Recently, several groups from the Houston Canoe Club have paddled Buffalo Bayou in the area of Memorial Park. I wonder how many of you realize that you were paddling the section of the bayou in Houston with the oldest recorded history?

The area that we know today as Memorial Park received its first mention in recorded history when Jane Long, 'the Mother of Texas', wrote in her diary about the 'pinery' in which they were camped. Long was traveling to San Antonio in September, 1822 to seek a pension from Governor José Félix Trespalacios, an associate of her husband James Long who was killed earlier in the year. The group camped for two days in the woods and the men hunted for food on the outlying prairie.

By the mid-1820's, settlers who were attracted to Texas by the promotional efforts of Stephen F. Austin began to find their way into the country along the area’s bayous. In addition to those who sought land in the heart of Austin's Colony along the Brazos River, others found places on the San Jacinto River and its tributary Buffalo Bayou. In 1824, grants of land were issued to Nathaniel Lynch near the mouth of the San Jacinto River, to the Vince brothers along the lower end of Buffalo Bayou, to John R. Harris near the junction of Brays Bayou, and as far west as John D. Taylor who settled in the area we know of as Spring Branch.

Allen C. Reynolds arrived in the area in 1826. In 1831, Reynolds received a grant of a league of land, approximately 4428 acres, on the south side of Buffalo Bayou in the Memorial Park area where he operated a sawmill and a gristmill on the bayou.

John Reinermann, his wife and sons Heinrich (Henry) and John, Jr., settled along the north side of Buffalo Bayou near Memorial Park. Having sailed from Oldenburg, Germany in 1834, the Reinermann's were on board the schooner Sabine from New Orleans when it wrecked near Galveston Island on December 22, 1834.

Unfortunately, within the year, John Reinermann died and was laid to rest in the family cemetery on the farm. Although the Reinermann's had built a log cabin, planted orchards and cultivated a few small fields, the elder's death in 1835 brought hardships to the pioneer family. 

The Reinermann family was determined to remain in the area. Henry Reinermann married Louisa Margerethe Schermann on December 19, 1840 and they had two children. After Henry's untimely death in 1844, his widow Louisa married Joseph Sandman on April 27, 1845. They had a son Joseph Sandman, Jr., in 1846.

In an effort to secure title to their land, John Reinermann's widow applied for a land grant from the State of Texas on the grounds that he qualified for the grant since he was an immigrant to the area before the Texas Revolution. A league, 4,338 acres, and a labor, 177 acres, of land were granted by the State of Texas to the heirs of John Reinermann on April 28, 1847.

By the late 1840's, Louisa was no longer married to Joseph Sandman, and she had married Christian Ledovic Bethje with whom she had a daughter in 1850. Christian Bethje, 28 years old, listed himself as a farmer in the 1850 census and his household included his 34 year old wife Louisa and their combined family of four children. They had property valued at $5,250 which indicated that they were prospering. By the 1860's, their farm in the Memorial Park area had is own sawmill, several cultivated fields, three hundred head of cattle and various farm animals.

In 1869, members of the Reinermann family bought a house on fifteen acres and moved to the Brunner Addition located along the Washington Road (near today’s Shepherd Drive). Some of the heirs continued to live on the original property near Memorial Park, but by 1883, that property was abandoned. The heirs sold off tracts from the north and west part of the original Reinermann grant to various timber operators. Later, they sold out to land speculators, although as late as 1915, they retained a tract that became the eastern part of Camp Logan. The Reinermann home, which was located a few blocks northwest of the modern intersection of Washington Avenue and Shepherd Drive, was demolished in the 1920's.
 
Although the physical evidence of this pioneer family seems to have passed away, these early settlers of Houston remain with us in a simple, but subtle way that you might notice the next time you drive in the area around Memorial Park. John Reinermann's name is perpetuated by Reinerman (sic) Street that runs south from White Oak Bayou to Buffalo Bayou, five streets west of Shepherd Drive. Joseph Sandman's name is perpetuated by Sandman Street, a north-south street two blocks east of Reinerman Street. Christian L. Bethje's name is perpetuated by Bethje Street, a short street one block east of Sandman Street, near where Durham Street curves back to join Shepherd Drive. Durham Street was constructed over Bethje Street in the Brunner Subdivision as the southbound, one way companion to the northbound Shepherd Drive