The City of Houston was founded in 1836 by a couple of New York real estate promoters, J.K. and A.C. Allen who advertised their new city as to be "a great center of government and commerce". Anyone who has ever spent time in Houston will recognize that only one one element of that formula ever took hold: commerce. There are relatively few city ordinances regulating much of anything, including surveying, but there is this, Section 33-1 of the Houston, Texas Code of Ordinances entitled "City Surveys Confirmed":
[INDENT=1]The original plan and survey, known and designated as the A.C. & J.K. Allen Survey, as far as marked by actual measurements, and so far as revised, reestablished and determined by the surveys of W.H. Griffin, C.E., under and by resolutions of the city council, shall be and is hereby affirmed and established as the true city survey of the city. The theory, survey and plat, as marked on W.E. Wood's map, as to the dimensions of lots, blocks and widths of streets, is also confirmed in each and every particular.[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1](Code 1968, å¤ 2-4; Ord. No. 91-63, å¤ 5, 1-9-91)[/INDENT]
The exact language of the above ordinance as it presently is published in the Houston Code of Ordinances also appears in the 1905 Code of Ordinances and had apparently continuously remained in force since that time. The W.H. Griffin, City Engineer, mentioned, was appointed City Engineer and Surveyor in 1867 and died in 1871.
Upon its face, the ordinance could be claimed to mean quite a number of things, including that there is a map prepared by W.E. Woods that is the official claim as to the widths of the streets and dimensions of the lots and blocks shown upon it. So the first two questions would be:
[INDENT=1](a) When was this ordinance first adopted and for what intended purpose?[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
[INDENT=1](b) Which map is that by W.E. Woods confirmed as representing the "true city survey of the city" by the ordinance?[/INDENT]
I'll be surprised if there are any surveyors in practice in Houston who know the answers to those two fundamental questions, but I would be thrilled to be mistaken on that point.
Here's a link to a bio sketch for W.H. Griffin in "The Handbook of Texas":
W.H. Griffin bio in Handbook of Texas
I think they have the date of his death wrong, though, considering that his obituary appeared in 1871:
Lt. Col. William Henry Griffin (b. March 19, 1816, Greenwood Co, SC; d. March 29,
1871, Houston, TX) per his obituary published in the ÛÏGalveston Daily NewsÛ, March
30, 1871, P.3, C.4 :
[INDENT=1]ÛÏUpon the termination of the war, Col. Griffin decided to make Houston his home and
here he has continued to reside, practicing his profession as civil engineer and surveyor
until incapacitated by the feeble state of his health.[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]"Col. Griffin possessed a remarkable clear and comprehensive mind, and up to this fatal
illness was a constant student. His language was always forcible and pointed. You could
always get at his meaning. He was moreover remarkable for his iron will and
indomitable energy. There was nothing lukewarm in this character. As friend or foe you
knew exactly where to place him.Û[/INDENT]
Kent McMillan, post: 379789, member: 3 wrote: ...."Col. Griffin possessed a remarkable clear and comprehensive mind, and up to this fatal illness was a constant student. His language was always forcible and pointed. You could always get at his meaning. He was moreover remarkable for his iron will and indomitable energy. There was nothing lukewarm in this character. As friend or foe you knew exactly where to place him.Û
Someone you admire, no doubt...;)
paden cash, post: 379792, member: 20 wrote: Someone you admire, no doubt.
I think his was a familiar type among surveyors.
He was obviously a big picture sort of fellow. His original assignment in 1868 was to locate the centerlines of a few streets for street car tracks to be constructed under a franchise just given by the City Council, but Griffin turned it into the beginnings of a larger resurvey. Unfortunately, the most enduring element of his work was a report that he made to the City Council almost exactly 148 years ago, in July, 1868, and that has survived well mainly because it was printed in full in the 1905 Code of Ordinances.
As for "The theory, survey and plat, as marked on W.E. Wood's map, as to the dimensions of lots, blocks and widths of streets, ...", that almost certainly refers to a map made by W.E. Woods and submitted to the Houston City Council in August, 1868.
