Lower San in 1965
In 1965 most of the roads we have today were built and residential development took off. This photo clearly shows Banana Bend and Rio Villa's roads although homes were still scarce. The San Jac became a playground for many Houstonians who enjoyed watersports of all kinds.Portions of Exxon had been built and the wastewater outfall can be seen upstream from Rio Villa. Sand mining in what was now a fairly large lake was continueing. White's Lake was also seeing some destruction from sand mining. A new problem was also causing the loss of much of the wetlands of the area. Land subsidence caused by the withdrawal of water from underground aquafers as well as salt water intrusion agravated by the Lake Houston Dam was killing off the cypress stands and wetlands of White's Lake.