BEDFORD FORREST COOP (1866-1929) WAS BORN IN CROCKETT COUNTY, TENNESSEE. HE STUDIED MEDICINE AT WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY BEFORE GETTING MARRIED AND JOINING A PRIVATE PRACTICE IN GREENVILLE, ILLINOIS. AFTER FALLING ILL WITH TUBERCULOSIS IN 1908, DR. COOP DIVORCED AND HE MARRIED SCHOOLTEACHER ETHEL B. REED (1875-1948). READY FOR A FRESH START, THE COUPLE MOVED TO HOUSTON IN 1914 AND BEGAN ESTABLISHING THEMSELVES AS PROMINENT FIGURES IN THE COMMUNITY. DR. COOP BEGAN A MEDICAL PRACTICE DOWNTOWN AND ETHEL TOOK ON LEADERSHIP ROLES WITH SEVERAL SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL GROUPS. ETHEL SERVED AS TRUSTEE OF THE HOUSTON SCHOOL BOARD, DIRECTOR OF THE SOCIAL SERVICE BOARD, INSTRUCTOR AT THE RED CROSS AND MEMBER OF THE ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB OF THE HEIGHTS. WHILE SHE SERVED AS STATE CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSEWIVES LEAGUE DURING WORLD WAR I, HEAD OF THE U.S. FOOD ADMINISTRATION (AND FUTURE U.S. PRESIDENT) HERBERT HOOVER NAMED ETHEL ONE OF THE SPEAKERS IN THE WORK OF FOOD CONSERVATION. IN 1923, SHE WAS ONE OF FOUR APPOINTEES WHO SELECTED THE LOCATION OF THE HEIGHTS LIBRARY. IN 1950, COOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WAS NAMED IN HER HONOR. LATER IN LIFE, ETHEL CONVERTED HER HOME INTO A BOARDING HOUSE FOR YOUNG TEACHERS STARTING THEIR CAREERS. DECADES LATER, THE HOME WOULD ALSO SERVE AS A NEIGHBORHOOD BED AND BREAKFAST. THE 1914-1915 CRAFTSMAN STYLE HOUSE CONTAINS ELEMENTS OF VICTORIAN AND PRAIRIE STYLE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. NOTABLE FEATURES INCLUDE ITS HIPPED ROOF WITH A SMALL CENTRAL DORMER, WRAPAROUND PORCH AND TAPERED HALF-COLUMNS ON BRICK PIERS. THE HOUSE WAS RENOVATED BUT RETAINS A HIGH DEGREE OF INTEGRITY. THE PROPERTY WAS LISTED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES IN 1984.