Materene

11 hours ago, Dave W said:

The Stock show ride (Salt Grass Trail Ride) ends at Memorial Park, not Hermann Park, and it's always been in February.

Riders could be seen any time of the year on the Hermann Park trails.

I've been gone for over 45 years, but I did ride trail in a club before then and our rides even came in from north to south along south main.  I forget where the turn was made but post oak was definitely one of the major crossings.  It was legal then and not just restricted to the beginning of the Fat Stock Show which it was called then.  Most were out north of Houston as far as FM 1960.

Sounds like you probably saw the annual Stock show riders, was this during the Fall you saw those riders.  Myself I never heard mention of the Hermann sawmill.  I read up on his history and he actually served in the civil war under the confederacy.  He died in 1914 leaving his fortune made in many ventures oil timber and other things to build the hospital.  Hermann hospital I am familiar with being 75 years old.  I searched all over and could not find any photos in that era of his properties.  Rice Photo library has a lot of old Houston photos.  I love looking at those old photos.  Houston had a lot of History including the pre WWI Army base there in the Memorial area.  Even Galveston had a large Army base in the very early days.  Getting back to topic I would think his sawmill would be in that general area of the old stable.  It would have had to be near a water outlet unless they were taking down very local timber and moved it by horse or mule or both.  One thing I found on reading his history was his per luck chance of buying land in Humble and it having oil.  That of course made his fortune.  To me it comes as a remembrance of being 5 years old and my grandmother and her best friend taking we two kids out to Humble in the oil field back roads for a early afternoon snack of Shipley's Doughnuts and cold milk.  We all sat on a blanket and it was so peaceful and pretty in the early 50s.  We would pick blackberries and of course the elders called them dew berries, but we would find buckets and buckets of berries.  There was no people living out that way so few people knew about the berries.  Lots of cows out there at the time and my family was old time folks that would also go out there and pick poke salad.  It had to be on pastured land to find it.  It was almost like spinach but prepared the same way and in the 50s canning was a part of living.  My Great Grandfather worked at a water powered sawmill and I have a photo of him on the saw mill .  It had to be in the late 1800s, another job he had and was photoed was him riding herd on livestock in Cisco Texas.  I have that picture also.  I will have to try one day and scan those two old photos and post them here.

I live 3 hundred fifty miles from Houston but I have found a map quest location of the stables,  I never knew about the lumber mill but I would assume it was in that same area.  I will see what I can find and pass along anything I find.  About the Blvd Trees I really don't know the purpose of the planting but since it borders the University I always thought they were responsible for planting the trees.  There are some excellent photos taken from the top of the Warwick Hotel looking down onto the Blvd shortly after they were planted and that was around 28 I believe.  The University of Houston was the library I saw them on the internet.  Those photos show a different Houston than all of us living today ever saw, it was flat and few buildings going south, except for the Hospital and medical building further out.  Endless trees and nothing  ha.  Here is the map quest street view and naming of the stable area.  

https://www.mapquest.com/us/texas/hermann-park-stables-439522721

3 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

I'm still looking for George Hermann's saw mill/lumber company that was based on Fannin Street/South Main Street where present day Hermann Park is located.

While researching I found a glimpse of his stables located on some avenue. I cannot read it. Maybe someone could look in old City of Houston directories and find the correct address? It's probably located in the city core given the ancient date.

Very cool history here! Just imagine meeting Mr. Hermann and buying livery.

From the newspaper The Houston Daily Post dated November 23, 1897.

G.H. Hermann, stable, ? avenue; $15.

That area has changed so much in only my lifetime I hardly recognize it.  My first time to be in that area was when I was about 5 at the zoo.  All the things I remember in the 70s are gone.  Now you might search the Rice or UH Historical photos, they have a lot of really old stuff donated over the decades.  I still remember all the old downtown buildings in the 60s were still for the most part non air conditioned because they had been standing for so long.  It is easy to still spot any still standing because they all have those really high windows that open, it was the only way to stay almost cool in summer.  Oh before I forget I was going to say a very close friend of my ex wife and myself told me about 17 years ago that her Late Father had planted all those first batch of trees lining the South Main Blvd in the 20s.  Some are still standing even with the street widening and other improvements.  The Lady belonged to one church that was 90 years old when I left Houston in 2008, she had died a few days before I left and she was almost 80.  Sadly her church closed forever when it became impossible to draw people to church, but that was after her death so at least she was spared of the bad news.  My old church Baptist Temple did the same and sold off all of the church property except one small office.  In 1955 the church consumed two city blocks and the entire area across the street for church parking.  It was full every sunday.

