The Daily News

Published December 2, 2011

TEXAS CITY — The Bell House, a historic home at the heart of the Nationally Recognized Historic District known as The 1867 Settlement in Texas City, might be getting a face-lift in the near future.

Today, Texas City officials will meet with community members to talk about how to use nearly $20,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to repair and restore the exterior of the house originally built around 1887.

The meeting will be at 5 p.m. at the Carver Park Community Center, 6415 Park Ave., so people in the community can get involved, said Sheila Bowden, program coordinator for the city. At the meeting, specific ideas and plans for how to use the money and repair the house will be discussed, she said.

The Bell House sits in the middle of a community established at the start of Reconstruction by African-American cowboys. They were former slaves who made enough money on the Chisholm Trail to buy land, build houses and raise families.

The deed to the Bell House was transferred to Texas City in 2007, and the city has agreed to care for the outside of the building.

At the meeting, those interested in the house and the district will have a chance to ask questions and voice their opinions on what needs to be done, said Vera Gary, a descendant of the Bell family.

Some of the ideas to be kicked around at the meeting will be the work needed on the front porch as well as the boarded up windows and doors to the house, Gary said.

Gary has been working with the Galveston County Historical Commission and the nonprofit, The 1867 Settlement Historical Preservation Committee, to bring attention to the district and raise funds for its preservation.

While the city fixes up the outside of the building, Gary said it is up to the community to raise funds to care for the inside.

“It’s very important that we don’t wait too long for some of these things because the longer you wait the more expensive it’s going to be,” Gary said.

The nonprofit is searching for grants and has two fundraising events this month, a trip to Coushatta Casino Resort in Louisiana and a Christmas dance in Hitchcock, Gary said.

“It’s important for people to show up,” said Darnell Ray, who lives in The Settlement and is related to Kneeland and Sylvia Britton, the first people to move to the area in 1867.

They were instrumental in helping the little community grow, from donating land for schools and churches to starting business and growing crops, Ray said. She said she would like to see the entire Settlement area, from Carver Street to Bell Drive, declared a historic district by the city.

Besides working on the Bell House and eventually turning it into a museum, she said she’d like to put up informational kiosks in front of the house as well as the first Masonic Hall and work on the Britton house.

“It’s important to save the district and tell people about your heritage,” Ray said.

The people who first settled the area struggled to make it a community, she said, and it’s up to members of the community now to keep that history alive.

“It’s important to say life goes on even though they are not here,” Ray said. “What they did for our community shall live on forever.”

Contact reporter Christopher Smith Gonzalez at 409-683-5314 or chris.gonzalez(at)galvnews.com.

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At A Glance

WHAT: Meeting to discuss the use of Community Development Block Grant funds to repair the Bell House

WHERE: Carver Park Community Center, 6415 Park Ave., in Texas City

WHEN: 5 p.m. today

For information on the upcoming fundraisers, contact Vera Gary, 409-935-5219.

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