Photo by Marie LeonardThe Lakewood Forest subdivision near Jones and Louetta might be known today for its tree-lined streets and established homes, but about 150 years ago it was a much different community.
After the Civil War, a group of freed African-American slaves from Alabama and Mississippi came to Houston. Ten families who saved money from lumbering and making charcoal when they first came to town moved to the northwest Harris County area and purchased land along a portion of Cypress Creek and called it The Bottoms—now known as present day Lakewood Forest.
The families of Thomas Amos, Phil Blackstock, Runch Carrs, Richard Patterson, Sam Williams, Mango Weeds, Livington Stewart, Willis Woods and Kyle Williams were the ones responsible for purchasing the original land.
Woods owned 310 acres in The Bottoms, but he donated a portion of his land so the community could build a church, cemetery, school and a Farmers Improvement Society—a Masonic organization.
Because Cypress Creek was prone to flooding, the community eventually moved farther north up Hwy. 249. However, the school and church stayed open in The Bottoms for several years, requiring some children to walk several miles to school each day.
Today, all that is left of The Bottoms is a cemetery. However, the site has been taken care of and kept up by local churches and Boy Scouts groups.
Many of the original settlers of The Bottoms moved up Hwy. 249 to the area then referred to as Kohrville after the flooding became too much.
According to the Texas State Historical Association, the community was named after Paul Kohrmann, a German immigrant who ran the post office and opened the first general store in the area off what is now Hwy. 249.
Kohrmann and his wife are buried in a small family cemetery that is nearby the Lakewood Apartments, off Hwy. 249 near Louetta Road, according to the Texas State Historical Association.
Because the Kohrville area was still rural in the early 1900s, most of the community did work as farmers and ranchers and in lumberyards or sawmills in the surrounding areas of Cypress, Louetta, Willow and Klein. Community members also worked on sawmills in the neighboring towns of Cypress, Louetta, Willow and Klein.
By the early 1900s, the Kohrville community had a local schoolhouse, cotton gin, sawmill and general store.
Community members who went from The Bottoms to Kohrville named their church Pilgrim Branch Baptist Church—which still operates today—and used the grounds for various church socials and activities.
Sources: "History of the Kohrville Community and the Kohrville School" by Diana Lynn Severance, Texas State Historical Association, Harris County Precinct 4
