Retrieved on May 18, 2011. At the time at least 19% of the residents of Montrose were gay and lesbian. In the late 1980s,

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

affected many Montrose residents. Some area residents stopped patronizing restaurants in Montrose, believing that they would acquire AIDS from gay waiters. Some area

funeral home A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary is a business that provides burial, entombment and cremation services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared visitation and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for t ...

s did not want to accept the bodies of men who died from AIDS. AIDS tore through the neighborhood and the gay community flocked to the nightclubs for a reprieve from sickness and death." The Murder of Paul Broussard occurred in Montrose in 1991. By 2011 many LGBT people moved to the Houston Heights and to suburbs in

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the Office of Management and Budget, United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands, is the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical ...

. Decentralizing of Houston's gay population and the increasing acceptance of homosexuality in the city of

and in society in general caused business at gay bars in Montrose to decline. However, Montrose is still considered the epicenter of LGBT culture in Houston.

Museums

The

Menil Collection The Menil Collection, located in Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs a ...

, on Sul Ross Street between Alabama Street and Richmond Avenue, is a free museum founded by Houston philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil to house their art collection. The Menil was designed by architect

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable works include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), Kansai International Airport in Osaka (1994), the Whitney ...

. The

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

is located in the Houston Museum District, in the surrounding area.

Chapels

The Rothko Chapel, also created by John and Dominique de Menil, is a non-denominational chapel located one block from the Menil on the campus of the University of St. Thomas. Fourteen black and color-hued paintings by

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko ( ; Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz until 1940; September 25, 1903February 25, 1970) was an American abstract art, abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular reg ...

are on the interior walls. The shape and design of the chapel were largely influenced by the artist.

Barnett Newman Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American painter. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense ...

's sculpture, '' Broken Obelisk'', dedicated to the late

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

, stands in front of the chapel in a reflecting pool designed by architect

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 ...

. The Chapel of St. Basil, designed by Philip Johnson, is on the campus of nearby University of St. Thomas. It is faced with white stucco and black granite, and is operated by the Congregation of St. Basil.

Cityscape

Dreyer and Reinert wrote in 1973 that " nerally speaking" the community would be of area within the Southwest Freeway (nowadays

), West Gray, Shepherd Drive, and Smith Street; they stated there was no agreed-upon boundary of "Montrose" and that "residents are always arguing, with equal vehemence, whether they should or should not be considered part of "that place.""

Infrastructure and government

Local government

The community is within the Houston Police Department's Central Patrol Division, headquartered at 61 Riesner. Volunteer Initiatives Program, Citizens Offering Police Support
" ''City of Houston''. Retrieved May 23, 2008. "Neartown Storefront, 802 Westheimer " The Neartown Storefront Station was formerly located at 802

Westheimer Road Westheimer Road () is an arterial east–west road in Houston, Texas, United States. It runs from Bagby Street in Downtown and terminates at the Westpark Tollway on the southern edge of George Bush Park, stretching about long. The street was n ...

. In 2019, there was an announcement that the storefront building, and therefore the storefront itself, would close as a result of a land swap between the City of Houston and a developer as part of a deal to develop a new library. The City of Houston purchased the building used for the storefront with federal community development funds.

Houston Fire Department City of Houston Fire Department (HFD) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Houston, Texas, United States, the fourth largest city in the United States. HFD is responsible for preserving life a ...

Fire Station 16 serves the area. The fire station is in Fire District 6. The station opened at the intersection of

and Yupon in 1928. The station moved to the intersection of Richmond and Dunlavy in 1979. Montrose is within

Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. The Council has sixteen members: eleven from council districts and five elected at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, wi ...

District C. Because of the inclusion of Montrose, the Houston Heights, and the

area, District C is nicknamed "hipstrict" referring to its progressive and urban ethic.Moran, Chris.
Only 2 city incumbents lack opponents
" ''

''. Thursday September 8, 2011. Retrieved on November 5, 2011. Previously Montrose was wholly within City Council District D. In the early 1990s, Montrose was moved from District C to district D to avoid putting too many minorities in a single city council district.Jigsaw puzzle: Creating two new Houston City Council seats poses demographic challenges
" (editorial) ''

''. Wednesday January 26, 2011. Retrieved on November 5, 2011. While Montrose was in District D, it was not able to have its own residents elected to city council. Instead the district was forced to try to influence electoral contests involving candidates from other neighborhoods.Political challenge: Revised council redistricting plan offers Hispanics a third majority district
" (editorial) ''

''. Wednesday May 18, 2011. Retrieved on November 5, 2011. As 2011 city council redistricting approached, some members of Houston's gay community and some Houston area bloggers proposed returning Montrose to District C. Around 2011 an earlier plan would have combined the Heights and Montrose under a district called District J.