[INDENT=1]August 21, 1868; Houston City Council Minutes Bk. "B" Pg. 414[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]"Wm. E. Wood Engineer and Surveyor presented a Copy of his Compilation of a Map of the City of Houston - Requesting after examination that it be approved and adopted by the City Council. On Motion a Special Committee consisting of Aldermen W.A. Daly, Henry R. Allen and T.H. Scanlan were appointed to take the same under advisement and report thereon."[/INDENT]
After a look, the Special Committee reported back favorably :
[INDENT=1]September 3, 1868; Houston City Council Minutes Bk. "B" Pg. 416[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]"Special Committee to whom was referred the Map of the City of Houston, Compiled by W.E. Wood, reported thereon with a resolution which was read and laid over under the rule."[/INDENT]
And on September 4, 1868 the City Council gave the map made by W.E. Woods a conditional blessing:
September 4, 1868; Houston City Council Minutes Bk. "B" Pg.419
[INDENT=1]"Your Committe to who was referred the application of Wm. E. Wood to adopt his Map by resolution respectfully report that the same be adopted for City purposes and herewith append a resolution thereon and ask that the same be passed[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]"Signed W.A. Daly, T.H. Scanlan and H.P. Allen[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]"Resolution to Adopt the Map of the City drawn by Wm. E. Wood - Civil Engineer"[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]"Section 1st - Be it ordained by the Mayor, Aldermen and Inhabitants of the City of Houston in Council assembled, that the lithographed map of the City of Houston made by Wm. E. Wood, Civil Engineer, be and is hereby adopted as the correct map of the City for future use and reference; provided that the rights of parties shall in no way be injuriously affected and provided further that no right of the City to the Liberty road or street as it aforetime was shall be in any way infringed by the passage of this resolution."[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1] [/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]"Section 2 - that this resolution take effect from and after passage."[/INDENT]
The same resolution appears in the City Code of 1905 in essentially the identical form.
So which map did the City Council adopt "as the correct map of the City for future use and reference"?
Here is a link to a zoomable scan of the full map from which the above detail was taken. It is attributed to W.E. Wood, C.E. and presented as having been approved by the City Council on September 4, 1868.
http://digital.houstonlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/maps/id/1
The "A.C. & J.K. Allen Survey", however, did not refer to the entire area shown upon W.E. Woods map. This is the original plat of the A.C. & J.K. Allen Survey:
That map is actually a part of the W.E. Woods 1868/1869 map, but appears in an inset on the map.
I think your plat is South Side Buffalo Bayou, but the ordinance may cover a slightly bigger area. I feel like a postcard is in order here.
R.J. Schneider, post: 379799, member: 409 wrote: I think your plat is South Side Buffalo Bayou, but the ordinance may cover a slightly bigger area.
Actually, what the ordinance says is "the original plan and survey, known and designated as the A.C. & J.K. Allen Survey"
This is that plan as it is shown on W.E. Wood's map approved in 1868 by the Houston City Council:
Note that there are differences between this 1868 map and the original 1837 map along Water Street, for example. The City Secretary, George Bringhurst, was also one of the earliest City Surveyors appointed by the City Council after Houston was incorporated.
Okay I thought it ran south to midtown, the Holman survey. Do you recognize any surveyor's signatures in the dedication?
R.J. Schneider, post: 379808, member: 409 wrote: Do you recognize any surveyor's signatures in the dedication?
This is the note on the original plat that I posted an image of above:
[INDENT]The original plan of the Town of Houston as surveyed by Mssrs. G. & T.H. Borden was altered previous to the sale of any of the lots, and those who have purchased and who shall hereafter purchased [sic] have and will continue to do so according to the plan of the town as is herewith presented and I call upon the witnesses hereinto testify to the same.
Houston - Jan'y 18th, 1837
[signed]
Jno. K. Allen for
A.C. & J.K. Allen
(rubric that looks like a dollar sign)
Witnesses
James Holman
Thos [?][/INDENT]
D Gregg was Darius Gregg, county surveyor, and possibly city surveyor. Like Bringhurst I think he held both offices at some point. Bringhurst was at some point the city surveyor, county surveyor, city secretary, and notably, city scavenger.
So they were confused as early as 1868?
R.J. Schneider, post: 379820, member: 409 wrote: D Gregg was Darius Gregg, county surveyor, and possibly city surveyor. Like Bringhurst I think he held both offices at some point. Bringhurst was at some point the city surveyor, county surveyor, city secretary, and notably, city scavenger.
D. Gregg was Harris County Surveyor from 1859 through 1861 when Will Powars replaced him. Before Gregg, Samuel C. West was County Surveyor. I'm pretty sure that Gregg was never City Surveyor.
Dave Karoly, post: 379821, member: 94 wrote: So they were confused as early as 1868?
