Acres Homes Community
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1910, land developer Alfred A. Wright platted the first of several subdivisions that eventually became the African American community of Acres Homes. Wright sold parcels of varying sized to residents who were attracted to the rural area by the inexpensive land, low taxes, and the absense of building restrictions, as well as the slow-paced life and wide-open spaces of rural living. Despite the lack of common municipal services such as electricity, street lights, garbage disposal, sewer and water, Acres Homes flourished as a self-contained community. In 1957, Negro Life magazine described Acres Homes as the "largest all-negro community in the United States." By 1974, the community extended roughly from West Tidwell to Gulfbank and from North Shepherd to White Oak Bayou and DuBoise. The residents included farmers, laborers, factory workers, "waterfront" workers and domestics who commuted to work in other parts of town.The first Church, Galilee Missionary Baptist, was organized in 1913, and the first school, White Oak Colored, opened in 1915. From the 1930s through the 1950s, a large migration of settlers moved into the area, organizing civic clubs and building homes, churches, Masonic halls and businesses. The first dry goods store, drug store and post office opened in 1945. The first black-owned bus company in the south, the Acres Homes Transit Company, operated from 1959 until 1968.Integration and the gradual annexation of Acres Homes by the City of Houston from 1967 to 1974 brought population diversity and transformation to Acres Homes. However, Acres Homes continues to retain its strong community identity and civic pride. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Beginning in 1910, developer Alfred A. Wright platted the subdivisions that became Acres Homes, drawing Black families with cheap land, low taxes, and freedom from building restrictions. Lacking city utilities, the community built itself — churches, schools, Masonic halls, businesses, and even the South's first Black-owned bus line. By the 1950s it was celebrated as one of the largest all-Black communities in the United States, retaining its identity even after Houston annexed it in the 1960s and 70s.
Why it matters
Acres Homes stands as a landmark of African American self-reliance, a community that supplied its own institutions when segregation and municipal neglect denied them from outside.
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Related people
- · Alfred A. Wright
Related events
- · Great Migration
- · Annexation by City of Houston
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Greater Ward A.M.E. Church
Houston, TX
Organized in 1913 and named for A.M.E. Bishop Thomas M. D. Ward, this is the oldest congregation in Houston's Acres Homes community. It began in the home of Rev. John T. Williams, rebuilt after a 1934 fire, and raised its lasting sanctuary in 1955. Under ministers like Rev. Ollie Lewis Dawson—an NAACP activist who made the church a meeting place for civic affairs—it became a hub of community life, its trustees even winning the naming of nearby streets for historically Black colleges.
Camp Logan
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Soon after the United States entered World War I, the Army established Camp Logan here in July 1917 as one of 34 training camps, a 7,600-acre complex named for Civil War general and senator John A. Logan. During construction, Black soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry, stationed nearby, rose in armed revolt on August 23, 1917, against Houston's Jim Crow laws and police abuse—the deadly "Houston Mutiny and Riot of 1917." Divisions trained here shipped out to fight in France in 1918, and after the camp closed part of its land became Memorial Park, named for the soldiers who fought in Europe.
J. Vance Lewis
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Born enslaved in Louisiana around 1863, J. Vance Lewis rose through teaching and a Chicago law degree to become, by 1904, one of only a handful of Black attorneys admitted to the Texas Bar. Settling in Houston's Freedmen's Town, he built the home he called Van Court in 1907, published his autobiography, and moved his law office here. Beyond the courtroom he funded a Black-owned bank, joined the Colored Commercial Club, and championed education and equal rights across the nation.
The Reverend Ned P. Pullum
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Born in Alabama around 1861, the Rev. Ned P. Pullum became a leading Baptist minister in Houston's Freedmen's Town, the Fourth Ward community founded by the formerly enslaved after emancipation. He pastored Bethel Baptist after the death of the Rev. John "Jack" Yates, then founded Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in 1903, leading it for 24 years. A civic force and entrepreneur, he helped establish the segregation-era Carnegie Colored Library, supported a Black-run hospital, and built businesses including a brickworks, a shoe-repair shop, and two drugstores.