Two flights from Hobby for me in 75 years.  First flight was to Fort Ord Ca. Monterey.  Infantry Training Feb 1966.   The second flight was from Hobby to San Diego Ca to drive a rented U Haul back to Louisiana.  I had to remember the timeline a bit because I kept thinking about the travel to RVN in late 67.  I mistakenly thought I had left Hobby for Fort Lewis and departure from there.  It was DFW I left from to Fort Lewis.  At any rate I scarcely remember it as it looked so long ago.

I look at the freeway shots and recognize nothing today.  I remember 59 starting at the northern end of Jensen Drive but previous to becoming 59 it was a narrow blacktop 2 lane.  1960 off 45 was Jack Rabbit Road, nothing but pines trees.  On the weekends we would drive out to 1960 and picnic and shoot a 22 rifle into the woods. 

Left the service in Aug 70 and I had been away for 5 years so when we were landing at Intercontinental I looked out my window and was wondering where to heck are we ?  I never even knew there was a new airport.  I do know in the very early fifties and late forties on the eastern side of the airport authority land was the old North Houston Speedway, a small dirt auto racing track.  It was surrounded by cow pastures then.  Typical old wooden bleachers.  Just a few  years ago you could still see the oval impression of the old track which has been gone for decades.  I enjoyed the photos,  thanks so much to the poster
 

So sorry to be almost 3 years late saying thank you, that happens often once you're over 70.    ;0)   I look back on the old photos and remember a time long long ago.  Sadly most of the people in my world back then are gone now.  I knew a lot of people in 1970 who all met there at the drive inn nightly.  They also would hang out at the old McDonald's Drive Inn, not to be confused with the soon to be world known McDonald's but the original private independent owned Houston business.  Interestingly the new up and coming McDonald's sued that owner and lost  I suppose they had no calendar.  I think it is now a Burger King on the same location but smaller due to street widening. 

The only thing that's missing is a Train stop right smack in the middle of the Lobby.   Looking at the photos of current progress I think all the initial planning was tossed out a few years ago.  I wish I could be around 50 years from now to read about the 3rd or 4th revival.

Anyone happen to have or know of any old photos of the old Bill Williams Drive Inn , the MD Anderson Cancer Center now sits on the old location.  It appears the street was filled in and removed for the new center to be built.  I am not sure what year this happened since I have been gone from Houston since 82.  It was a typical drive in but had indoor eating also.  In 1970 it was a street racing scene hang out.  I did find some old menus and historical images a few years ago but no actual location photos.

Thanks

1 hour ago, Specwriter said:

"Modernization" circa early 1960's. Yes, this will be a novel building once again when restored.

Simply because starting in the early 70s all store fronts that were plate glassed became favorite targets for the thieves and they were literally stealing merchants like Sears into bankruptcy. They became eyesores once the massive bricking took place, you would have to be born in my era to appreciate the vast difference in the mindset of America in just a few short years, I hope that explains it.

Ellington will outlive me I think, both locations mentioned in this post have very old relevance to me, for one when I was still pretty young around 5 or 6 I had medical care there at the Field as many other dependents of servicemen did.  At the time my Father was stationed on the USS Los Angeles Heavy Cruiser ported in Long Beach so that is one thing I will forever remember.  The other memory is the old Sears store and after I returned to civilian life after the Army I went to work for Al Parker Buick and I purchased my very first tools at that Sears location because Al Parker service department had a charge account and this was a time your employers looked after veterans and servicemen going out of their way to help you get a foot hold back into your life.  Strange how a few things reconnect when so many others have all but faded and disappeared forever.  I think it is nice both of these places will be around for a very long time and someone else will remember them 65 or more  years later and they might tie a different memory to the both of them.  I don't live in Houston any longer and only get bits and pieces of information now , reading this forum has been very useful and insightful to me.

