Bellaire, Harris County, Texas

Bellaire, Texas – An Overview

Bellaire is a city in southwest Harris County, Texas, United States within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area.   As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city population was 15,642 and is completely surrounded by the cities of Houston and West University Place.

Bellaire is known as the "City of Homes" as the city is mostly residential, while there are offices along the 610 Loop within the city limits.  As of 2000, Bellaire is the 27th wealthiest location in Texas by per capita income. John Nova Lomax, a journalist, stated in a 2008 Houston Press article that, due to the growth and dominance of Houston, municipal enclaves with their own services, including Bellaire, "are little more than glorified neighborhoods."

Bellaire was founded in 1908 by William Wright Baldwin, who was the president of the South End Land Company. Baldwin, a native of Iowa, was well known as the vice president of the Burlington Railroad. Bellaire was founded on what was part of William Marsh Rice's 9,449 acre (38 km²) ranch. Baldwin surveyed the eastern 1,000 acres (4 km²) of the ranch into small truck farms. He named those farms "Westmoreland Farms". Baldwin started Bellaire in the middle of "Westmoreland Farms" to serve as a residential neighborhood and an agricultural trading center. South End Land Company advertised to farmers in the Midwestern United States. Baldwin stated that the town was named "Bellaire", or "Good Air" for its breezes". Bellaire may have been named after Bellaire, Ohio, a town served by one of Baldwin's rail lines.

Six miles of prairie was a buffer zone between Houston and Bellaire. Originally the town was bounded by Palmetto, First, Jessamine, and Sixth (now Ferris) Streets. In 1910 Edward Teas, a horticulturist, moved his nursery to Bellaire from Missouri so Teas could implement Sid Hare's landscaping plans. Bellaire was incorporated as a city with a general charter in 1918, ten years after its founding. Bellaire had a population of 200 at the time. Bellaire's population had reached 1,124 in 1940. After 1940, Bellaire had a rapid population explosion in the post-World War II building boom. On December 31, 1948, the city of Houston had annexed the land around the city of Bellaire, stopping the city of Bellaire's land growth. Bellaire remained independent of Houston; Bellaire adopted a home rule charter with a council-manager government in April 1949. By 1950 the city's residents had numbered 10,150. Bellaire High School was established in 1955.

Play Construction & Equipment Provider in Bellaire, Texas - All Play Inc.

ALL PLAY Incorporated is the exclusive Little Tikes Commercial representative in the Bellaire area of Harris County, Texas. We provide turn-key park, playground, athletic and recreational constructions, besides also offering playground equipment, park furnishings, park shelters, water parks, shade canopies and much more from a number of good brands. Our playground construction and equipment company conforms to the U.S. safety guidelines for designing, constructing, operating and maintaining safe playgrounds for kids in schools, day care centers, community centers, parks and recreational areas in Bellaire.

Quick Facts about Bellaire, Texas

Geographic Coordinates

29°42′15″N 94°27′48″W

County

Harris County, Texas

Incorporated

Year 1918

Area

3.6 square miles (9.4 km²), all of it land.

Elevation

43 feet

Standard Zip Codes

 77401-77402

Time Zone

Central Standard Time (6 hours behind GMT)

Climate

Warmest month - July (93.60o F – Avg. Max. Temp)Coldest month - January (41.20o F – Avg. Min. Temp)Annual average precipitation - 47.84