Join us for a one hour tour at the Heritage Society before the OSG/ASG Reception on May 31. You will have the opportunity to view The Yates House and the 4th Ward Cottage. These properties will not be open during the reception. You will also be the first to arrive at the reception!
The 1870 Yates House was originally located at 1318 Andrews Street in Freedmen's Town. The simplified Greek Revival home was built by the Reverend John Henry Yates, an emancipated slave who later served as the minister for Antioch Baptist Church and founder of Bethel Baptist Church. He also helped to organize the Houston Academy in 1894. Construction of this house a mere five years after Emancipation illustrates the indomitable spirit of a formerly enslaved population that was transitioning into a free society in Houston.
This 19th-century cottage was previously located at 809 Robin Street in Houston’s Fourth Ward. It was home to a German immigrant family in the middle of the 19th century before serving as a rental house for more than a century (1883 to 2001). By the turn of the 20th century it was part of the thriving African American neighborhood known as “Freedmen’s Town” which served as a major hub for black education, business, and culture after Emancipation.