No, there isn't any reason to think that the confusion in W.R. BAKER ADDITION, NORTH SIDE OF BUFFALO BAYOU began before 1900. If you ignore everything that the City Engineer did after 1900, it all fits perfectly well. What happened was the City Engineer ran a bunch of "reference lines" for various streets that were adopted by them as if they were the actual centerlines of the rights-of-way shown on the 1856 plat of the addition, but following the typical engineering theory that the best way to do it was to run exact course and distance from just one point in one particular street without regard to how the addition had actually been laid out in 1856 within boundaries surveyed, most likely by compass and chain, in the 1830s and 40s.
It is pretty much the same situation as in Zanger v. Diehl only now redevelopment and modern surveys have only compounded the mess.
The real purpose of the 1868 W.E. Woods map was to show the street grid and block numbering.
Part of the story can be seen in just the population statistics. From 1860 until 1920, the population of Houston was approximately doubling every ten years. The system that was in place between 1850 and 1890 pretty much was just overwhelmed by sheer demand and it isn't pure coincidence that the Houston Charter of 1893 first created the office of City Engineer. Before then, the City Surveyors and City Engineers and Surveyors were offices created by City ordinances under the Council's discretionary authority.
Houston, Texas
Population
1850 2,396
1860 4,845
1870 9,382
1880 16,513
1890 27,557
1900 44,633
1910 78,800
1920 138,276
1930 292,352
1940 384,514
The oldest available plat of the City of Portland is not the original article. The place had been a going concern for nearly 20 years, and Oregon a state for a decade, when the map we now use was drawn and the following ordinance attached to it.
[INDENT=1]
Ordinance No 619
An ordinance adopting a map showing the plan of the streets, Blocks, and Public property in the City of Portland. Whereas the Common Council of the City of Portland at its regular meeting held April 29, 1852 adopted the map commonly known as the "Brady Map" as the plan of Streets, Blocks, and Public property; And whereas since that date several Additions have been made to the City. And whereas a complete plan of all the Streets, Blocks, and Public property was made by order of the Common Council by C.W. Burrage and submitted to a meeting of the Common Council held July 18, 1866. now therefore The City of Portland do ordain as follows:
[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]
[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]
Section 1. That the "Map of the City of Portland, surveyed and drawn by order of the Common Council by C.W. Burrage City Surveyor 1866" be and is hereby adopted as the official Map of this City showing the plan of the Streets, Blocks, and Public property within the City limits.
[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]
[/INDENT]
[INDENT=1]
Section 2. That the Auditor and Clerk be and is hereby directed to attach to said Map a certified copy of this ordinance and cause said Map and ordinance to be recorded in the Records of Deeds in the office of the County Clerk of Multnomah County Oregon.
Passed the Common Council February 24, 1869
Approved by me this 27th February 1869 (signed) H. Boyd Mayor
[/INDENT]
The "Brady Map" is apparently lost to antiquity, as are the several additions which preceded the Burrage map. And the Burrage map is without dimensions.
Mark Mayer, post: 379829, member: 424 wrote: The "Brady Map" is apparently lost to antiquity, as are the several additions which preceded the Burrage map. And the Burrage map is without dimensions.
It's easy to forget that there was a time when maps of cities with standard street names and lot and block numbering were not widely available. In the case of Houston, something as simple as identifying a tract by lot and city block number or a street by name was only really easily done after the adoption and publication of city maps.
Kent McMillan, post: 379788, member: 3 wrote: There are relatively few city ordinances regulating much of anything, including surveying, but there is this, Section 33-1 of the Houston, Texas Code of Ordinances entitled "City Surveys Confirmed":
[INDENT]The original plan and survey, known and designated as the A.C. & J.K. Allen Survey, as far as marked by actual measurements, and so far as revised, reestablished and determined by the surveys of W.H. Griffin, C.E., under and by resolutions of the city council, shall be and is hereby affirmed and established as the true city survey of the city. The theory, survey and plat, as marked on W.E. Wood's map, as to the dimensions of lots, blocks and widths of streets, is also confirmed in each and every particular.
(Code 1968, å¤ 2-4; Ord. No. 91-63, å¤ 5, 1-9-91)[/INDENT]The exact language of the above ordinance as it presently is published in the Houston Code of Ordinances also appears in the 1905 Code of Ordinances and had apparently continuously remained in force since that time. The W.H. Griffin, City Engineer, mentioned, was appointed City Engineer and Surveyor in 1867 and died in 1871.
