Oscar F. Holcombe

Holcombe speaking from a podium

Oscar Fitzallen Holcombe (December 31, 1888 – June 18, 1968) served as the mayor of Houston, Texas, for 22 years, in 11 non-consecutive terms.

Biography

Holcombe was born in Mobile, Alabama, and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He moved to Houston when he was 18, and founded his own construction business, the O. F. Holcombe Company, at age 26. His business acumen and contacts eventually made Holcombe a millionaire.

Six years after founding his business, in 1921, Holcombe won his first term as mayor. He served as mayor from 1921 to 1929. Holcombe was defeated in the 1929 election by Walter Monteith, who supported a more fiscally conservative approach. Holcombe ran for mayor again in 1931, promising to do more for the unemployed, but Monteith was elected again.[1]

Holcombe served subsequent mayoral terms from 1933 to 1937, 1939 to 1941, 1947 to 1953, and 1956 to 1958. His administrations were considered to be conservative and pro-business, though Holcombe was also aggressive about expanding the city's boundaries and improving public services (such as libraries, a municipal auditorium, and an improved sewage system).

Holcombe married Mary Grey Miller on May 3, 1912. They had one daughter, Elisabeth, who married Henry Markley Crosswell, Jr.

Honors

During the early 1960s, Houston renamed the stretch of Bellaire Boulevard east of Southside Place, which runs through the Texas Medical Center, as Holcombe Boulevard. In the late 1980s, the municipality of West University Place also renamed Bellaire Boulevard as Holcombe Boulevard within its jurisdiction.

References

  1. Biles, Roger (1994). The South and the New Deal. University Press of Kentucky. p. 23. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
Preceded by
A. Earl Amerman
Mayor of Houston, Texas
1921–1929
Succeeded by
Walter E. Monteith
Preceded by
Walter E. Monteith
Mayor of Houston, Texas
1933–1937
Succeeded by
R. H. Fonville
Preceded by
R. H. Fonville
Mayor of Houston, Texas
1939–1941
Succeeded by
Neal Pickett
Preceded by
Otis Massey
Mayor of Houston, Texas
1947–1953
Succeeded by
Roy Hofheinz
Preceded by
Roy Hofheinz
Mayor of Houston, Texas
1956–1958
Succeeded by
Lewis Cutrer
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