When you paddle
downstream from Eleanor Tinsley Park, the Sabine Street Bridge emerges
into view from beyond the willows and other vegetation that crowds the
banks of the bayou. In the decades after the Civil War, this location
was the center of a contentious discussion among the residents of
Houston. In the mid-1870's, Houston was recovering from the economic devastation of the war. Prosperity had returned as the railroad industry had brought new jobs and new residents to the City. Many of the railroad yards and shops were located on the north side of Buffalo Bayou and these residents pressed the City Council to create a new ward to give them more representation in the affairs of local government.
Those who opposed the creation of a new ward objected to the fact that the population of the south side of the Fourth Ward was about 18,000 to 20,000, while the north side was only 6,000 to 8,000 persons. That disparity seemed to dilute the representation of the citizens of the Fourth Ward south of the bayou. Another consideration was that the new ward would produce two new Democratic aldermen while leaving the Fourth Ward with only a Republican alderman.
If that sounds like politics as usual, it probably was.
In fact, the Fourth Ward South was populated by large numbers of low income former slaves and free blacks. The Freedman's Town community grew up along the San Felipe Road at this time. The Fourth Ward North, on the other hand, was a prosperous middle class, working man's neighborhood.
Never the less, on Friday, November 10, 1876, at the regular meeting of the City Council, S. C. Liscom submitted to the City Council a petition signed by 122 citizens of the Fourth Ward requesting that a new ward be created from the part of the Fourth Ward that lay north of Buffalo Bayou. The petition was adopted by City Council at that time.
On the meeting of City Council on November 24, 1876, the City Attorney, E. P. Turner, issued an opinion that the City Charter did not permit the creation of a new ward by means of a petition, and the establishment of the Sixth Ward may not have been accomplished legally.
The City Attorney ruled that a new ward may be created only when the population of the wards could be equally distributed among the wards. The reapportionment of representatives of the wards was granted by law to City Council and could not be handled by actions other than an ordinance. Turner argued that the new ward must be created by an ordinance so that it would be subject to the veto of the Mayor.
Alderman Tracy of the Third Ward made a series of motions to revamp the proposal to create the Sixth Ward in accordance with the city charter. Each motion was read and passed. By the end of the meeting, the ordinance to establish the new ward was passed. The Sixth Ward, created from the part of the Fourth Ward that lay north of Buffalo Bayou, came into existence on January 1, 1877, although it appears that the voting representation on City Council was not changed.
This Sixth Ward arrangement muddled along for two decades, but the matter continued to be a source of disagreement.
At the Council meeting on December 9, 1895, Alderman Repsdorph proposed an ordinance which would create a new Sixth Ward. The disproportionate representation on Council again was the major issue, but with the support of Alderman Kohlhauff and Alderman Bailey, the ordinance passed.
A year later, in January, 1896, Alderman McAughan introduced an ordinance at City Council to repeal the ordinance creating the Sixth Ward and to return to a five ward system.
These disputes highlighted the faults of the ward system as a means for governing the city which, at the turn of the nineteenth century, was a much different place than when the ward system was established in 1840. Finally, on December 10, 1904, a change to the City Charter was approved. In 1906, the city government of a mayor and four commissioners was instituted.
And, it has served us well ever since....