Cooley, Daniel Denton

(April 15, 1850 - November 22, 1933) A native of Binghampton, New York, D. D. Cooley moved to Omaha, Nebraska as a young man. In 1887 he joined the American Loan and Trust Company. The company bought a tract of land northwest of Houston in 1891 and sent Cooley and other representatives to oversee its development the following year. As general manager of the Omaha and South Texas Land Company, formed by American Loan and Trust in 1892, Cooley had direct input into the design of the Houston Heights community. Known later as the "Father of the Houston Heights," he laid out the main street, Heights Boulevard, and built his home here in 1892-93. He continued to promote real estate in the area after the company was dissolved about 1895. The first school in the neighborhood was named for Cooley, and he was a member of the school board. After Houston Heights was incorporated in 1896, he was elected an alderman. Cooley was a respected civic and business leader, whose interests included banking, insurance, railroads, real estate, and oil. Married to Helen Grace Winfield (1860-1916) in 1883, Cooley was the father of three sons. He died n 1933 and is buried in Glenwood Cemetery. The Cooley home was razed in 1965.

Cooley, Daniel Denton is a historical marker in Houston, Harris County, dedicated in 1991. It is one of 406 historical markers documented in Harris County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 781 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 29.8023, -95.3977 near Houston. The nearest cataloged historic site is St. Andrew's Episcopal Church (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Burge House, Heights Christian Church, and Mansfield House.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5201010640. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.