Was There A Bayou On Antoine Rd.

[Reefmonkey]

I was reading through Houston Press's series of blogs on the histories of different Houston neighborhoods ("The Changing Face of Houston") and in the entry on Oak Forest, I stumbled upon a surprising claim:

 

Longtime resident Elizabeth Mendez remembers how Oak Forest was 50 years ago,"My family bought our house in the early 1960s. At that point Antoine was a bayou and beyond that it was just pasture land. The bayou was filled in and became Antoine, one of the major streets in the area."

 

I don't know a lot about road building, I do know a bit more about stormwater management, but it seems like it would be a bad idea structurally as well as in terms of flood control, as well as prohibitively expensive to fill in a bayou and turn it into a road, so it is something that would not have been done even in the 1960s. Plus, Antoine runs pretty far west of what I think of as Oak Forest's western boundary. I know that White Oak Bayou runs through that area, and that East and West TC Jester Rds follow White Oak's course closely on either bank, so I wonder if that is what this woman is thinking of?

 

I'm going to put this question in the comments section of the Houston Press blog, but wondered if anyone here had any thoughts?

 

 

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2014/09/the_changing_face_of_houston_-_oak_forest.php?page=2

[JLWM8609]

I was reading through Houston Press's series of blogs on the histories of different Houston neighborhoods ("The Changing Face of Houston") and in the entry on Oak Forest, I stumbled upon a surprising claim:

 

Longtime resident Elizabeth Mendez remembers how Oak Forest was 50 years ago,"My family bought our house in the early 1960s. At that point Antoine was a bayou and beyond that it was just pasture land. The bayou was filled in and became Antoine, one of the major streets in the area."

 

I don't know a lot about road building, I do know a bit more about stormwater management, but it seems like it would be a bad idea structurally as well as in terms of flood control, as well as prohibitively expensive to fill in a bayou and turn it into a road, so it is something that would not have been done even in the 1960s. Plus, Antoine runs pretty far west of what I think of as Oak Forest's western boundary. I know that White Oak Bayou runs through that area, and that East and West TC Jester Rds follow White Oak's course closely on either bank, so I wonder if that is what this woman is thinking of?

 

I'm going to put this question in the comments section of the Houston Press blog, but wondered if anyone here had any thoughts?

 

 

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2014/09/the_changing_face_of_houston_-_oak_forest.php?page=2

Looking at historic aerial views and old topographic maps on historicaerials.com, there was a small creek, bayou, or drainage ditch that ran roughly parallel to Antoine between present day Long Point and I-10. It was filled in sometime in the 60s or 70s. You can see where it used to run here: https://www.google.com/maps/@29.798894,-95.475376,3a,66.4y,4.82h,71.48t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s_54wa6LhYxr_A_8jUtxK-Q!2e0

[Highway6]

If you look on google earth historic aerials back to 1944, it does appear to show some drainage depressions flowing into White Oak  right where Antoine is.   Seems like she exaggerating or remembering incorrectly, but her statement does have a kernal of truth.

 

Also.. this could explain why Antoine is essentially a boulevard for the 4-5 blocks from Acorn to the bayou, if they were maintaining that drainage at some point.

 

 

 

[plumber2]

I'm suspect box culverts were installed inside the ditch before it was filled in. The bayou is still there, just below grade and covered over.

[IronTiger]

Just north of Saxon Drive, you can visibly in Google Earth see a culvert between the Antoine bridges where water is dumped into the bayou.

[ADCS]

I was reading through Houston Press's series of blogs on the histories of different Houston neighborhoods ("The Changing Face of Houston") and in the entry on Oak Forest, I stumbled upon a surprising claim:

 

Longtime resident Elizabeth Mendez remembers how Oak Forest was 50 years ago,"My family bought our house in the early 1960s. At that point Antoine was a bayou and beyond that it was just pasture land. The bayou was filled in and became Antoine, one of the major streets in the area."

 

I don't know a lot about road building, I do know a bit more about stormwater management, but it seems like it would be a bad idea structurally as well as in terms of flood control, as well as prohibitively expensive to fill in a bayou and turn it into a road, so it is something that would not have been done even in the 1960s. Plus, Antoine runs pretty far west of what I think of as Oak Forest's western boundary. I know that White Oak Bayou runs through that area, and that East and West TC Jester Rds follow White Oak's course closely on either bank, so I wonder if that is what this woman is thinking of?

 

I'm going to put this question in the comments section of the Houston Press blog, but wondered if anyone here had any thoughts?

 

 

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2014/09/the_changing_face_of_houston_-_oak_forest.php?page=2

 

Many cities derived parts of their sewer and stormwater management systems from enclosing small channels in the area. The River Fleet in London and Mill Creek in Philadelphia come to mind.