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theoriginalkj

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Posts posted by theoriginalkj

  1. I thought the train went entirely way too slow through for the new Red line.  There were several overpasses and steep turns, which I understand it will go slower through, but I thought it went TOO slow through both of them.  It felt like it went 5 mph through the turns, which it should be able to handle much faster than that.  I also thought it went too slow through the residential areas.  Lastly, I was surprised that the train had to stop, twice even, at such places as the 610-North loop underpass, where it clearly had no preferential treatment to crossing automobile traffic.  My entire thought was it that this is a much slower mode of transportation than a bus.  I think the UH Downtown station southward generally makes fairly decent time as a transportation medium, the new Red line north of UH Downtown is horribly slow. 

     

    I also thought the Burnett Station seemed very out of place, stuck 3 stories up on an overpass.  Hmm.....

    • Like 1
  2. Houston Metro Rail - Red Line video (from north terminus to downtown)

     

    I recorded this HD video of the new Metro Rail Red line going from it's Northline Mall terminus into downtown Houston, sped up by a factor of 4X to make it more interesting... Enjoy...

     

    • Like 7
  3. Happy Friday...

    I was stunned when I found this, but would you believe that there is an old section of the original alignment of Braes Bayou right in the middle of the Texas Medical Center, hiding in plain sight? I found it today while walking by MD Anderson and the University of Texas School of Nursing building. The UTSN building is at the SE corner of Bertner and Holcombe. Just east of this building is a small park, which contained the homestead of a family that saw the TMC growing all around it and decided to give their 1 acre of land to the TMC under the stipulation that it be left as a park. At the north end of this park, about 15 feet from Holcombe, is a 20 foot deep gully that extends the full length of the park, west to east. After calling my brother, Texas Freeway (http://www.texasfreeway.com) owner/webmaster and doing some research online, it appears that this little 20 foot deep gully is perhaps the only remaining section of the original Braes Bayou, PRE Army Corp of Engineers re-alignment, dredging, concreting that took place in the 50's. See, the original Braes Bayou winded incessantly across Houston in a path that had to have taken water 2-3 times longer to pass through Houston's, so the ACoE decided to straighten the bayou's to provide more direct water drainage, and foliage elimination to provide less resistance. This little section of the bayou is visible in GoogleEarth historical imagery as well as TOPO maps on www.historicaerials.com going back to 1915 that show the winding alignment in this direct spot, adjacent to present day Holcombe Blvd.

    It would post some snap-shops in HistoricAerials or GoogleEarth to show this comparison, but I am short on time right now - perhaps another faithful HAIF poster can put some up?

    Kevin

    • Like 3
  4. Oh wow!!! I never saw the Historic Aerials website before! I just spent a good half hour looking at the Addicks area from 1957, 1964, 1973, 1981, 2002, and 2004. Unbelievable that we have satellite photos going back that far (and in such clarity too). That clears up any mystery about the path of Addicks Fairbanks Road, I guess.

    I guess now I sort of know what used to be built on the side of Addicks Fairbanks Road that I found in ruins last weekend. From the 1957-1973 photos, it is much less covered by trees, and I can see some sort of structure built there just before the road straightens out to the northeast near Bear Creek Park. There is also some sort of ditch leading to it running east-west.

    The entrance to Hillendahl-Egglin cemetery is much clearer in the 1957 & 64 aerials. The little road spouts off from the 90 degree turn. This road is the only right of way all the way up to the 1981 photo, so the new Eldridge Parkway must have been done after 1981.

    I also scrolled down south of Patterson, west of Addicks Fairbanks, and found the mysterious cross of trees buried deep within the greenery. According to the 1957 aerial, it used to be surrounded by cleared farmland, which makes sense that it was some sort of fish farm. There is also a road running east-west to Addicks Fairbanks directly below the circle/cross, which I presume is the forgotten Lamb Rd.

    Yes, that is the forgotten "Lamb Rd", mentioned on at least one of the Houston maps on texasfreeway.com.

  5. Highland Park was, at the turn of the century, a thriving park and promenade that Houstonian's would flock to for outdoor entertainment. According to the website http://houstorian.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/highland-park//, Highland part included a lake with leisure boating, places to eat, rides, and even a shooting range. Today, much of the land of Highland Park sits right where I-45 and I-10 join just NW of downtown Houston, but considerable unchanged land of the original Highland Park still exists on both the west and east side of I-45.