Remember the market from many decades ago, in the fifties the market was always on my families shopping list.  We still had a mule drawn produce wagon in the Heights circa 1956 that would cover the entire area.  An old Black man must have been in his 80s and I suppose the man did this until he finally died.  Really was pretty quiet and peaceful back in the day.  Of course most homes already had fruit trees in their backyards, it was just something that survived the old depression era where people had to grow their own things.  Our old place had an apple tree, fig trees, and plums not to forget the large Pecan trees which by the way are still there on the property.  Its nice to look at the old place and it still survives and especially the tall Pecan in the front yard.  I can remember my Grandmother using a very long cane fishing pole and burning out the worm nest up high in that Pecan tree.  My last time to visit that market mentioned in the post was way back in 67 and I was home one weekend on leave from the Army while stationed in the Dallas Fort Worth Air Defense, I tried to drive home every weekend I could and one trip I went to the market to get a few things, can't remember the details it was a long time ago and of course looked a lot different than it does today with so many changes over the decades.

I really can't remember if there was a smaller building on that eastern grass plot, to enter the Training center you would park in front and enter thru front doors to walk down a long hall that had a the class rooms separated.  To the right nearer the entrance was a very large cafeteria area that was every bit as large as a regular middle school.   In 70 there was not a lot going on at the center as I recall, I'm sure they may have scheduled division classes as they had instructors available for each.  I actually ran into another engineer 30 years later here in La who had personally known the instructor I had in 70.   Things changed drastically in the 80s with divisions starting to share components so they naturally down sized training to only two or three divisions or less.  It would be nice to see a photo of the original building as it appeared, also the old Al Parker Buick downtown on Milam, no photos of it to be seen anywhere.   I know for a fact that the day after Mrs Parker had died her son sold the dealership which was then located on I-10 and the Mercury dealership owner purchased it and all the property it was located on.   In 2005  just a couple of the old people I had worked with were still working there at the new dealer.  It was a super good place to work for in the early years when Mr Parker was alive and I suspect it remained the same after his son took over upon his death.  Thanks for your information

I am pretty certain this is the property of what was once the GM training center for Houston.  That long driveway coming off Richmond ave is a dead give a way simply because that was how it was laid out and each division class room had a roll up door so the drive way serviced the entire complex.  The main building was actually on that grassy area that is all grown over.   I remember just coming out the drive and turning right to hit the freeway to head North and this photo is looking due north.   Everything I knew of my home town is gone now, even the Buick Dealership I was working at while going here to the center is gone with another building occupying the space.  All my schools have been razed and new ones built on the same properties.   There was no divider there on Richmond as I remember but it has been almost 47 years so I might be wrong and there would have been no trees at that time for sure.   My Instructor was a Buick engineer retired and I specifically remember going out to the ship channel where all the Opel imports were stored and having to jack up 250 cars and replace one stinking motor mount on the driver side before they could be sold  ;0(  and it was cold out there too !

Would any members know what happened to the old GM Training Center on Richmond Ave, there was a Fred Astaire Dance Studio across the street in a large shopping center.   I have no idea when it finally closed but it was open until the 80s although at that time it had been reduced to one class rather than all of the divisions having a separate class room.  As I remember it was very near the intersection of the freeway. 

On 9/9/2016 at 7:58 PM, Firebird65 said:

 

Hard to believe it's been FIVE YEARS since there's been a post in this thread. How time flies.

 

Welcome... better late than never, I suppose.

 

I am the one who did the research. I no longer send out the report for various reasons we won't get into here. If you are interested in the history of Aldine High School, I did put at least some of it on Wikipedia. Here is the Aldine High School Wikipedia page:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldine_High_School

 

Not sure when or if you'll be reading this, but if you are anyone else coming across this, I'm posting on Sep. 9. Tomorrow (Sep. 10) is the 60th anniversary of the opening of Aldine High's current campus on Airline at West Rd.

 

 

The reason you can't see any of the maps or pictures is because the website that hosted them put an expiration date on them. Kinda stupid, if you ask me. Now, fortunately, you can attach things directly to a post. Back when this thread was created, 10 years ago, that was not possible.

 

Yes, there was/is another thread about Aldine on here. That one is specifically about the schools whereas this one tended to be more about the area. I doubt there's been a post there in five years either. 