Upon its face, the ordinance could be claimed to mean quite a number of things, including that there is a map prepared by W.E. Woods that is the official claim as to the widths of the streets and dimensions of the lots and blocks shown upon it. So the first two questions would be:
[INDENT](a) When was this ordinance first adopted and for what intended purpose?
(b) Which map is that by W.E. Woods confirmed as representing the "true city survey of the city" by the ordinance?[/INDENT]
[INDENT]
[/INDENT]
It turns out that the mention of W.H. Griffin, who died in 1871, and the W.E. Wood map that was adopted in 1869 are both red herrings. What is now Section 33-1 of the Houston, Texas Code of Ordinances was not included in either the 1871 Revised Code of Ordinance or the 1886 Revised Code of Ordinances. It first appears in print in the 1893 Code of Ordinances. So it was adopted at some time between 1886 and 1893. My present best estimate is that I will find the record of its adoption by City Council in 1892 and that the ordinance coincided with STREET PAVING projects in the part of downtown Houston shown on the Plan of the A.C. & J.K. Allen Survey that appears in the inset on the 1868/1869 Woods map.
BTW, one important feature of the early City Surveying in Houston is the fluidity of Engineers/Surveyors in charge. That was particularly significant because it was not until the early 20th century that the City Engineer was required to turn over his records to his successor. Here's the roster that I've reconstructed so far for the period from 1839 to 1927:
1839 - George H. Bringhurst, City Surveyor
1840 - George H. Bringhurst, City Surveyor
1841 - Jacob Rothhaars, City Surveyor
1842 - Jacob Rothhaars, City Surveyor
1843 - Jacob Rothhaars, City Surveyor
1845 - Jacob Rothhaars, City Surveyor
1854 - Theodore Kosse, City Surveyor
1867 - W.H. Griffin, City Engineer and Surveyor
1868 - W.H. Griffin, City Engineer and Surveyor
1870 - W.H. Griffin, City Engineer and Surveyor
1872 - Chas. E. Hare, City Engineer and Surveyor
1875 - P. Whitty, City Engineer and Surveyor
1876 - P. Whitty, City Engineer and Surveyor
1878 - P. Whitty, City Engineer and Surveyor
1880 - P. Whitty, City Engineer and Surveyor
1882 - W.T. Walker, City Engineer and Surveyor
1884 - J.A. Denny, City Engineer and Surveyor
-1884 - J.J. Gillespie, Deputy City Engineer
1886 - P. Whitty, City Engineer and Surveyor
1888 - Chas. W. Lewis, City Engineer and Surveyor
1890 - Chas. W. Lewis, City Engineer and Surveyor
-1890 - G.M. LaNoue, Assistant City Engineer
1892 - G.M. LaNoue, City Engineer
1894 - G.M. LaNoue, City Engineer
-1894 - I. Austin Miller, Assistant City Engineer
-1894 - L.A. Gueringer, Assistant City Engineer
1896 - L.A. Gueringer, City Engineer
-1896 - Wm. Bradburn, Assistant City Engineer
1897 - L.A. Gueringer, City Engineer
1898 - I.A. Miller, City Engineer
-1898 - Chas. W. Lewis, Assistant City Engineer
1900 - I.A. Miller, City Engineer
- 1900 - Chas. W. Lewis, Assistant City Engineer
1902 - F.L. Dormant, City Engineer
-1902 - Frank L. Miller, Assistant City Engineer
1904 - F.L. Dormant, City Engineer
-1904 - Frank L. Miller, Assistant City Engineer
1905 - I. Austin Miller, City Engineer
1907 - I. Austin Miller, City Engineer
1907 - Thomas C. Tarver, Jr., City Engineer
1908 - Thomas C. Tarver, Jr., City Engineer
1910 - Thomas C. Tarver, Jr., City Engineer
1911 - Thomas C. Tarver, Jr., City Engineer
1911 - Edward E. Sands, City Engineer
1912 - Edward E. Sands, City Engineer
1913 - Edward E. Sands, City Engineer
1916 - Edward E. Sands, City Engineer
-1916 - John C. McVea, 1st Asst. City Engineer
1919 - John C. McVea, City Engineer
1920 - John C. McVea, City Engineer
1921 - John C. McVea, City Engineer
1924 - John C. McVea, City Engineer
1926 - John C. McVea, City Engineer
1927 - John C. McVea, City Engineer