    I'm fascinated by the former existence of this grand outdoor entertainment venue that opened in 1903 and today not an ounce of it seems to exist. I've explored the land that's there today and compared it against the postcards that show it's grand existence and cannot seem to make heads-or-tales of just exactly where anything was of the park. Does anyone have any more details about where building and structures where of Highland Park? Certainly some evidence of the park still exists today, but I can't find it...

    Kevin

    • Like 1
  6. Chase Tower is now on that spot I am almost certain, but I now wonder if anyone knows what those old buildings (being torn down) used to house? I cant remember.

    The photo here was taken at the NW corner of Milam and Texas, facing SW toward Jones Hall. The photo was taken from the front entrance of the Houston Chronicle at 801 Texas and shows the destruction of the buildings across the street to make way for Chase Tower.

  7. I've had an idea for a while of getting together old pictures from all over the city and trying to recapture the same shot from the exact spot where the picture was taken to show how things have changed, this would probably be a good one to start with...

    There's already a book for that, called Houston Then & Now, available on Amazon NEW for $14.

    LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Houston-Then-Now/dp/1592231373/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251848450&sr=8-1

  8. I grew up in the late 50's/early 60's a couple of blocks from MP. As a kid there were plenty of attractions there. I remember an organ grinder and monkey making appearances in the courtyard and Easter chicks in rainbow colors for sale I believe at Woolworth. I also seem to recall them selling tiny alligators like the ones that will eventually end up in the sewer system ;)

    Maddings Drug had a fine soda fountain with occasional promotions where you could draw prices out of a hat for a banana split (3-33 cents). Maddings was my favorite haunt to get all the 10 cent comics and baseball cards keeping a lookout for those 1962 Colt gems. Woolworth also had a snack bar. The pharmacy was on the front side of the store near the parking lot and the snack bar was in the back near the door to the courtyard. Both stools and booths.

    Playhouse toys used to hold Duncan yo-yo and spinning top competitions. I used to get clothes at Meyer Bros as well as Hardy Boy books from their book dept. Woolworth always had a dazzling Halloween section with all the vintage goodies that collectibles now.

    My mom shopped at Henke's.

    I recall Meyerland losing its appeal after the enclosed Sharpstown Mall with cool A/C and more stores opened up.

    Here's a few photos showing Mading's Drugs (one 'D' not two) and Meyers Brothers, as well as a few arials. All of these are from 1957, the year it opened.

    post-2167-12502983251121_thumb.jpg

    post-2167-1250298330171_thumb.jpg

    post-2167-12502983358423_thumb.jpg

    post-2167-12502983420649_thumb.jpg

    post-2167-12502983482272_thumb.jpg

    • Like 1
  9. hope the link works

    http://www.historicaerials.com/?poi=6578

    according to the shot from Historicaerial.com the Old Main Loop did not meet up with Alt 90

    Thank you for that historic arial. If you follow the apparent old road of Old Main down the rest of the way, it does look like it comes all the way to the other side of the hedges from Highway 90. It even turns abruptly to the left and faces Highway 90, but doesn't come in contact with it. Hmm...

    • Like 1
  10. Sad to run across this old statement of mine...never would have thought the Balinese would soon be destroyed by mother nature. I grew up with it.

    BTW - I passed by that J. Freedman property today, was actually was on the expressway. Just realized that the Brocksteins bldg. was close by.

    Yes. I tried finding some old photos of the Brocksteins building, in hopes that perhaps a good shot of the Domain Privee might be in the background - but to no avail. The only shot I have found is the Houston Chronicle burn photo posted last week. I'd love a better shot of what the place looked like in it's hay-day. On a completely seperate note (and I know this has been covered here) does anyone know FOR SURE whether or not Old Main Street road that cross the railroad tracks down at the end of the street here, whether or not it curved south and crossed the railroad tracks a SECOND time and joins up with Highway 90!? Some maps indicate that it did, most maps indicate that it didn't. There are remnants of the old Main Street road bed across the tracks to clearly follow it but there is no actual evidence that the road ever crossed the tracks again and met Highway 90. Does anyone know for certain?

    • Like 1
  11. My father-in-law was a native Houstonian, and he used to talk about an old illegal casino/brothel(?) out Hwy 90. He said it existed after WWII and up into the 1950's. There was an old brick gatehouse just west of the current Beltway on the south side of 90 that he said belonged to the casino...does anyone know about this, or was my late father-in-law yankin' my chain?

    Here is an article from the January 2, 1976 Houston Chronicle detailing the final demise of the 'Domain Privee' structure at 11000 Old Main. Apparently built in 1940 and closed in mid-1951, the structure sat abandoned for another 25 years until being burned to the ground in a fire.

    freedman.jpg

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  12. The June 11, 1972 Houston Chronicle has a story titled "Glenn McCarthy Mansion, 7.5 Acres Bring $1.5 Million". Later this evening I will try to post a copy of the story and the accompanying photo of the mansion. For the record, the story indicates that the three-story home was located at 7500 Kelvin.