 

I  don't know how old you are Firebird65, do you by chance remember the old dirt track that was named North Houston Speedway, it was a little 1/4 mile dirt track surrounded by pastures and had wooden bleachers ..   Every Saturday evening we were there when I was around 6.  There were stand vendors selling bottled beer and would walk up and down the bleachers hollering "Cold Beer", they would open the bottle and pour it into a wax cup of the day and stick the empty back into a second pail they were carrying.  I had a good friend who passed away in 08 and he had worked for the new airport authority and he said that the old track was still there on airport property and you could still make out the track,  sure nuff a couple years ago I looked at google earth and there was definitely a race track outline on the recent update of google,  things change so much now I have no idea if it is still visible.  I'm sure one day they will expand and it will be bull dozed into non existence.   I spent my entire young life there on the north side and later the heights.  When I was born the family lived I think on Doverside just off Berry Rd .  Many years later I lived on the corner of Gears Rd and Stubner Airline and of course Gears was renamed several times since 72.  There is a strip mall located on that corner now and that is where I was living  then.  

I'll assume you haven't been by there in quite some time. The old Landmark complex was acquired in January 2011 by a John Deere dealer who relocated their heavy equipment dealership there after demolishing the old buildings and building new ones. I believe they subdivided the property with the intent to resell some of it, as the new dealership buildings don't take up nearly as much room as the massive Landmark complex did. 

 

The new dealership just opened recently. 

 

https://goo.gl/maps/hUbwZRTih7v

My last dealership job was in 89 and there at Landmark, I had worked there 3 times since the early 70s until that time.  I left the first workday after Thanksgiving 1989 and it was the last dealership I worked in, came back to where I live now and never will forget it, one of those fall cold rain fronts got hooked up with me and I drove in a driving rain all the way to Louisiana.

Was'nt it called Snelling Mercury at one time. I seem to remember a cougar image on their logos.

Would you be thinking it might have been Plaza Lincoln Mercury.  I worked there in 72 and Joe Woods was the service manager at that time.

I worked at several in this list but I would like to see an Al Parker Buick photo early 70s .  The old location is now a new structure and the street that once ran down the side of the building was closed and added as one property for this new business.  The old customer and storage lot was across the street in 70 which is now part of this one property

This is my Church , Baptist Temple. When I went there in the mid 50's there was no Bell Tower and only one front entrance with the exception of a small entrance to the bible study rooms on the front of the building. Overall the building is in poor condition, due to low attendance no doubt. It was one of the prettiest Churches in that area with a very large membership, all of the across street area to Yale belonged to the Church and was full of cars each sunday. Vacation bible school and sports was also promoted as well as swimming classes for the youngsters down the street at Hamilton Jr High. I was in the choir at that time and we won a state championship singing at the historical Baptist church in Galveston where the finals were held. The only singing I now do is on my way to the diner table.

How RUDH.

I will never understand how the neighborhood I lived in over 50 years ago is now so important to be called historical. Looking at most of the past business establishments that still have structures standing things don't seem to have been embellished equally when it was decided that it should all be historical. The Blvd was then and should now be the only zone that is historical, other than the Blvd there wasn't anything out there in the early 1900's. I once remember touring the inside of the large two story a couple blocks down from Hamilton Jr High, that home was truly historical and this was on or around 62 that we toured the house with other friends and family. I love old photos in the early 1900's showing people's yards with nice wrought iron fences and cows in the front yard, if they could look down I'm sure they are laughing at all the bickering. Progress is like a steam roller and everything should be considered temporary, our lives are much shorter than Progress. Priorities are not as important as they once were, we all have too much time to dislike everything around us.

Yeah...that was it, Winchester. It was just a big, plain hall. I preferred the nicely decorated ones, a little later, for instance, Kenny Stabler's Diamondback Saloon...(I-45 South). There was one on the NW side, too.

