Captain James A. Baker of Houston, 1857-1941

Chapter Six: Citizen and Patriot

221  Houston’s thriving commercial and industrial activity, fueled by oil exploration in the years before World War I, coincided with a vibrant civic life. Entrepreneurs who built new industries also created cultural and social service organizations to improve the quality of life for a growing populace. Houston’s early twentieth-century leaders praised individual effort and private enterprise, but many held progressive beliefs that linked the well-being of individual, family, community, and nation , and they began to imagine the elements needed to build a great city. The Bakers and their circle of friends believed that healthy communities must build strong economic foundations based on best business practice; they understood that certain issues like public health and safe roads required well-managed local government; they thought a great city should be home to excellent educational institutions, parklands and open spaces, fine music, and art; and they recognized the need for social services to mitigate suffering, poverty, and poor living conditions. Optimistic problem solvers, these humanitarian leaders knew that commerChapter Six Citizen and Patriot Illustration: Captain James A. Baker. Private Collection. book TAM Kirkland.indb 221 book TAM Kirkland.indb 221 5/30/12 2:47 PM 5/30/12 2:47 PM Chapter Six  222 cial success alone would not define a great city. They worked together to make Houston a center of commerce, community, and culture.1 Civic Leaders The Bakers, like other practicing Presbyterians, pursued their civic and social duties with serious purpose and encouraged others to follow their lead. Judge Baker and his son joined the First Presbyterian Church in 1878. The Judge’s annual gift of $60 was the congregation’s largest in 1893, when the church called a new pastor, William Hayne Leavell, to serve its expanding flock (1893–1903). The energetic two-hundred-pound, six-foot, three-inch Leavell befriended Judge Baker and his son and welcomed Alice to the fold in 1895, when she left her Baptist congregation to join First Presbyterian by examination and profession of faith. Leavell had not long been in Houston when he explained the need for a new church building to his parishioners. He proved a clever fund-raiser. When an anonymous friend gave him $5,000 to use as he wished, Leavell placed this gift on a subscription list under his own name; he then secured a pledge from the Ladies’ Association to raise $10,000 and began to call on likely supporters. Soon Judge Baker had pledged $1,500, and within three weeks other subscribers, loath not to equal the generosity of their own pastor, their most honored communicant, and their ardent female members, met the $50,000 goal. When Leavell had secured an appropriate site and was ready to build, he asked his friend and parishioner Captain Baker to prepare a constructioncontractsocleverly “itcouldnotbebrokenifanythingwentwrong.”2 After much “anxious solicitude,” Leavell preached his first sermon from the new pulpit on May 26, 1895. When costs exceeded expectations, Captain Baker helped Leavell arrange a loan from William Marsh Rice for $20,000. Baker then formed a committee with Norman Meldrum and E. W. Sewell to raise funds and pay off the loan, but Rice was murdered before the church could cancel its debt. As administrator of Rice’s estate in Texas, Baker helped Leavell settle the matter on terms favorable to First Presbyterian and fair to the Rice estate. Although later generations remember that Captain Baker served as a church elder, church records do not show him in any leadership role. However, he continued to support Leavell’s successor, the charming, highly educated sportsman, baritone , and poet William States Jacobs (1906–1931), who became a close book TAM Kirkland.indb 222 book TAM Kirkland.indb 222 5/30/12 2:47 PM 5/30/12 2:47 PM Citizen and Patriot 223  personal friend and important civic leader. Baker asked Institute trustees to approve a $20,000 loan in September 1915 so the church could pay off its indebtedness for a new manse, and he arranged other financing for church projects during his lifetime.3 Captain Baker chose colleagues who also enjoyed community activities .Withhisusualardentinsistence,EdwinB.ParkerurgedBaker,Botts, Parker & Garwood lawyers to “steer clear of political entanglements” but to “take an active interest in all affairs of State,” because the firm’s success depended on participation “in the outside business, civic and social life of our community and our Country at large.”4 Captain Baker...