Memories Of Aldine

[joubles15]

Does anyone remember Duiett's truck stop on I-45?  It was on the east side of 1-45 right as the freeway bent around Steubner Airline.  I used to eat pie there with my parents as a kid.  I grew up in Hidden Valley and went to Aldine High School.  A lot of my friends lived in Northline Terrace, Willow Run, Imperial Valley and Heather Glen. I cant find anything about the truck stop and I would love to know the history of it, what happened to the family etc.  

[mkultra25]

On 6/29/2021 at 2:39 PM, joubles15 said:

Does anyone remember Duiett's truck stop on I-45?  It was on the east side of 1-45 right as the freeway bent around Steubner Airline.  I used to eat pie there with my parents as a kid.  I grew up in Hidden Valley and went to Aldine High School.  A lot of my friends lived in Northline Terrace, Willow Run, Imperial Valley and Heather Glen. I cant find anything about the truck stop and I would love to know the history of it, what happened to the family etc.  

So, right around where Canino dead-ends into I-45? Or a little north of there? Roughly what years do you remember it being there? 

You might take a look at Historic Aerials - you can plug in an address and click "Aerials" on the left-hand menu bar to see which years aerial photos are available for that address. I used 8010 North Freeway, zoomed in, and looked at the photos from 1957-1973. Not sure I saw anything that was definitively a truck stop, but there were a couple of places that might have been.   

[Firebird65]

On 6/30/2021 at 10:19 PM, mkultra25 said:

So, right around where Canino dead-ends into I-45? Or a little north of there? Roughly what years do you remember it being there? 

You might take a look at Historic Aerials - you can plug in an address and click "Aerials" on the left-hand menu bar to see which years aerial photos are available for that address. I used 8010 North Freeway, zoomed in, and looked at the photos from 1957-1973. Not sure I saw anything that was definitively a truck stop, but there were a couple of places that might have been.   

Dueitt's (the proper spelling) was located at 8024 North Freeway, just north of Canino, so you were pretty much dead on.  I once looked it up for someone on Facebook. About the only thing I could find was a help wanted ad for waitresses from Jan. 8, 1956. There's no earlier mention of it. During that search I went to Historic Aerials and it wasn't in the 1953 photo, so apparently it opened sometime between 1954 and January 1956. The last want ad they ran was on Jan. 22, 1974.

I haven't been out that way since my mom died two years ago. But according to Google Street View somebody was building something fairly large on that site as of the photo, which was taken in February 2020. Anyone been by there recently? 

[Ross]

5 hours ago, Firebird65 said:

Dueitt's (the proper spelling) was located at 8024 North Freeway, just north of Canino, so you were pretty much dead on.  I once looked it up for someone on Facebook. About the only thing I could find was a help wanted ad for waitresses from Jan. 8, 1956. There's no earlier mention of it. During that search I went to Historic Aerials and it wasn't in the 1953 photo, so apparently it opened sometime between 1954 and January 1956. The last want ad they ran was on Jan. 22, 1974.

I haven't been out that way since my mom died two years ago. But according to Google Street View somebody was building something fairly large on that site as of the photo, which was taken in February 2020. Anyone been by there recently? 

The property is owned by UPS, and is likely being used to expand their hub there. It was replatted at some point and renamed UPS Sweetwater Hub West. It would have been nice if they could have also taken out that derelict building next to Husky Trailers, which appears to be owned by some guy who owns strip clubs. After looking further, that building was a Don's Western Wear, then a porn theater. The vacant lot between the UPS property and the derelict building is also owned by the strip club guy, so, again, too bad UPS couldn't have acquired that as well.

[Firebird65]

On 7/4/2021 at 11:58 AM, Ross said:

The property is owned by UPS, and is likely being used to expand their hub there. It was replatted at some point and renamed UPS Sweetwater Hub West. It would have been nice if they could have also taken out that derelict building next to Husky Trailers, which appears to be owned by some guy who owns strip clubs. After looking further, that building was a Don's Western Wear, then a porn theater. The vacant lot between the UPS property and the derelict building is also owned by the strip club guy, so, again, too bad UPS couldn't have acquired that as well.

Wow, I'd completely forgotten about that Don's Western Wear. 

[Specwriter]

So much has changed along the stretch of I45 between the Shepherd curve and Aldine Bender in the past 60 years. I wonder which buildings are still standing that existed in 1961, the year my parents moved into their house in Hidden Valley.

In fact they arrived exactly 60 years ago this month, just in time for Hurricane Carla which hit Texas on September 11th of that year. Dad said they never lost power (there were no trees to bring down power lines then 🙂) but the wind did drive the rain water under the window sashes. Fortunately, the house had ceramic tile window stools; something I have rarely seen outside of houses built in Hidden Valley in the early 1960s.

[Ross]

On 7/4/2021 at 11:58 AM, Ross said:

The property is owned by UPS, and is likely being used to expand their hub there. It was replatted at some point and renamed UPS Sweetwater Hub West. It would have been nice if they could have also taken out that derelict building next to Husky Trailers, which appears to be owned by some guy who owns strip clubs. After looking further, that building was a Don's Western Wear, then a porn theater. The vacant lot between the UPS property and the derelict building is also owned by the strip club guy, so, again, too bad UPS couldn't have acquired that as well.

The old western wear/porn theater building is gone. Looks like the strip club owner sold both properties last June, but the sales had not been recorded when I made the post I am quoting. New owner is Mecca April, Inc of Richardson, Texas. No clue what's planned for the site, but it has to be better than the old building with its acre sized mosquito breeding facility and fake air conditioners on the roof - they were all just empty metal boxes. That's humor folks.