Riverside Terrace, Houston

Riverside Terrace is a neighborhood in Houston, Texas, United States. The neighborhood is bounded by Almeda, North MacGregor, Scott, and Wheeler. The community, formerly an affluent Jewish neighborhood, is now an affluent predominantly African American neighborhood. It has been undergoing a gradual change in demographics and aesthetics due to gentrification and revitalization efforts since the early 2000s.

Development of Riverside Terrace began in 1924, and it was initially done by the president of Guardian Trust Company, Clarence Malone, who had cofounded the company.Jewish families moved to Riverside Terrace in the 1920s and 1930s since they were not allowed to settle in other wealthy Houston neighborhoods, including River Oaks. Therefore it became known as the "Jewish River Oaks". At the time most residents of Riverside Terrace were Christian. Allison Wollam of the Houston Business Journal stated that Riverside Terrace "was once on the same affluent level as the swanky River Oaks area." During that period the neighborhood hosted the houses of the prominent Weingarten, Finger, and McGregor families. By the 1950s initial development finished.

In 1952, a wealthy African-American cattleman named Jack Caesar moved to the neighborhood. He stayed despite the fact that a bomb detonated on his front porch. Several Riverside Terrace residents opposed the growth of the community's black population, with some not wishing for racial-based violence to occur in the community and with some on the grounds that property values could decline. In 1959, land clearance began for the construction of the new Texas State Highway 288 freeway, destroying several Riverside Terrace houses. Although Caesar's home was in the path of the freeway, it was moved to another location south of Houston. Many White families left Riverside Terrace and settled in suburbs. In the 1960s some Whites who wanted the neighborhood to stabilize as an integrated neighborhood posted signs stating "This Is Our Home It Is Not For Sale." Societal pressure and pressure from real estate agents who wanted to sell expensive homes to Black families pressed upon the remaining White and Jewish homeowners. In the spring of 1963 the South Macgregor Promotion Committee formed. It says that it placed the "not for sale" not because it was against African Americans moving in, but because it wanted to prevent block busting. African-American and civil rights figures backed the "not for sale" campaign. In 1963 the community had 175 African American families. They backed the campaign since they believed it would prevent the community from becoming a ghetto. Housing prices declined steadily around the 1960s. The South Macgregor group, which had no black members in 1963, and African-American leaders met and decided that a ratio of between 65-85% White and 15-35% Black would be beneficial to members of both racial groups.

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