County, state, and federal representation

Harris County Precinct One, headed by Commissioner

Rodney Ellis Rodney Glenn Ellis (born April 7, 1954) is an American politician who has served on the Harris County, Texas, Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 1 since 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. Elli ...

, serves Neartown. The county operates the Neartown Office at 1413

. Montrose is located in Districts 134 and 147 of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

. Ann Johnson represents the portion of the neighborhood west of Montrose Boulevard, and

Garnet Coleman Garnet Fredrick Coleman (born September 8, 1961) is an American politician. From 1991 to 2022, he was a member of the Texas legislature, Texas House of Representatives for the 147th district, located entirely within Houston and Harris County, Te ...

represents the portion of the neighborhood east of Montrose Boulevard. Montrose is located in District 13 of the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

represented by Senator Borris L. Miles. After the 2012 redistricting, the community is now within Texas's 2nd congressional district. As of 2020, the representative is Dan Crenshaw. Harris Health System designated the Northwest Health Center for ZIP code 77098 and the Casa de Amigos Health Center in Northside for ZIP codes 77006 and 77019. The nearest public hospital is Ben Taub General Hospital in the

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a List of neighborhoods in Houston, neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States. It is immediately south of the Houston Museum District, Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 6 ...

. - See ZIP codes 77006, 77019, and 77098
See this map for relevant ZIP codes

City of Houston Designated Historic Districts

As of June 2010, The Montrose was home to six of the nineteen designated

Historic Districts A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from ce ...

in the city of Houston. These are Audubon Place, Avondale East, Avondale West, Courtland Place, Westmoreland, and First Montrose Commons.

Past elections

Montrose held the core of

Mayor of Houston The following is a list of people who have served as mayor of the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Qualifications, election, and terms To file to run for mayor, a person must be a qualified voter of the city of Houston, and have h ...

Kathy Whitmire's political support in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Montrose was the only area where a plurality of residents (40%) voted for her in the 1991

election. Montrose provided political support for former city councilperson and mayor Annise Parker.

Economy

Montrose is served by major regional and national supermarket chains.Foster, Robin.
Influx of grocery stores means more choices, but concerns linger

Archive
. ''

''. Wednesday October 19, 2011. Retrieved on November 11, 2015.

Consulates

The Consulate-General of Norway is located in Montrose. The Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Houston was located in Montrose before closing in 2019.

Parks and recreation

The Houston Greek Festival is held near the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The festival is usually in the first week of October and has been held for over four decades. The Montrose Remembrance Garden, a memorial to victims of violent crimes, was established in 2011 at the intersection of California and Grant streets. Ervan Chew Park is a neighborhood park that allows dogs off-leash in a designated area

Education

Colleges and universities

Montrose is home to the University of St. Thomas. The service area of

Houston Community College Houston Community College (HCC), also known as the Houston Community College System (HCCS), is a community college that operates community colleges in Houston, Texas, Houston, Missouri City, Texas, Missouri City, Greater Katy, and Stafford, Texas ...

includes all of the

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest Public school (government funded), public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the ci ...

, and Montrose is in HISD.

Primary and secondary education

Public schools

Pupils in Montrose are zoned to

schools.Map of Montrose
''

''. Retrieved October 20, 2008. Compare with HISD school attendance boundary maps. Montrose is in Trustee District VIII, represented by Diana Dávila as of 2008. Baker Montessori School (formerly Wilson Montessori School), MacGregor Elementary School, Poe Elementary School, and Wharton Dual Language Academy serve separate sections of Montrose. Pupils in Montrose are divided between two separate middle school attendance boundaries. Lanier Middle School and Gregory-Lincoln Education Center serve separate sections of Neartown for middle school. All Montrose pupils are zoned to Lamar High School. The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a magnet high school, was in Montrose until January 2019 when it moved downtown and beginning in the fall of 2019, the Arabic Immersion Magnet School will move to HSPVA's former site. Beginning in 2018

Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan Baylor College of Medicine Academy at Ryan (BCMAR) is a magnet middle school in Houston Independent School District (HISD), located in the Third Ward, Houston, Texas. It is located in the former Ryan Middle School. It is in association with ...

also serves as a boundary option for students zoned to Blackshear, Lockhart, and MacGregor elementary schools. In 1973 Dreyer and Reinert wrote that in the 1930s the area public schools "were widely acclaimed to be the finest in Houston" and that by 1973, despite the demographic changes, the upper middle-class parents continued to support the public schools and that they had not experienced significant

white flight The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...

