Catfish Reef

We made it to double digits! This episode explores the bloody precursor to the town of Sugar Land and takes a look at the forgotten W.C. Munn Department Store that was once among the Houston's largest.

We share lots of good history about famed Dr. Denton Cooley. There is even a nice exclusive clip of him telling a story from his childhood. Plus JR runs down the arrival of Montgomery Wards, Penney's and Joske's into Houston. It's a top notch episode 9.

Episode 8 dips into the history of two topics made even more relevant by recent events. We look at Roy Hofheinz's time as Harris County Judge which began when he was only 24 years old, and we give our up close and personal thoughts on the music venue Fitzgerald's after 41 years of Houston shows. The latter topic includes stories you won't hear anywhere else.

John F. Kennedy made three visits to Houston that warranted national news coverage. We explore the three plus toss around some ideas about what era of Houston history we'd like to visit.

We welcome our first ever guest on Catfish Reef as Mike and JR visit with Story Sloane about history photography in Houston. Also we chat about the flurry of new and refurbished Hispanic murals including the new one at The Heritage Society entitled Mexican-American History & Culture in 20th Century Houston. Plus check out the bonus of JR asking Story Sloane about old color film and prints. 

Episode 5 takes us down to the island to look at their great conflagration and introduces listeners to the woman who brought the entertainment world to Houston for half the 20th century.

Episode 4 contains a fantastic discovery from the files of the Houston Press in the 1930s, the Kiss of Death Bridge, along with a biographical segment on 19th century African-American minister and educator Jack Yates.

Episode 3 includes some historical background on flooding and hurricanes and some personal memories of JR and Mike plus a bio on sports writer and veterans' activist Ralph "Andy" Anderson.

Episode 2 includes talk about Houston's most widely lamented tear down and a biographical piece about an oil wildcatter turned mega-philanthropist.

The inaugural episode includes an explanation of the podcast title, a bit about the Gulf Hotel Fire of 1943, some Tex-Mex reminiscing and a lot of getting to know the hosts, a pair of native Houstonians with an unparalleled love for their hometown's past.