    Kevin Jackson

    Yes - how could I forget about historicaerials! I know the Brentwood condominiums were built by 1977, so it sat there for a few years.

    I assumed Farb purchased the land with the house intact (1972) and then demolished it to build the condominiums, but maybe the house was already gone. I can't find any information about where the McCarthys lived after Glennlee, or when they actually vacated it.

    • Like 1
  13. I went out to investigate the old Camp Logan remains mentioned in the old newspaper article about them possibly being in the abandoned stretch of Memorial Park just west of the 610 Loop West. I went this morning while the weather was nice and wasn't too hot. Finding the trail and getting started was very easy, and with a GPS phone with satellite imagery with me, I guess you could say I was cheating by looking for the reported remains. I got to about approximately 80 yards of the 100 yard path leading down the turn off, when large freshly downed trees made it impossible to continue without drifting off newspaper article described path considerably..

    remains1.jpg

    [ Looking at gate, N toward Woodway.]

    remains2.jpg

    [ Looking S toward downed trees.]

    After turning to the west toward the reported "path" and clearing, which at this point was only a very short slightly downhill jog toward the bayou, I had to continue skimming the often sandy bayou beach until I reached a point along the bayou where there was what appeared to be a dry stream bed of some type leading to the bayou. It was at this point that the Camp Logan remains were only a short walk away. Once passing the dry stream bed, the embankment climbed steeply up a hill in the S/SSE direction where the remains were located...

    remains3.jpg

    [ Looking SE toward the back side of the Camp Logan remains. The front and front door of both the feed tank (or whatever it is) and the shed next to it face directly toward the path, provided I had been able to stay on the path. You can see the straight line in the satellite imagery that make up the walking path, but Hurricane Ike clearly hasn't been nice to these parts, with the path far harder follow and make out this deep into the forrest. ]

    remains4.jpg

    [ Closer shot of behind remnants...]

    remains5.jpg

    [ Side of shed next to feed tank.]

    remains6.jpg

    [ Front door of shed next to feed tank.]

    remains7.jpg

    [ Inside the shed next to the feed tank. The milk carton is a sure sign that others have visited here, or even tried to live here.]

    remains8.jpg

    remains9.jpg

    [ Camera facing down inside bricked base of feed tank toward front door.]

    Well, I was hoping for myself to have a clearer idea whether or not I believed this to be the last remains of Camp Logan. My hunch tells me that these are NOT the remains of Camp Logan, but more likely the remains of another property owners storage shed and feed tank just west of the old Camp Logan camp and property. We know the fairly precise boundaries of the old Camp Logan training base and it's all been documented in carefully drawn out maps, and I have a hard time believing that this area, this far from Camp Logan central, is connected to it in any way. It's certainly possible..

    The GPS coordinates that my phone reported for this location to be 29.7628N, 95.4584W which I turned into a GoogleEarth satellite map... I'm very curious to the full nature and history of the path that leads down through the middle of this stretch of Memorial Park. While the path clearly goes very close to these old remants of Camp Logan, they don't go close enough to what I'd call a 'driveway' to them nor is the path efficient enough to be considered a maintenance path to the pipeline and telephone pole lines that slice through the very bottom (south) edge of this park land.

    map.jpg

    topo.jpg

    I also found this topographic map on Microsoft TerraServer that shows the land as it was topo'd back in 1982, so 26 years ago and counting, and I found it interesting that the topographic map clearly shows the path going south for a good distance before the map fails to continue drawing it, but the location of a structure is clearly shown and identifies it at the top of a hill. The part that is strange about this is that the structure indicated shows it immediately next to and at the end of the path, yet the current location is considerably further west and slightly north of this location. Notice also the small 'lake' shown just south of the bayou right above the "50" foot elevation marker, yet this current location is home to tennis courts and condo's along the posh Riverway Drive.

