Third Ward, Houston
Third Ward, located inside the 610 Loop is immediately southeast of Downtown Houston and to the east of the Texas Medical Center.
"[citation needed] Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle said that Fox said that area was "a silk-stocking neighborhood of Victorian-era homes."
[6] In the post-World War II period a large number of black migrants, many of them from Louisiana and some from East Texas and other areas in the Deep South, settled in Third Ward.
[8] The People's Party II, a community activist organization that eventually became the Houston Chapter of the Black Panther Party was originally led by Carl Hampton - a charismatic speaker who organized the PPII at 2800 Dowling Street in the spring of 1970 to address police brutality and corruption towards Black and Brown people in the community.
The construction of Texas State Highway 288, which offered a quicker alternative into Downtown, caused Almeda Road's commercial properties to decline.
Kim Cobb of the Houston Chronicle explained that "She's particularly concerned about the Riverside-MacGregor area near the Medical Center that her group represents.
She thinks the term "Third Ward" implies an economic division that will get in the way of the benefits that will come to the rest of the city from the opening of the George Brown Convention Center.
[21] By 2006 many townhouses appeared in the area across the freeway from the Third Ward, with childless couples, empty nesters, and yuppies occupying the movements.
"[21] In 2010 Norris published an article in the Thurgood Marshall Law Review stating how existing Third Ward residents could continue to keep their properties, including enforcing deed restrictions; because the City of Houston does not have zoning, many Houston neighborhoods use deed restrictions to maintain their existing setups and atmospheres.
According to Hughes, the eastern boundary is a low rent group of houses near Texas Southern University that he refers to as "Sugar Hill."
"[31] Jeannie Kever of the Houston Chronicle said "That evolution allows people to designate the area around Texas Southern University Third Ward, for example, even though the city limits stopped far short of there in the early 1900s.
[33] In the era of de jure segregation, Alabama Street was the dividing line between the black and white areas.
As of 2003 the brick houses are in varying conditions; Woods said that some are "beautifully renovated," some are "respectfully maintained," and some are "severely neglected.
[29] The section included crime, families affected by welfare dependency, unemployment, and proliferation of recreational drugs.
[29] The shotgun shacks, located north of Truxillo Street, are smaller and more cheaply built than the houses, and they have been historically occupied by working class African Americans.
[4] Emancipation Avenue, renamed as such in 2017 and previously Dowling Street,[35] has served as the main northeast to southeast artery of the Third Ward.
[6] Big Robert Smith, an area singer, called Dowling the "main street of black Houston.
"[6] Witcher described the Dowling Street corridor, which once functioned as the main commercial area of Third Ward, as still having "many thriving enterprises" while its blocks have "an unsettling profusion of empty, overgrown lots and dilapidated structures.
[36] In 2013 Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press said that "Today, Third Ward possess a dynamic mix of old and new as the area slowly undergoes a slow gentrification process: beautiful brick homes abutting wonderfully divey restaurants like Chief Cajun Snack Shack, 80-year-old meat markets turned into vegan coffee shops, non-profit arts organizations such as Project Row Houses side-by-side with still-occupied row houses.
[41] The Houston Police Department's South Central Patrol Division,[42] headquartered at 2022 St. Emanuel in the Third Ward,[43] serves the neighborhood.
[46] The city multi-service centers provide several services such as child care, programs for elderly residents, and rental space.
“We continually evaluate the types of crime that are affecting our community and adjust our patrol and investigation methods to address those issues,” said Bret Collier, UHPD lieutenant and chief of staff.
[58] In addition, the University of Houston is located within proximity of the area which shares three main streets, namely Scott, the heart of Third Ward.
[73] The building housing Young Women's College Preparatory Academy (which formerly had the Contemporary Learning Center) is in the Third Ward area.
The Lawson Academy is opening up an early childhood program at Regency Lofts serving 3 and 4 year olds starting fall of 2023.
Terry Grier, the HISD superintendent, argued that Dodson needs to close so another school will be located there while its permanent facility is under construction.
[119] In 2017 the University of Houston HEALTH Research Institute received a $2 million grant for an anti-obesity and anti-diabetes program to be established in the Third Ward.
[61] Project Row Houses (PRH) is a community-based arts and culture non-profit organization in Houston's northern Third Ward, one of the city's oldest African-American neighborhoods.
[124] Houston Chronicle columnist Joy Sewing wrote in 2020 that "The 'Tre, as we natives say, is a predominately Black neighborhood just south of downtown and east of the Museum District.
Despite the stereotypes that often come with inner-city Black neighborhoods, Third Ward is also home to some of the city's most noted and greatest African-American artists, activists, educators and leaders.
