Jesse H. Jones - Immense Contributions to Houston and TMC

Nineteen ninety-eight marks the 100th anniversary of Jesse Jones' arrival in Houston. The 24-year-old came to Houston - a city of 40,000 - in 1898 to seek his fortune. Probably no other city has benefited so much from one person.

He created a lumber company and began building small houses south of downtown. In 1907 he undertook his first skyscraper, the nine-story Bristol Hotel. By building the 10-story Houston Chronicle office, he was paid with a half-interest in the daily paper. In 1913, he opened the 18-story Rice Hotel; the 16-story Lamar Hotel followed in 1927 and the 35-story Gulf Building in 1929. In all he built (and owned) 35 downtown buildings, became full owner of the Chronicle - later he would add KTRH radio and KTRK television to his media holdings - and undertook what would prove to have the most impact on Houston: the dredging of the Houston Ship Channel. Jones and other civic leaders recognized that the Buffalo Bayou could be Houston's gateway to the sea; the finished channel would be longer then the Panama Canal. The channel opened in 1913; within three years, 38 industries had relocated to Houston and there were 57 shipping lines using the port.

The Texas Medical Center has benefited greatly from Jesse Jones' leadership and generosity.

Jones contributed to almost every hospital and school in the Texas Medical Center. He created nursing scholarship programs to ensure that there would be enough nurses to assist the physicians and to staff the growing Texas Medical Center hospitals. Jones and his wife, Mary, established the Houston Endowment in 1937, and this philanthropic foundation continues to provide immense support to many programs in the TMC. To date, the foundation has distributed over $650 million.

In 1913, Jones asked Dr. E. W. Bertner to come to Houston to serve as the house physician at the new Rice Hotel which Jones had built. Dr. Bertner would become the first president of the Texas Medical Center; Jones would be the initial chairman of the board of trustees. Jones created the Jesse H. Jones Fellowship in Cancer Research at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center to honor Dr. Bertner.

Jesse Jones contributed $600,000 towards the building of a library in the Texas Medical Center; it was the only building carrying his name while he was alive.

Recently, at the graduation of the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University, Jack Blanton echoed the feelings of most Houstonians: "I give thanks every day that he came our way."

- ROGER WIDMEYER

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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