  14. On August 23, 1917, two white policemen arrested a black soldier for interfering with their arrest of a black woman. When a black MP inquired about the soldier's arrest, words were exchanged, & one of the policemen struck the MP. The MP fled; & while fleeing, the MP was fired upon. The MP was pursued into an unoccupied house, where he was arrested & brought to police headquarters. Despite a quick & unhindered release, a rumor rapidly reached Camp Logan that the MP had been shot & killed. After several minutes of mounting tension, the rumor mill brought word to camp that the MP was in fact alive but being held unlawfully. After intense debate, a group of soldiers conclude to march onto the police station in Fourth Ward & secure the MP's release. If the police could assault model soldiers like the military police, they reasoned, none of them were safe from abuse. Realizing something foul was afoot, the white officers of the company ordered the collection of all rifles & loose ammunition. During this process, word of an approaching white mob struck fear into the hearts of the men. In a wild scurry to defend themselves, the soldiers rushed into the supply tents, grabbed rifles & ammunition, & then embarked on a two-hour march into the city, hoping to curb the mob. The white officers found it impossible to restore order. Over a 100 armed soldiers marched into the Fourth Ward, where they encountered the mob: members of which consisted of Klansmen & supporters, police officers, & members of Houston's elite white class, who saw armed blacks as a threat to their ruling order. There was an intense exchange of fire, lasting for several minutes, which resulted in the death of many people. The structure in the picture was the last remains from Camp Logan but it is gone, too, now.

    2878631479_e78b2d51b9_o.jpg

    ...and WHERE exactly was this last remaining structure located and approximately when did it get demolished?

    CampLogan1917

  15. There is an incident that happened in Houston, Texas at an Army Camp called Camp Logan which is now the site of Memorial Park and a residential neighborhood. This incident has forever after been referred to as the "Mutiny of 1917" and at the heart of it was Houston's Jim Crow laws of the times. I have no judgment about what happened, who was involved and what its outcome was. My interest is to tell the story with the help of so many intelligent, well informed and resourceful people on this site that are as good at researching all topics
  16. I went to the Texas room at the Houston Public Library today and found some old photos that I hadn't seen posted anywhere else before. I took the photos with my cell phone camera, so I apologise for the poor quality. Anyone interested in better quality photos of these can request them throught the Texas Room library attendants that can have the originals pulled from the archives. I would have done this myself, but I'm told that "Jason" is the only one who has access to those photos and that I would need to see him on a weekday to do so. This Jason apprently has a pretty boss job to be able to peruse millions of historic Houston photographs whenever he wants. Those interested need to request photos from MSS-187.

    logan1.jpg

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  17. This is a recent story on the Clodine General Store from the Fort-Bend Herald Coaster newspaper...

    Fate of Clodine General Store hangs in the air

    By Marquita Griffin Wednesday, September 12, 2007 4:17 PM CDT

    There was a time when Clodine was just a sleepy country town out west of Houston. Not many people, not much traffic, not anywhere to shop.

    Except, of course, for the Clodine General Store.

    One of the community's oldest buildings, it was the central gathering place for the folks who lived in the tiny settlement, located along FM 1464 in northeast Fort Bend County.

    All that, of course, has changed with the growth of Houston, as builders snapped up all that farmland around the town and turned it into numerous subdivisions for downtown commuters.

    With each nail and yard of concrete, Clodine has slowly faded into a historical footnote. And as the town slipped away, so went the store.

    And now the fate of the Clodine General Store hangs in the air as preparations for the expansion of FM 1464 are in motion, but all Henry Nemec wants is to preserve what he views as a historic structure.

    Hidden beneath rust and faded signs, the Clodine General Store sits quietly like an old-timer, with memories carefully stored away in the cracks of the wooden floors and the among the dust collecting on the shelves.

  18. Here are a few photos that I've aquired that show TCH (Texas Children's Hospital) and TMC under various stages of construction.

    TCH1.jpg

    Original Texas Children's Hospital 3 story 'Abercrombie' building under construction in 1953

    TCH2.jpg

    TCH open for business in February of 1954

    TCH3.jpg

    Texas Children's Hospital adding 3 floors to 'Abercrombie' in 1967

    TCH4.jpg

    TCH with St. Lukes in background in undated photo (1970's)

    TCH5.jpg

    Early 90's, TCH's 'West Tower' (upper left) and 'Feigin Center' (lower right) under construction. TCH/BCM/USDA joint building called CNRC (Children's Nutrition Research Center) sits in center of both construction projects. 'S-Lot' (parking lot at corner of Fannin and Holcombe, next to CNRC) awaits it's future. Notice St. Luke's Medical Tower under construction across the street from Fannin.

    TCH6.jpg

    Late 90's, TCH's 'West Tower' is complete (although only 4 floors at this point) and TCH's 'Feigin Center' is complete and standing at 12 floors. 'S-Lot' parking lot at Fannin & Holcombe about to be cleared for construction of TCH's new 'Clinical Care Center' building and additional 16 floors added to the newly completed 'West Tower'.

    Kevin

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