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51 built the biggest home in River Oaks in the 1930s and why; and saw the surprisingly understated house where Houston's greatest architect, John Staub, lived. A HISTORY OF MISTER MCKINNEY One evening, over a signature Mister McKinney Hendrick's Gin cocktail at the Houston Club, McKinney waxed poetic about the Hines-built One Shell Plaza building that now houses the private club, as well as tales of the city builders behind skyscrapers visible from the 49th floor. Most intriguing was the story of the wheeling and dealing between Jesse Jones and Andrew Mellon, back in 1912, that yielded the 1929 Gulf Building. As he tells it, his own story of becoming a historian started with free walking tours for kids and adults in 2002, when he was working downtown as facilities manager at the Alley. Taking as his source oral history notes from business owners and the authoritative 1990 AIA Houston Architectural Guide written by Stephen Fox, he led curiosity seekers down streets in search of narratives extending back to the 19th century. But the historian's journey actually began years before that, when he was an inquisitive junior high student who was dropped off with his siblings at the downtown Houston Public Library by their divorced single mom. McKinney migrated over to the Julia Ideson library, where the Texas Room and its treasures held sway. "Maps at the Julia Ideson Building's Texas Room have always helped me retain Houston's past," he says. "I used to sit and look at a map for hours, absorbing every bit of it. They were so well drawn, and I had so many questions … I taught myself how to find the answers. I would just keep searching, looking at newer maps of the exact same area, and view the aerial photo collection for the answer." Now his life has come full circle. He serves on the board of the Julia Ideson's Friends of the Texas Room and raises funds and awareness for the Houston Metropolitan Research Center (HMRC), so other kids can have the same experiences. "There was no Houston History 101 growing up, so I taught myself the history of Houston's growth and have spent the last three decades perfecting it," he says. "This is all original content that I've spent years researching and adding to tell a story of Houston's historic past." BUILDING PRESERVATIONISTS Education is McKinney's tag line: "Ensuring Houston's future doesn't forget its past." At its heart, the Houston History Bus aims to appeal to youngsters and drum up the next generation of preservationists. It's no accident that his inaugural children's book, planned for 2019, will be titled after Judge Roy Hofheinz's life: The Can-Do Kid. That bigger-than-life Astrodome dreamer and builder is the man whose 1952 mayoral campaign business card McKinney carries with him as a talisman. Given McKinney's own penchant for navy blazers, carefully pressed trousers, pocket squares, and other natty touches; his shiny, branded Mister McKinney name tag; and his ability to read his audience and convey information in a theatrical and enticing way, one suspects he sees more than a little of Judge Roy Hofheinz in his own life. What's next for Mister McKinney? He plans to tap into his background in regional theater, which began as a child, then carried over into his college years. "I was in dramatic plays like Twelve Angry Men and musicals like Cole Porter's smash hit Anything Goes and Gershwin's Crazy For You," he says. "I've always wanted to write a musical based on the life of Jesse H. Jones and other iconic Houstonians, to tell the stories of Houston's past and all the people that contributed to the city's growth — to combine both of my loves, Houston history and the performing arts." MISTER MCKINNEY'S GUIDE: HOUSTON'S MOST ILLUSTRIOUS STREET. Mister McKinney: When people think of mansions in Houston, the iconic River Oaks neighborhood comes to mind. There are remarkable homes from Houston's who's who, like Ima Hogg's 1928 Bayou Bend, designed by River Oaks' most celebrated architect, John Staub. Inwood Street (named for the Inwood, New York, country club founded in 1901) gets the most interesting reaction when we tour River Oaks. It was home to wildcatter Hugh Roy Cullen, with his massive mansion on the corner of Inwood and River Oaks Boulevard, which started construction during the Great Depression in 1933 and completed in 1935; it was said he built the home larger than he needed so he could employ more contractors during the Depression. Homebuilder Katharine Mott and her business partner/husband built for their family in 1930 at 3325 Inwood. Other notable Inwood mansions include the home of George R. Brown and Alice Pratt Brown (1933, by J.T. Rather Jr.) at 3363 Inwood; and Will Clayton's home, the first home built in River Oaks, in 1924, at 3376 Inwood (architects Briscoe & Dixon). HISTORICAL MONTROSE. The once-majestic Montrose area still has a handful of its historic mansions intact, thanks to the development of the University of St. Thomas campus, starting in 1946 with the purchase of the John Wiley Link Mansion at 3800 Montrose Boulevard. Known today as the Link-Lee Mansion, the name is shared with oilman "THE ULTIMATE COMPLIMENT WAS WHEN JOHN STAUB'S ADULT GRANDCHILDREN ATTENDED A RIVER OAKS TOUR AND SAID THEY LEARNED SO MUCH ABOUT THEIR GRANDFATHER." — Mister McKinney (continued on page 80)