Historical Interest
Fairmont Park Homes Association (Central) La Porte, Texas
Fairmont Park was developed in the mid 1950's in the unincorporated areas of the City of La Porte. It was the norm in those days when a subdivision was platted, the City provided no services, except perhaps water and sewage treatment service to the subdivision. All other services, including trash pickup, security, common area and amenity (Pool) landscaping and maintenance and street lighting were provided by the developer and paid for through maintenance fees collected by the homes association as houses were constructed and sold. . After a majority of the homes sold, the governance of the subdivision, funded by the Association fees changed to the homeowners association.
As the subdivision grew, the La Porte City Council saw an opportunity to annex Fairmont Park Subdivisions into the City of La Porte. As part of the negotiations and transition, the City took over maintenance of roads, bridges, streetlights and trash pickup. The Fairmont Park Homes Association fees, as they are today, were limited to a fixed fee and as inflation overcame the ability to pay for some services, such as backdoor pickup of garbage, esplanade maintenance, and pool maintenance, these services were turned over to the city.
Currently the FPHA maintains the five entrances to the subdivision and the strip of land bordering the southern side Spencer Highway and a small strip of land on Underwood Road.
The following is a link to a General Homes August 1960 advertisement for the Fairmont East Park Subdivision, however it is representative of Fairmont Park (Central) that General Homes was also continuing to develop.
In the 1960's, Fairmont Park, was considered the cutting edge of suburban living. Prior to Fairmont Park, most homes built in the City of La Porte were pillar and beam homes. Fairmont Park homes were concrete slab homes, with two car garages and considered modern and upscale. Some of the very early homes did not include central air conditioning, but that changed rather dramatically in the 1960's when central A/C became standard.
In the 1960's Fairmont Park was home to many hundreds of NASA workers dedicated to putting a man on the moon through the Apollo Program. Even today, Fairmont Park is home to many current and former NASA employees.