Dr. B.F. and Ethel Reed Coop House
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
BEDFORD FORREST COOP (1866-1929) WAS BORN IN CROCKETT COUNTY, TENNESSEE. HE STUDIED MEDICINE AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY BEFORE GETTING MARRIED AND JOINING A PRIVATE PRACTICE IN GREENVILLE, ILLINOIS. AFTER FALLING ILL WITH TUBERCULOSIS IN 1908, DR. COOP DIVORCED AND HE MARRIED SCHOOLTEACHER ETHEL B. REED (1875-1948). READY FOR A FRESH START, THE COUPLE MOVED TO HOUSTON IN 1914 AND BEGAN ESTABLISHING THEMSELVES AS PROMINENT FIGURES IN THE COMMUNITY. DR. COOP BEGAN A MEDICAL PRACTICE DOWNTOWN AND ETHEL TOOK ON LEADERSHIP ROLES WITH SEVERAL SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL GROUPS. ETHEL SERVED AS TRUSTEE OF THE HOUSTON SCHOOL BOARD, DIRECTOR OF THE SOCIAL SERVICE BOARD, INSTRUCTOR AT THE RED CROSS AND MEMBER OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB OF THE HEIGHTS. WHILE SHE SERVED AS STATE CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSEWIVES LEAGUE DURING WORLD WAR I, HEAD OF THE U.S. FOOD ADMINISTRATION (AND FUTURE U.S. PRESIDENT) HERBERT HOOVER NAMED ETHEL ONE OF THE SPEAKERS IN THE WORK OF FOOD CONSERVATION. IN 1923, SHE WAS ONE OF FOUR APPOINTEES WHO SELECTED THE LOCATION OF THE HEIGHTS LIBRARY. IN 1950, COOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WAS NAMED IN HER HONOR. LATER IN LIFE, ETHEL CONVERTED HER HOME INTO A BOARDING HOUSE FOR YOUNG TEACHERS STARTING THEIR CAREERS. DECADES LATER, THE HOME WOULD ALSO SERVE AS A NEIGHBORHOOD BED AND BREAKFAST. THE 1914-1915 CRAFTSMAN STYLE HOUSE CONTAINS ELEMENTS OF VICTORIAN AND PRAIRIE STYLE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. NOTABLE FEATURES INCLUDE ITS HIPPED ROOF WITH A SMALL CENTRAL DORMER, WRAPAROUND PORCH AND TAPERED HALF-COLUMNS ON BRICK PIERS. THE HOUSE WAS RENOVATED BUT RETAINS A HIGH DEGREE OF INTEGRITY. THE PROPERTY WAS LISTED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES IN 1984.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Dr. Bedford Forrest Coop and his second wife, schoolteacher Ethel Reed Coop, came to Houston in 1914 seeking a fresh start and quickly became civic leaders in the Heights. While he built a downtown medical practice, Ethel served on the Houston school board and social service board, taught for the Red Cross, and led the Housewives League during World War I, when future president Herbert Hoover named her a speaker for the national food-conservation campaign. In 1950 an elementary school was named in her honor. Their 1914 Craftsman house, later a boarding house for young teachers and a bed and breakfast, still stands with much of its original character.
Why it matters
Ethel Coop's public career shows how women shaped civic life and the World War I home front long before they held formal office. The preserved house honors a woman whose leadership in education and food conservation left a lasting mark on Houston.
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Related people
- · Ethel B. Reed Coop
- · Bedford Forrest Coop
- · Herbert Hoover
Themes & tags
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