Texas Medical Center Smith Lands Parking Lots At 1573-1643 Old Spanish Trl.

[torvald]

ok. silly question... was riding the metrorail and noticed the "smith lands" stop between the medical center and 610. where did the name come from? a google search only shows the metro site for "smith lands houston"...

[texasboy]

I've always wondered the same thing.

[sevfiv]

hmm...well, i know alot of people from the smith building park in the lot there...maybe mr. smith used to own the area...heh

[dbigtex56]

Well, it was originally going to be called NoAsS (North of AstroWorld - Smith Lands) but Metro thought people might snicker.

[brucesw]

Perhaps named for R.E. "Bob" Smith, partner of Roy Hofheinz in the Houston Sports Assoc., thus in spearheading the drive to build the Astrodome and bring Major League BB to Houston.

The Handbook of Texas says at one time he owned more land in Harris County than any one else, 11,000 acres. I'm wondering if the land where the Astrodome sits and the area around there was owned by him.

[Highrise Tower]

I wonder the long term plans for The Smith Lands? Obviously a great resource for surface parking.  Reminds me of the TMC3 configuration.

A pair of garages would hold even more parking than the surface lots.  Maybe they'll build TMC3 West?

[bobruss]

R.E. Bob Smith did own the land that the Astrodome was built on. He was one of Judge Roy Hofheinz partners in making the Astrodome happen.

I have a very interesting 11 x 20 black and white photo of the groundbreaking for the stadium. Instead of shovels, this group of men are wearing dusters and  black raincoats and are aiming Colt 45's at the ground, in honor of their original teams name. It's a great photo. They look like a posse.

One other fact. When they first built colt 45 stadium there was a very well known amusement park next door called Playland Park on south Main. It had a great wooden rollercoaster and bumper cars and many other rides. Right next door to Playland Park was a stock car race track and just down the road was a short test track monorail that had been built to present a life size replica of the monorail for Houston in the 60's. If I remember it went about 2 blocks. I went on a ride and hoped they would build this very Buck Rogers retro cars.

[hindesky]

[Brooklyn173]

I'm late to the game here, but I thought that Smith Lands referred to the vast amount of property owned Obedience Smith. Most of the land from downtown to Rice and as far west as Shepherd. When I've read about her, there is usually a reference to the "Smith Lands". Though, I think the parking lot may be south of her original grant. So, I'm not 100% sure.

More about her story here

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2010/03/01/newscolumn2.html

[Ross]

11 minutes ago, Brooklyn173 said:

I'm late to the game here, but I thought that Smith Lands referred to the vast amount of property owned Obedience Smith. Most of the land from downtown to Rice and as far west as Shepherd. When I've read about her, there is usually a reference to the "Smith Lands". Though, I think the parking lot may be south of her original grant. So, I'm not 100% sure.

More about her story here

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2010/03/01/newscolumn2.html

The Smith Lands lot is in P W Rose survey, A-645. The Smith Survey, A-696, is more Montrose/Neartown. You can see these on the Railroad Commission GIS site, which is the best resource I've found for determining which survey a piece of property is in.

[Highrise Tower]

Estimates for development for Smith Lands Parking Lots? This could turn into the next TMC3.

Although, I'd rather the Buffalo Speedway campus get developed faster than the Smith Lands Parking Lots. Building a few tall garages will last another 10 - 20 years.