I quit the club scene around 80 so Stabler's came after that I'm sure, I never even went to MO & Joes or Roy Head's Club, although I lived on the North side. I guess we just get older and change, so I left Houston in 82 and only came back for a couple years. When I first got out of the Army I spent a lot of time downtown and everyone kept dropping the name of the Stampede Club, that was the happening club in 1970, never did even see the place. I can remember Jensen Drive as a kid and there were what were called ice houses in the 50's, every block on Jensen had an ice house or two, the name ice house was simply because even in the fifties Houston still had a functioning ice house at the edge of downtown and all the businesses or ice houses did not use refrigeration but bought ice everyday or every other day. They all had these aluminum bend over reach in ice boxes and they iced the beer and sodas down, you won't ever find a beer as cold as one that has been in the ice for several days. These people were very creative too, I remember one place that had a garage roll up door and you just lifted the door and the bar and stools were sitting there, they all threw out the bottle caps into the parking lot area to fill holes and dips. The one thing I remember most sitting there as a kid with family was the Oder of fresh saw dust, yep they always threw down fresh saw dust on the floors, a nice cool fan overhead and a big Jukebox, life was grand until the law makers all destroyed it.

Those names sound very familiar to me, think some of them played at a hall on Bissonnet, Bellaire area, in the early to mid '80's. I recall "Beer Bust" night & a live band, when "happy hour" was in full swing. Some years later, I preferred "The Rose", nice club.

I don't recall that hospital. From the aerials, looks like it was designed in the sixties, has atriums. Wish there was a picture of it, somewhere.

You must be talking about the Winchester Club that Issac played, and the Yellow Rose. I managed to go to the Yellow Rose one time and it was a bit crowded with the layout. I did go to the Winchester often, but home was the Wells Fargo.

Does anybody remember what the story was on the old hospital building on the southwest corner of Bellaire Blvd. and Wilcrest? Back in 1998, I used to look at it sitting in decay while I had lunch at the nearby Jack in the Box during my lunch hour. It looked like an old insane asylum straight out of Hollywood, but I cant seem to find much information online about it without a name.

The building caught fire at some point in 1998, and was later demolished.

I have searched now for one hour and found nothing mentioned, can't recall what the place looked like but I left Houston many years ago so I mostly remember the Blvd starting from the Chimney Rock area. Hate it when you can't find any photos of an area from an era past. Somewhere there has to be some aerial photos and they will be in a real estate property owners log and all taken from above. I specifically remember these log books were used in the 70's and all brokers had them, you might ask someone in real estate if there is a source for those. I did have a friend that leased an automotive shop there in that specific area in 74 but my memory was turned all upside down after I returned home after 25 years and I couldn't even find the coffee shop across the street from this friends old shop. Too much change for me!

Have really enjoyed reading these posts about 70's music in Houston. I remember Randy Cormer, Issac Payton Sweat, and the others. I was too young to go to the clubs mentioned but I was a faithful listener to KIKK & KNUZ when they were on the air.Love music to this day especially classic country. Favorite is still Gene Watson and his new CD is one of his bests love it.

Just wanted to throw this out there. Does anyone remember the Icehouse in Pasadena I think that is what they called it in the 70's they were always talking about that place on the radio. Would love to know if its still there and would love to see a pic. Thanks

I never was at the ice house but I do remember people that worked in Pasadena mentioning the place, most were all refinery workers and welders, it was a daily ritual for a lot of those guys to stop off after work.

LOLOL. I lived in Porter in those days, back when Porter was a flashing yellow light on old 59. Then 7 mi back in the woods. I woke up in more than one ditch. Good thing I knew all the cops by name lol

OH... I would kill for a picture of Wells Fargo and Western Swing ( mrmystre@gmail.com)

Small world cause I also stayed there in Porter for a while, there was a trailer lot way back off the highway on that first back road that went back to the highway, you could buy a trailer and a good sized lot for 5 grand, lots of trees to cut but property was cheap then. Much later I lived in Conroe and drove that back way through porter to the 59, I drove all the way to River Oaks Chysler where I was working at the time. You remember that bad storm in 82 that dropped all the trees for 50 square miles, I got up that morning at 5 as usual because I had to leave early to get to work and the storm was just easing by Conroe and it actually missed us, but let me tell you one mile outta conroe it missed nothing, even the freeway signs on 59 were all down on the freeways, it looked like a combat zone there wasn't many trees that weren't damaged, they say it was a pack of tornadoes, I believe it. The fog was so bad I finally gave up and moved, just could see killing myself for nothing.