In December of 1986, the remaining family members of the John Edward and Gertrude Pomeroy, met with the Mayor and City council and donated the 1.66-acre, 9 city lot properties. This came along with their family homes — the Pomeroy House and Anna Pomeroy’s — house on the property. The donation included the two houses, two garages, one outhouse, and nine city lots. The donation of the property and homes was to preserve the historical importance of the property and the history of Pasadena and Texas.
🔑With two of the first “city lots” sold by Colonel John H. Burnett in his new town development located within the homestead site, downtown Pasadena began developing around the corner of Main and Sixth (now Eagle Street). Jasper F. Hays bought one of those two lots in 1893 due to his appointment as Postmaster and he located the first Post office in the front room of his new home.
🏘After Edward Payson and Anna Pomeroy and their son John survived the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, Payson moved his wife Anna Louise and their son
John Edward to the inland community of Pasadena early the next year. On the property, they found another causality of the storm…the old Jasper F. Hays house lay on its side, blown from its piers. The Pomeroy’s bought their first parcel of land to be their homestead at Main and Sixth (now Eagle) streets in April of 1901. They fixed the house and called it home until 1908. Edward Payson passed away in 1906, and Payson was working to establish a cemetery in Pasadena and out of respect for his efforts his friends rushed the completion of the project so that Edward Payson Pomeroy was the first burial in the Crown Hill Cemetery. Anna Louise received a widow’s allotment of $1081. and she had her son John build the Pomeroy House, and it was completed in 1908.
🏆Payson and Anna chose Pasadena because they saw opportunities in the young community and quickly coupled their vision with action. They began
a family history of commitment to community, and its education and religious needs.
