Flashback to 1912

This original brochure for Eastwood, published by the William A. Wilson Company, describes the neighborhood amenities and deed restrictions that made Eastwood such a desirable place to live.

Eastwood was Houston's third master-planned subdivision, built shortly after the Heights and Montrose. Terraced lots, sidewalks, streetlights, utility easements, and drainage were just a few of the features that made the neighborhood unique for its time. Here's a selection I wrote for the Wikipedia article on Eastwood, which gives a fairly good overview:

"The development was planned with shelled streets^[5]that were sixty to eighty feet in width,^[6]cement curbs and sidewalks, city water, gas, electricity, telephones and sanitary sewerage as well as terraced lots designed for natural drainage.^[2] One of the unique features of the neighborhood is the symmetrically planned placement of live oak trees and sycamore trees.^[3] Wilson envisioned Eastwood to be a more upscale counterpart to his Woodland Heights subdivision.^[1]The utilities were placed at the rear of the lots to avoid marring the landscape of the community.^[4]"

Previous editions focused on the development of the Woodland Heights subdivision, which is now regarded as one of the upper-tier neighborhoods in Houston.