This was the first photo the South Belt-Ellington Leader ran in color, June 30, 1988
It was about the 25th celebration of the community planned for July 4th.
The Spectacular included lots of history: churches, schools, The Chamber, local businesses. I tried to scan the full articles, although they suffer from a small scanner bed in terms of being hacked up. (If you click on any of the photos, they should be legible to peruse.)
Closer to home, Ayrshire Corporation officials decided to head south -- south of Houston, that is. Ayrshire executives envisioned a new housing development despite the rice fields and salt plains in southeast Houston. From this, the South area was born.
Originally, five homes were built on the plains in 1963 to establish a water district. Families living in the homes had none of the amenities routinely featured in today's home. Drawing water from a ground well and travelling along dirt roads, became the norm for the "pioneers" of this area.
After approximately one year and the advent of the water district, Sagemont became a legitimate subdivision. Ayrshire begain immediate construction of homes, with the first being sold to the George West family in 1964.
Life in the South Belt area was rather lonely in 1964. Gulfgate was the closest shopping and banking area. TO pass the time, the West family spend much of their time back-packing in the "wilderness" which is now occupied by Stuchberry Elementary.
Sherman Wilson, founding pastor of Sagemont Presbyterian Church, also served as the second president of the Sagemont Civic Club. With rice fields still growing in the area, a serious mosquito problem required immediate attention. The civic club sought and received mosquito spraying.
Ellington Field history was featured in the Spectacular. A future blog post is forthcoming with additional photos and articles.
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