Career
Baker interrupted his law classes at the University of Texas to volunteer for World War I. He reported to Quartermaster School in San Antonio commissioned as a lieutenant, and began his tour with the 90th Division's 359th Infantry Regiment on the western front in July 1918. His company fought from the trenches during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel in the fall.[6] After a two-week break from the front, his division took over for the 5th Division and endured the trenches for seventy-five days straight. He was the only officer in his unit to survive without being wounded, and he was promoted to Captain while being cited for valor. He joined the occupation forces in Germany after the cessation of hostilities. The Army ordered him discharged and he reached American soil on April 4, 1919.[7]
Baker and his father developed Broadacres, an exclusive subdivision sited north of Rice University. At its conception in 1922–1923, this tract was surrounded by non-commercial uses. In addition to the university, Hermann Park, the land for the future Museum of Fine Arts were in proximity. Two other wealthy subdivisions, Southampton and Shadyside, buffered Broadacres from commercial development. The Bakers sold seventeen large lots to investors who also advanced $150,000 to the development for capital improvements. Baker took over the management of the subdivision, while Herbert A. Kipp platted and engineered the twenty-five lot site. Rice architect William Ward Watkin laid out the landscaping and designed a new Spanish-Mediterranean home for Captain Baker. When the infrastructure for Broadacres was completed by September 24, 1924, Baker announced that the assessments to lot owners would be reduced because the final bills came in below estimated costs. Though his parents resided at Broadacres, Baker developed a lot in a neighboring subdivision on Poor Farm Road in 1926.[8]
