NorthSide Village
Originally part of the Fifth Ward, Northside Village dates back to the late 19th century. In 1866 the Fifth Ward was carved out of the First and Second Wards and included the geographic area north of Buffalo Bayou and east of White Oak Bayou. Prior to the establishment of Fifth Ward, Houston was divided into four wards, one for each geographic quadrant.
In the early 1880s, the Southern Pacific Railroad located a multi-acre repair and maintenance facility in the Fifth Ward, called the rail shops, one of the largest employment centers in the district. The railroad and the expansion of the streetcar lines within the neighborhood allowed the area to continue developing as a working class neighborhood in the first part of the 20th century. Even today a major rail yard lies on the neighborhood’s southern edge as well as the eastern border of the community. Typical residents worked at the rail shops, the nearby port or as clerks or sales persons downtown.
The earliest residents were Anglo, German and Italian immigrants who built modest wooden framed houses. The majority of the single-family homes in the neighborhood were built in the first twenty years of the 20th century. The southern two thirds of the district consist of older Victorian-era homes with architectural styles including Queen Anne, Craftsman and Bungalow. There was almost no new construction in the district from 1940 until the 1990s. The northern third includes Lindale Park, with its large lots and more substantial homes.
Moody Park is an important gathering place in the center of the community, as is the Davis High School- Marshall Middle School-Carnegie Library complex in the southern part of the community. Other neighborhood parks include the Lindale and Glendale parks.
In 2001 the City of Houston under Mayor Lee Brown received a HUD Community Technology Initiative grant, which together with a Federal Highway Administration grant for the Main Street Revitalization Project and a contribution from Avenue CDC, funded the preparation of the Northside Village Revitalization Plan.
Because of the efforts of city planners, outside consultants, civic groups and residents, this plan was developed with the following priorities:
1) Land use – transition and redevelop industrial areas into residential and neighborhood-friendly uses, encourage denser housing along commercial corridors, improve parks, develop more community facilities
2) Transportation – improve METRO services through a light rail extension and improved bus service, improve the pedestrian and bikeway network
3) Community character – improve the visual appearance of commercial corridors and residential areas with a focus on North Main, Fulton, Irvington, and Quitman; establish design guidelines for commercial corridors; strengthen community identity; concentrate commercial development at two or three nodes
4) Community services and infrastructure – enhance safety and community image through crime prevention, maintenance of streets, drainage systems, utilities, improved educational programs, and community gathering places
5) Economic development – enhance and augment neighborhood-friendly businesses along commercial corridors, take advantage of existing government incentives, attract customers from outside the area, enhance job training and employment services
6) Housing – establish urban design guidelines for residential development, increase home ownership, provide quality rental opportunities with diverse prices, assist in rehab of vacant or dilapidated units, increase senior housing options
7) Historic preservation – preserve stock of historic housing and commercial structures
8) Implementation – encourage formal recognition and endorsement of plan by city government, build community partnerships, use marketing to attract new businesses and development, take advantage of special financing programs
Then eight years later Avenue CDC selected Northside Village as one of its two Pilot GO Neighborhoods Communities, and from the series of community meetings, participants developed a Quality of Life Agreement. 
In 2010 the vision of both the Revitalization Plan and the Quality of Life Agreement began to shape into a reality. The METRORail expansion project, which plans for five new lines, is the biggest public works initiative in Houston history. Construction began on Houston’s new METRORail lines, the North Line which runs through Northside Village. With eight stations, the North Line will be approximately 5-1/2 miles long, extending from the existing METRORail Main Street Line at the University of Houston – downtown to Northline Mall.
When the North Line is completed, the neighborhood will be connected to other communities and opportunities. But the project promises more than light rail. As a way of giving back to the communities METRO planned a series of “quality of life” improvements for each new rail line such as increased pedestrian walkway and improved bicycle paths to displays of public art and streetscape beautification projects.
