Addicks

Addicks, Texas

Addicks, Texas

Addicks, Texas. Overview of Addicks, TX and the Addicks Reservoir. Texas State Historical Association.
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Addicks, known at various times as Letitia, Bear Hill, and Bear Creek, is an area of Houston located at the intersection of State Highway 6 and Interstate Highway 10 in western Harris County. Addicks originated as a railroad stop for the Bear Creek community, which was established around 1850 by German immigrants who homesteaded along Bear, Langham, and South Mayde creeks. A one-room school was built for Bear Creek residents near present-day Clay Road in 1876, followed by a post office in 1878. The Bear Creek German Methodist Church, founded in 1879, initially met in parishioners’ homes until a permanent structure was erected on Langham Creek near the Hillendahl-Eggling Cemetery. The Bear Creek Schuetzen Verein, or shooting club, built adjacent to the church, served as a venue for town meetings, dances, barbecues, traditional German shooting competitions, and other social events. Together, the shooting club and church, which conducted services in German until the outbreak of World War I, formed the nucleus of the community. Additionally, a general store was established by local businessman William Schulz, Sr., at the present-day intersection of State Highway 6 and Patterson Road in 1882. When the first post office burned down in 1884, it was relocated to Schulz’s store, who named the new post office after the community’s first postmaster, Henry Addicks.

About 1893, when the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad was built, Schulz relocated the Addicks post office and general store about two miles south to take advantage of the railroad depot constructed at the present-day intersection of State Highway 6 and Interstate Highway 10. He laid out a townsite there and named it Letitia, Texas, but many continued to refer to the new town as Addicks, after the official post office designation, and the name remained. The town, which initially included the general store and post office, a saloon, and a cotton gin, became a commercial center for local farmers and ranchers. A two-story brick schoolhouse was built at the townsite about 1910 to serve the children of several nearby farming communities.

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Margaret Hopkins Edwards, R. Matt Abigail | © TSHA

Handbook of Texas Logo

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

Belongs to

Addicks is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Addicks is classified as a Town

Associated Names

  • (Bear Creek)
  • (Groschkeville)
  • (Laticia)

Location

Latitude: 29.78245080
Longitude: -95.64244570

Has Post Office

No

Is Incorporated

No