Houston is one-step closer to $4.6M replacement of 70-year old Freed-Montrose Library

Ryan Nickerson, Staff writer

July 6, 2021Updated: July 6, 2021 3:20 p.m.

Montrose Collective will have more than 150,000 square feet of office space, retail, restaurants and a public library.
Courtesy of MSOA and Radom Capital

Houston officials are working to relocate the Montrose branch of the Houston Public Library to the Montrose Collective, a 150,000 square-foot mixed-use development currently under construction on the 800 block of Westheimer.

The Houston City Council recently approved and authorized $4.6 million in design and construction services for the new library that will be located on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the development. According to the city, the library will have a children’s area, teen space, and a space for adults, computers, and technology.

Larry Callies, left, and Bud Northington, right, tour the inside of a slave quarters in Northington's family land, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Egypt. Callies says Northington is a descendant of a slave owner who owned, and bred with, Callies's lineage. Callies will be staying overnight in the preserved slave quarters and former plantation of Northington's relatives. Callies owner of the Black Cowboy Museum in Rosenberg.

Larry Callies, left, and Bud Northington talk while seated inside a slave quarters in Northington's family land, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Egypt. Callies says Northington is a descendant of a slave owner who owned, and bred with, Callies's lineage. Callies will be staying overnight in the preserved slave quarters and former plantation of Northington's relatives. Callies owner of the Black Cowboy Museum in Rosenberg.

Larry Callies, owner of the Black Cowboy Museum in Rosenberg, smiles as he talks about staying overnight in the slave quarters of Bud Northington's family land, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Egypt. Callies says Northington is a descendant of a slave owner who owned, and bred with, Callies's lineage.

Larry Callies, owner of the Black Cowboy Museum in Rosenberg, gets his horse ready to ride while visiting Bud Northington's family land, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Egypt. Callies says Northington is a descendant of a slave owner who owned, and bred with, Callies's lineage.

Bud Northington, left, and Larry Callies, right, talk right outside of a slave quarters in Northington's family land, Friday, June 17, 2022, in Egypt. Callies says Northington is a descendant of a slave owner who owned, and bred with, Callies's lineage. Callies will be staying overnight in the preserved slave quarters and former plantation of Northington's relatives. Callies owner of the Black Cowboy Museum in Rosenberg.

Juneteenth

A Black cowboy learned his friend's family enslaved his ancestors. Now they're even closer.

Ahead of Juneteenth, one of Texas' last Black cowboys spent the night at a plantation owned by his longtime friend. The pair recently discovered they're distant cousins because of slavery.

By Ryan Nickerson

Houston is one-step closer to $4.6M replacement of 70-year old Freed-Montrose Library

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