Riverside Terrace is a neighborhood in Houston, Texas, United States. It is along Texas State Highway 288 and north of the Texas Medical Center and located near Texas Southern University and University of Houston. There about 20 sections of Riverside Terrace that span across North and South MacGregor. The community, formerly an affluent Jewish neighborhood, became an affluent community for African Americans in the 1950s and '60s. It is still predominantly African American neighborhood with different income levels. It has been undergoing a gradual change in demographics and aesthetics due to gentrification efforts since the early 2000s.
Some articles of the Houston Chronicle describe it as within Third Ward, while some articles discuss Riverside Terrace as being a separate community.
History
Development of Riverside Terrace began in 1924, and it was initially done by the president of Guardian Trust Company, Clarence Malone, who had cofounded the company. Guardian provided the financing, and the first section to open was the portion between Almeda Road, Blodgett Street, Live Oak Street, and Oakdale Street. The brochures highlighted the location of Riverside Terrace, which was considered favorable at the time. Riverside Terrace was designed for wealthier families. In 1927 it was annexed by the City of Houston.
Jewish families moved to Riverside Terrace in the 1920s and 1930s since they were not allowed to settle in other wealthy Houston neighborhoods, including River Oaks. Therefore it became known as the "Jewish River Oaks". At the time most residents of Riverside Terrace were Christian. Allison Wollam of the Houston Business Journal stated that Riverside Terrace "was once on the same affluent level as the swanky River Oaks area." During that period the neighborhood hosted the houses of the prominent Weingarten, Finger, and McGregor families. By the 1950s initial development finished.
In 1952, a wealthy African-American cattleman named Jack Caesar moved to the neighborhood. He stayed despite the fact that a bomb detonated on his front porch. Several Riverside Terrace residents opposed the growth of the community's black population, with some not wishing for racial-based violence to occur in the community and with some on the grounds that property values could decline. In 1959, land clearance began for the construction of the new Texas State Highway 288 freeway, destroying several Riverside Terrace houses. Although Caesar's home was in the path of the freeway, it was moved to another location south of Houston. Many White families left Riverside Terrace and settled in suburbs. The percentage of the population being white declined from 97% in 1950 to 5% in 1970. The population during that period increased due to the subdivision of former mansions and houses into smaller housing units and the establishment of apartments, going from 7,635 in 1950 to 12,519 in 1970.
In the 1960s some white residents who wanted the neighborhood to stabilize as an integrated neighborhood posted signs stating "This Is Our Home It Is Not For Sale." In response to the influx of black residents and spurred on by unscrupulous real estate agents instigating anxieties about falling home values, many white residents sold their homes and moved to other areas of the city. In the spring of 1963 the South Macgregor Promotion Committee formed. It says that it placed the "not for sale" not because it was against African Americans moving in, but because it wanted to prevent block busting. African-American and civil rights figures backed the "not for sale" campaign. In 1963 the community had 175 African American families. The South Macgregor group, which had no black members in 1963, and African-American leaders met and decided that a ratio of between 65-85% White and 15-35% Black would be beneficial to members of both racial groups.
The community gradually transitioned into being majority black and with both affluent African Americans and lower socioeconomic residents. Wealthy African-American doctors, lawyers, politicians, and university professors moved into Riverside Terrace. Houston Chronicle columnist Joy Sewing, who was born and raised in Riverside Terrace, wrote, "Even the more affluent Riverside Terrace area, which was once considered the 'Jewish River Oaks' and loosely part of Third Ward, has never been given its respect. When Black professionals began moving into the area in the 1950s and '60s, white folks got scared and moved out. A few history reports say it became 'Black River Oaks,' and it did."