Bellaire Streetcar Line

When Bellaire took a general-law charter on June 24, 1918, it had about 200 people, and it reached 1,124 by 1940. Houston's growth after World War II made it a popular suburb, but its own growth stopped when Houston annexed the land around it on December 31, 1948. In April 1949 Bellaire adopted a home-rule charter with a council-manager government, and by 1950 it had 10,173 residents. Arguments over zoning and land use became the stuff of its politics and led to the recall of the mayor and three councilmen in 1977.

What the plaque says

Bellaire Streetcar Line In 1909 the Westmoreland Railroad Company, directed by Bellaire developer William Wright Baldwin, began construction of a streetcar line between this site and Houston's Main Street (4 mi. E) to improve transportation between Bellaire and Houston. Laid out on the esplanade of Bellaire Boulevard, the streetcar line consisted of one railway track and an overhead electric wire. The line terminated at this site, where the company constructed a waiting pavilion and a turnaround loop. At the same time, the Houston Electric Company extended its south end line from Eagle Avenue down present Fannin Street to connect with the Bellaire line at Bellaire Boulevard (now part of Holcombe Boulevard). The trip between Bellaire and downtown Houston required one transfer at Eagle Avenue. Service began on December 28, 1910. The streetcar line, often called the "Toonerville Trolley," became an integral link between Bellaire and Houston and played a vital role in the development of this area. The availability of motor transport and frequent derailments caused by worn-out track led to the abandonment of the line on September 26, 1927. Motor bus service began the following day. (1991)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Menil Collection — 4.7 mi
  John and Dominique de Menil's free museum in Montrose: a grey-sided Renzo Piano building among bungalows, holding antiquities, Surrealism and art of Oceania under natural light.
• Rothko Chapel — 4.8 mi
  An octagonal chapel open to all faiths, built by the de Menils around fourteen dark canvases by Mark Rothko, with Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk standing in the pool outside.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston — 4.8 mi
  The oldest art museum in Texas, grown from a 1900 schoolroom art league into a campus of Watkin, Mies van der Rohe and later buildings, with Ima Hogg's Bayou Bend up the bayou.
• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum — 5.7 mi
  A museum in Houston's 1925 Light Guard Armory that tells the service of Black soldiers from the Revolutionary War onward, built from one veteran's thirty years of collecting.

More markers nearby

• Bellaire — steps away
• The Kinkaid School — 4.0 mi
• San Jacinto Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas — 4.4 mi
• Bayou Bend — 4.6 mi