News & Updates

If you haven't seen the recent announcements, the old Imperial refinery site is about to undergo big changes.  Developers Jim Murnane and Geoffrey Jones will launch a project early next year to develop the location.  Expected costs range from $150 million to $162 million. You'll find additional details in a recent article published in the Sugar Land Sun.  Click here to retrieve it.

I want to thank Leon Anhaiser (SLHS '57) for sending me a link to much more detailed information on the City of Sugar Land's Web site.  When you click the link, you'll see an item labeled "June 23, 2015 - Joint City Council Planning & Zoning Meeting."  Under item II ("Workshop") paragraph A, you'll find links to a presentation (architectural renderings) and a video snippet.  Click here to access the Web page.  There's quite a lot of information covering railroad crossings and other city matters.

Jackie James (SLHS '57) commented on the item I posted recently about Sandra Broughton Gandy.  She reminded me that the Broughton family has close ties to Sugar Land.  Joan Broughton Vaccaro was in Jackie's 4th grade class at Sugar Land Elementary.  I know one or two older Broughton siblings appear in the early Sugar Land Gator yearbooks from the late 1940s.  I wonder how tough it was switching sides in the SLHS-MCHS rivalry?

Finally, I saw a newspaper article about an event the Houston Public Library is hosting.  They are inviting the public to the downtown library on August 8th, where they will record oral histories detailing personal memories of the Astrodome.  They will also scan documents and photograph objects brought to the event.  [I know Johnny Harris (DHS '64) is in Georgia and probably can't attend, but he has a terrific story about Dale Robertson's appearance at the Houston rodeo in the '60s when it was held in the Dome.]  Click here to read the article in The Houston Chronicle.

These digital records (audio and images) will become part of a collective online project to be completed later.  Events like this one are becoming popular now and fall under the term 'common heritage.'  The Fort Bend County Historical Commission is considering a similar event in 2017 to celebrate Fort Bend County's 180th anniversary.