Houston, 1891. Note Frost Town is within yellow circle. (Library of Congress)
McKee Street Bridge spanning Buffalo Bayou (Patrick Feller CC BY-SA 2.0)
A C. Conrad & Co. bottle of "Original Budweiser.” (TXDOT/Prewitt & Associates, Inc.)
A bone handle from an implement marked "FRANCE" on the one side and "ADOLPH DREISS" on the other. (TXDOT/Prewitt & Associates, Inc.)
One of several ceramic bottles that contained mineral water from Germany. (TXDOT/Prewitt & Associates, Inc.)
A clear glass medicine bottle marked I. LEWYN / GERMAN PHARMACIST / HOUSTON, TEX (TXDOT/Prewitt & Associates, Inc.)
For years, nothing indicated that Frost Town, established in the 1830s, was the premier German neighborhood in Houston. That’s starting to change. In 2010, community organizations worked to have a historical marker placed at the former Frost Town site, where many of Houston’s leading citizens of German descent settled. Intensive archeological investigations have revealed evidence of this community in the artifacts left behind. Glass bottles and cutlery from downtown Houston businesses. Bottles of “Original Budweiser,” noting the name of Carl Conrad, who owned the first patent to the name and recipe. Alignments of bottles, buried upside down, to form borders to garden plots and walkways.
In the shadow of today’s downtown skyscrapers, historic Frost Town is re-emerging in the midst of the warehouses and freeways that cut through its heart. Currently, Harris County operates 12.5 acres of parkland around the Historic Frost Town Site and Buffalo Bayou. With views of the McKee Street Bridge and the bayou, James Bute Park is undergoing long-term renovations to preserve the historic property.
McKee Bridge
- 512 McKee St., Houston, TX
- Visit Website
- National Register of Historic Places