to private schools; the journalists stated the schools were "among the best in town" in regards to inner city considerations.Dreyer, Thorne and Al Reinert. "Montrose Lives!" ''

''. April 1973. ISSN 0148-7736. Start
Page 56
Cited
Page 60
Retrieved from ''

'' on April 2, 2010. Montrose Elementary School opened in 1906. It was later torn down and replaced in 1982 by the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts . Southmore Elementary School opened in 1921, Wilson in 1925, Lanier in 1926, Poe in 1928, and Wharton in 1929. Southmore was renamed MacGregor Elementary School in 1930 and Lamar opened in 1937. Gregory-Lincoln opened in 1966, and Gregory-Lincoln's current facility opened in 2007.School Histories: the Stories Behind the Names
." ''

''. Accessed September 24, 2008. Both Wharton and Wilson elementaries have fireplaces and chimneys given to the schools by Ima Hogg. As of 2010 the fireplace at Wharton was still displayed in public and used as a storytelling area. In the 1970s Lincoln Junior-Senior High School, established in 1966, was the zoned secondary school for a portion of Montrose. Thorne and Reinert wrote that HISD officials at the time called it "the most successfully integrated school in the city."

Private schools

The Annunciation Orthodox School is located in Montrose.Radcliffe, Jennifer.
When all else fails, school offers troubled kids hope
" ''

''. Friday January 1, 2010. Retrieved on February 12, 2012. The Kinkaid School was located in the Neartown area until 1957 when the school moved to Piney Point Village. The Harris School was located in Montrose.

Public libraries

The Eleanor K. Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library of

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 ...

was at 4100 Montrose Boulevard. The library was housed in a former church, the Central Church of Christ. The bell tower or campanile is located by the front door of the library although the bell is gone, and there is a small colonnade connecting the main church-library building to former church meeting rooms and offices. Facing Montrose Boulevard, the original stained glass window of the church can be seen featuring a dove with an olive branch in its beak. A modern office building complex in the surrounding area is known as The Campanile, named after the bell tower in the library. In 2013 there were plans for a renovation. However, they were shelved upon consideration of the cost of upgrading the building's infrastructure. Instead, as of 2019, the city is moving forward with plans for a new library facility along

. The facility will be in the multi-purpose Montrose Collective development which will also have retail. In March 2024, the library system closed the church-based Freed-Montrose, stating that concerns about safety were the reason for the closure. The new Freed-Montrose is scheduled to open in fall 2024. The church-based library shortly reopened after the closure. The permanent Freed-Montrose in the new location is scheduled to open on December 14, 2024.

Notable natives and residents

* Carlos Correa *

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...

studied acting in the neighborhood *

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

's former home on Yoakum Street is now part of the University of St. Thomas *

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

lived on Hawthorne Street while teaching high school in the 1930s * Sue Lovell, a member of the

Gustin, Marene.
Is Ervan Chew Park safe?

. '' River Oaks Examiner''. Thursday June 15, 2006. Retrieved on November 11, 2015. * Annise Parker, former

, former at-large

member.Snyder, Mike.
East Montrose retains flavor after gentrification

Archive
. ''

''. Sunday May 12, 2002. Retrieved on November 12, 2015. "The design of many of the new townhomes discourages interaction with neighbors, said City Councilwoman Annise Parker, who has lived in East Montrose for more than 11 years." * William Sydney Porter ( O. Henry) lived in Montrose while a reporter for the ''

Houston Post The ''Houston Post'' was a newspaper that had its headquarters in Houston, Texas, United States. In 1995, the newspaper shut down, and its assets were purchased by the ''Houston Chronicle''. History Gail Borden Johnson founded the ''Houston P ...

'' *

Daniel Quinn Daniel Clarence Quinn (October 11, 1935 – February 17, 2018) was an American author (primarily, novelist and fabulist), cultural critic, and publisher of educational texts, best known for his novel ''Ishmael'', which won the Turner Tomorrow ...

, author of Ishmael, lived in Montrose with his wife until his death in February, 2018 * Don Sanders was known as the "mayor of Montrose" * The mansion of Ross S. Sterling, originally located in

, was moved into the neighborhood. The Waldo Mansion is also in the neighborhood.

References

External links

Explore Montrose
{{coord, 29.740, -95.391, type:city(20000)_region:US-TX, display=title Neighborhoods in Houston Neartown, Houston Gay villages in Texas Populated places established in 1911