Just to add some information about the airport that was located where the "new" high school was built. If you look at the picture you can still see the marks of the grass runways. This airport was moved to the H&H Guest Ranch. The west side of the airport was taken in when they built Drummet Blvd. for access to IAH from FM525 (what we all called Aldine-Bender). By the way 525 didn't go straight through. It stopped at Luthe, you had to make a right going east and then cut back to the right and then it came to a wye at Aldine-Westfield at the High School. There you took a right and went South until you turned left (East) again in front of the Elementary. The road then continued to Lee Rd. That was Bender, well the other side of Hwy59 was Bender. You had to go down to Lee to cross 59 and then go back up North. My 1st grade teacher lived on the East Side of 59 on Aldine-Bender, which was not FM525. My older brother and Charles Aldrich worked at both airports while in High School. We moved there in 1949 and moved when we sold the last of our land to Shell for a service station at Beltway 8 and Claypool. My folks had a knack for buying land adjacent to property earmarked for highways and bridges. Although steam engines were still in use in 1949 they no longer stopped at Aldine junction. Water is taken on every 100 to 110 miles, it still governs a "trip" for train crews to this day. Our land was rowed from what was supposed to have been a huge peach orchard. When we dug our first septic system we found old crates and stuff about three foot under ground. The Okabayashi farm grew almost all your common vegatables which they sold at the Farmers Market downtown. My older brother worked for them when he was about 16-17. Mrs. Okabayashi would fix them egg foo yung for breakfast. The first time he got it he came home and made it for everyone. My dad never ate anything that wasn't separate on his plate and refused to eat it. I thought it was great and ate his and mine. Very few of the roads were paved then. Hardy was alternately paved on opposite sides as you left Houston. Airline was paved as was Shepard. Aldine-Westfield was a well. When we were 12-13 we would walk Luthe Rd. to Aldine Mailroute and catch the Hardy-Hallsite bus to town (10cents)and deliver circulars for Dinwittie's for 50 cents a hundred during the summer. In 1949 the area was still "free range" and many folks didn't fence, but just rounded up their cattle when they had to. Everyone fenced their gardens to keep the cows out. Most of the fenced land was for the dairy people (Spences, Millsaps, Greggs, Woodson and Satterfields). W. W. Thorne is still alive, at least the last time I talked to Bill, Jr.. James
