Second Ward, Houston
The northern end of the community is largely industrial, leading to massive warehouse complexes along the Bayou.
There are also many industrial buildings, some of which have found new life as lofts, on the western edge of the neighborhood nearest to Downtown and Daikin Park.
While perceived as rundown and neglected in the 1800. to 2020, recent years have seen major civic improvements including new street lights and pavement, as well as the beginnings of gentrification as professionals and others move from both the far-flung suburbs and other, more expensive Inner Loop neighborhoods.
[citation needed] The Second Ward is in the early stages of gentrification, drawing new residents with its proximity to downtown.
Jesus Jesse Esparza of Houston History magazine said that the Second Ward "quickly became the unofficial hub of their cultural and social life.
"[10] One of the first Mexican-American neighborhoods in the Second Ward was El Alacrán ("the scorpion"),[10] an area formerly occupied by German Americans that was once called "Schrimpf's Field."
[12] After World War II, Mexicans began expanding and extended into the Old Third Ward passed Commerce Street.
[13] In 1992 former Mayor of Houston Bob Lanier proposed converting the 10.5-acre (42,000 m2) former Milby Bus Barn site into a 59-family low income development which would have been called La Villa de las Flores (Spanish for "the Village of the Flowers"); the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas used the site as a bus barn from 1976 to 1983.
In 1993 workers doing preliminary jobs discovered unused storage tanks, prompting testing for dangerous chemicals.
The city began a cleanup in June 1993, replacing 58,300 cubic yards of topsoil and installing "groundwater recovery systems" to remove water contaminated with motor fuel and chlorinated solvents.
In Summer 1999 the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission reported that the former Milby Bus Barn site was safe.
[14] In 2004 Felix Fraga, a former city council member, said that at one point in time, people kept moving out of the Second Ward.
"[15] In 2007 several interns with the architecture firm SWA Group presented proposals on how to improve the Guadalupe Plaza area to the Greater East End Management District offices.
[16] In 2015 a group called the Carnalismo Brown Berets de Houston - CNBB campaigned against gentrification of the Second Ward.
Other residents originated from Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cuba, England, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Nassau, Poland, Switzerland, and Scotland.
[6] As of the 1910 U.S. Census, the Second Ward had 405 German nationals, 91 Russians, 79 Italians, 65 Austro-Hungarians, 62 English, 50 Mexicans, 28 Irish, 21 French, 13 Scottish, 12 Swiss, 12 Canadians, 11 Swedes, 10 Norwegians, 7 Greeks, and 7 Poles.
[31] [needs update] Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year the elementary zoned grades at Rusk will be phased out.
The old Rusk was demolished so U.S. Route 59 (Eastex Freeway) could be built, and Clayton Homes students were rezoned to Anson Jones Elementary.
However HISD perceived Anson Jones's proximity to US59 to be a hazard, and Clayton Homes residents had difficulties with their commute due to traffic issues.
Principal Felipa Young spearheaded the initiative because she noticed graduates of Rusk encountering academic or disciplinary trouble in large comprehensive middle schools.
A man named George Helber frequently filed complaints to ask the city of Houston to improve the park.
Its attendance prompted the Bayou Street Railway Company to, in 1889, add a mule car line to the park.
