LONG BEFORE
Long before anybody thought of Fuqua, Orem, or Hiram Clarke, Gustaf and Hilda Anderson zipped up and down a dirt trail, later called Anderson Road..
When he went to Houston (12 miles to the court house maybe only 11 to the city limits) Anderson traveled in a mule-drawn wagon so he could bring a month’s supply of groceries back home. It was a two day trip.
Imagine a flat, treeless prairie with no drainage and normally wet. The only house between Almeda and Holmes Road was the Taylor homestead. No light poles, or telephone poles along Almeda Road which was dirt or mud. The reason the trip took so long was because every so often mud would clog up the wheels on the wagon so badly, Anderson had to stop and shovel the mud out from between the spokes, then travel a little further. Think about that next time you have to stop at a red light.
Gustaf and his wife Hilda left Iowa and came to Almeda on a train in 1895. He had seen brochures of oranges growing in January in a tiny town in Texas. Gus relished the idea of farming year round in the sunny south. What a shock when they stepped off the train into two feet of snow at the Almeda depot. February 15th a record of 22 inches fell in 24 hours in Harris County. It turned out those oranges had been tied to a hedge.
The Andersons took it all in stride. Gus was on the school board in 1914 when a two story building which was built at the present site of Almeda Elementary east of Almeda Road. The Andersons lived a mile west of Almeda Road. To make it a little easier to travel, Anderson would hitch up his mule to a slip and pile the dirt up in the middle of the road so water would drain on either side. This he did time and time again. Soon everyone called it Anderson (’s) road. Excerpt from Back Yonder in Almeda.
BACK YONDER IN ALMEDA
If you like history you will enjoy reading about life in the early years of the small town of Almeda with 19 illustrations. Pick up a copy at Debbie’s Barber Shop or at Bob’s State Inspection or call 713-433-1098 to have a copy mailed to you.
