Any Traces of Frenchtown left? (Houston, Paris: houses, neighborhood, general contractor)

[Vicman]

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/.../FF/hrfvg.html

In the 1920's a group of Creole Blacks of French and Spanish Louisianan heritage founded "Frenchtown."

Yet I heard the neighborhood gradually merged into the Fifth Ward.

So... are there any traces of Frenchtown left?

[HoustonBorn]

How about Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church? Is it still standing?

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by HoustonBorn

How about Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church? Is it still standing?

The church is still here: http://www.diogh.org/ParishPages/par...cy-houston.htm

The Houston Chronicle has an article about Frenchtown here: http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/ar...d=1992_1038510 - The article is titled "Frenchtown" and it is from February 23, 1992.

[macwoodson]

I was raised in Frenchtown and there is a lot of interesting information that needs to be told. My grandfather, John Malachy Richard, was a general contractor and he is the
person who built all the houses in the area from the south Lyons Ave, to the north Collingsworth, to the west HWY 59 and to the east Lockwood Blvd. He and his 5 sons, Loumas, called Uncle Buck, Edmond, John called Uncle NuNu, David called Punny and Edward called CooCoo. I have so many memories of French Town. My parents had businesses in French Town. They owned Bar 66, Green Oaks Bar, Queen of Hearts on Calvacade and another club in 1st ward on Edwards St. The name I can't remember. Growing up in French Town was wonderful. There were a lot of children around then. My grandfather, Malachy, had 5 girls. They were Rita, Leola (my mother), AnnieBell, Iola Marie called TeeTee, and Patricia called Pat. My grandmother was named Regina Ames Richard. I learned a lot from her. She was always praying with prayer beads in her hand, no matter what she was doing, she had those beads in her hand praying. My earliest memories from 3107 Lelia St where my grandparents lived, was of an outhouse for a bathroom which I hated. As a child, my grandma would send me out with a bucket to draw water from the well. She would give me a small cup of water and told me to pour it in the top of the pump and then start pumping. I would draw the water and walk it back to the back door. She would reach her hand down and get the bucket and then she would reach down and grab my hand and pull me up into the house. There were no steps yet.
There was no sink, no bathroom, no kitchen. Just two bedrooms and a living room.
Chairs lined the living room all around the walls. There in the front yard was a pit dug and 3 sticks tied together over the pit to form a tee-pee like contraption and a big black pot was hanging over the pit with a cover on it. There is where all of their food was cooked. Then an improvement. A stove with a smokestack in the middle of the living room. We had to put wood in it to cook the food and it served as a heater also. We had kerosene lamps and used coal oil in it. On the week-ends, (that is when we would visit my grandparents) we would play outside playing rock teacher, hop-skotch, hide & seek, sticks, Po-Ke-No, dominos, whiss, pity pat, casino and a game in which you draw a line on the ground and toss pennies to see who could toss the penny closer to the line. There was a cafe across the street named Brown's and later changed to The Moonglow club. The grown-ups would start playing music. My uncle Punny would get a foot-tub, bore a hole in the center, tie a string in a knot, feed it through the hole, get a broom, tie the other end of the string to the top of the broom handle and this would be his bass, Uncle CooCoo would have the rub-board on his chest, Uncle NuNu would have two spoons, Uncle Buck would have the harmonica, Cousin PaRanh would have the accordion and they would play zydeco music. We kids would dance and enjoy the music. We loved seeing this come together on my grandfather's porch and when the music began, we would clap, dance and laugh. Then the party would cross over into the streets for the kids and the club across the street for the adults. end of part one