A Brief History of Alief, Texas

For a very detailed description of Alief History, see our Wikipedia page (link).

• 1861 — A flood prone prairie known as Dairy, located 15 miles Southwest of Houston at the Brays Bayou headwaters, had farms for rice, corn, cattle, cotton and diary
• 1889 — San Antonio & Aransas Pass RR granted right of way. In 1904 a depot was built on High Star where the AISD stadium is now located
• 1894 — Dr John Magee, DDS and his wife Alief Ozelda Morris  settled in Dairy
• 1896 — Alief was named postmistress and the U.S. Post Office was established in their home. Population: 25. First school built (2 rooms, grades 1-7)
• 1987 — This postal area was named Alief, not Dairy to avoid confusion with another town called Daisy.
• 1899 — Mrs. Alief Magee died and was buried on their home property, reinterred in the Alief Cemetery at the corner of Bellaire Boulevard and Dairy-Ashford Road in 1935.
• 1900 — Alief was again devastated by The GREAT hurricane (which destroyed Galveston). Most of Alief’s 30 families fled; many returned by 1904
• 1905 — Alief Cotton Gin opened on Alief Clodine Rd., later The Red Barn Picture Framing business until 2003, when it was razed so the land could be used as a retention pond for the Westpark Toll Road
• 1906 — Nancy Lloyd, first woman elected to Dairy School board.
• 1909 — Harris County Flood Control District established here.
• 1911 — Alief Independent School District established; built a 3-story school.
• 1912 — Mr. A.J. Martin (an elementary school is named for him) built a home on Cook Road. Its grounds have held the Alief Pet Cemetery since 1917.
• 1917 — Dairy School District became an I.S.D. and was renamed Alief. Hastings family (storekeepers) became postmasters. (The first Alief high school was named after him.)
• 1926 — 11th grade added for the school district
• 1935 — Electric service brought to Alief. Population between 150 – 200
• 1940 — 12th grade added for the school district
• 1943 — Telephone service brought to Alief
• 1977 — Houston began annexing areas of Alief which are now within the Super Neighborhood boundaries
• 2000 — Alief Super Neighborhood #25 was recognized by the Mayor’s Office in a ceremony on June 22, 2000.