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Lecture delivered at Houston History Conference on June 2, 2012 at University of Houston
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The Prairie that b u i l t H o u s t o n Houston’s Prairie Heartland and the fight to save this historical landscape
Jaime GonzálezCommunity education Manager, Katy Prairie ConservancyPresident, Coastal Prairie Partnership
Halloween PennantCelithemis eponina
ASSUMPTIONS FOR THIS TALK
★ Teaching history without respect to the natural environment is like oil painting without a canvas
★ Houston was built on the prairie but the prairie helped build the city and helped forge our character in the process
★ Prairie restoration is an act of living historic preservation and is also a memorial to those who built this place.
★ The history and the prairie community are natural allies - we are both trying to get Houstonians from running away from their history.
★ All schoolchildren deserve to know their own history and the history of the community in which they live - this requires an integrated approach as yet not done.
TEACHING ABOUT THE PRAIRIE + HISTORY
Ladies Tresses OrchidSpiranthes sp.Photo by Carolyn Fannon
HOUSTON’S HEARTLAND
Mottled DucksAnas fulvigulaPhoto by Greg Lavaty
Heartland: A central area of a country or region that has special economic, political, military, or sentimental significance.
A CITY, ITS PRAIRIE, AND THE STORY OF TRANSFORMATION
4
Houston on first impressionVoices from the Past
Queen ButterflyDanaus gilippus
WHERE IS HERE?
Where is here?Ghosts of the Prairie
Yellow StargrassHypoxis hirsuta
7
Where is here?
Eastern MeadowlarkSturnella magnaPhoto by Greg Lavaty
Katy Prairie
Where is here?
The grassland that help win Texas. The tallgrass prairie, which was “as tall as a horse’s belly”, found at San Jacinto allowed the Texians to sneak up on the unsuspecting Mexican Army at San Jacinto.
WHERE IS HERE?THE PRAIRIE: SAM HOUSTON’S SECRET
WHERE IS HERE?IT STARTED WITH THE SOIL
OUR HEARTLAND THE PRAIRIE SHAPED OUR HISTORY
The Coastal Prairie in our History
1. Marketing - Houston area first marketed as the “Coast Country”
3. Growth - Prairies spurred the growth of transportation networks
4. The Port - Ultimately, led to the building of the Port of Houston
Early Advertisement
Houston City Seal
Early Advertisement
Tomball City Seal Loading Cotton
Houston & Texas Railroad Map
Southern Leopard FrogLithobates sphenocephalus
WHERE IS HERE?RANCHING THE HEARTLAND
Black cowboys on Galveston Island - 1870s
Warren Ranch - 1920s Pre-Civil War Cattle Trail Post-Civil War Cattle Trail (Chisholm)
WHERE IS HERE?FARMING THE HEARTLAND
Bringing in the Harvest in Wharton County- Early 1900s
Seabrook 1907League City 1920sPearland 1920
WHERE IS HERE?PRAIRIE BUILT US TOO!
WHERE IS HERE?THE WIDESPREAD HEARTLAND
Rice University circa 1916 Tomball in 1896
Katy 1912 Tanglewood 1950’s
WHERE IS HERE?OUR VANISHING HEARTLAND
WHERE IS HERE?THE VANISHING HEARTLAND
Project Blazing StarLooking across the flat prairie, Mrs. Palmer Hutcheson chose the lot on North Boulevard that had a single huiscahe tree growing on it. This huisache tree had always been used to tie up horses by the young men riding out from town to shoot prairie chickens.
-Marguerite JohnstonFrom Houston: The Unknown City - 1836 - 1946
A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONPROJECT BLAZING STAR
19
Mead’s Sedge Carex meadiiPhoto by Carolyn Fannon
A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONPROJECT BLAZING STAR
Silver BluestemBothriochloa laguroidesPhoto by Carolyn Fannon
A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONPROJECT BLAZING STAR
A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONMD ANDERSON PRAIRIE - SUMMER 2012
DickcisselSpiza americanaPhoto by Greg Lavaty
Green Treefrog on Rough ConeflowerRudbeckia grandifloraPhoto by Carolyn Fannon
A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONTHE MEADOWS ON BUFFALO BAYOU - FALL 2013
A PRAIRIE GROWS IN HOUSTONPRAIRIE BUILDER SCHOOLS
Bee Prairie BirthdayBerry Elementary School Photo by Jaime Gonzalez
Rams Prairie-Butterfly GardenKashmere Gardens Elementary School
Coastal Prairie 101 website
TEACHING THE PRAIRIESPREADING THE WORD
★ Place-based prairie lessons needed for both formal and informal educators
★ We need to develop historical-cultural-biological storyline(s) to “justify” the prairie
25PrairiePartner.org
TEACHING THE PRAIRIESPREADING THE WORD
A CLOSING THOUGHT
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Ornate Box TurtleTerrapene ornata ornata