Main Street (Houston, Missouri City, Stafford)

[DMac]

Hello to everyone. I am new to the group and have a facination w/Houston's history. I have recently begun a roster of Bldg's (180+) in the downtwon area {defined as Commerce (100 blk.} to the north, Dowling to the east, Mcilheny to the south & Houston ave. to the west} w/Main str. as the center divder down the middle.

I suppose the first question I would like to get settled is just where does So. Main begin? Would it be @ the site where the old M&M Bldg. is? Or @ the corner of Main & Commerce? Or elsewhere?

Anyway my interest has been spurned after viewing many photos recently @ the historical Houston page. I absolutly hate the new skyscrapers but will not let that influence any comments or input from others.

Like many others I prefer the older {1940-1960} architecture. W/that said I have begun to trace sum history of several Bldg's. I will use the beautiful old Gulf Bldg. as an example. While puting my list of 180 Bldg's together and viewing photos I noticed that the same Bldg. had several different names.

So far I have read that the Gulf Bldg. was originally the Texas Commerce Bank (TCB) & that 2day it is the JP Morgan Bldg. What I have not yet concluded was the Bldg. purpose built as a bank and over the intervening years new tenants occupied? Does anyone recall if indeed it was @ one time named the TCB or did they have a separate Bldg. elsewhere down town?

One of my goals is to get to the Tax assessor's office and try to examine original tax records for a given parcel ID and along w/that to establish physical address' over the intervening years. That would be a hugh help as those records list the original and subsequent owners.

I have also traced sum history for the original Bank of the S/W {now Bank One}, SP's Grand Central Sta. {the 5th depot to occupy that site} & now home to a huge Postal serv. facility, Houston Natural Gas which became the Enron Bldg. and the M&M Bldg. which had sum 600,000 square feet of floor space when it opened in the 30's ( considered a very large Bldg. @ that time) and is now occupied by UH.

I would welcome all comments for everyone & will post additional findings in the future. I would also share my list w/anyonw who wishes a copy. It is Excel formatted and a works in progress.

Respectfully

Danny Mac

[TheNiche]

I suppose the first question I would like to get settled is just where does So. Main begin? Would it be @ the site where the old M&M Bldg. is? Or @ the corner of Main & Commerce? Or elsewhere?

Anyway my interest has been spurned after viewing many photos recently @ the historical Houston page. I absolutly hate the new skyscrapers but will not let that influence any comments or input from others.

Like many others I prefer the older {1940-1960} architecture. W/that said I have begun to trace sum history of several Bldg's. I will use the beautiful old Gulf Bldg. as an example. While puting my list of 180 Bldg's together and viewing photos I noticed that the same Bldg. had several different names.

Main Street is technically divided into three sections: North Main, Main, and South Main. North Main begins north of the Buffalo Bayou bridge. Main Street proper runs from the south side of the bridge through the Texas Medical Center, and ambiguously becomes South Main Street south of Holcombe Blvd. I use the word 'ambiguous' because I've seen different street addresses from various sources applied to some of the same buildings along the stretch of Main between Holcombe and OST.

I'm sorry that your appreciation is not somewhat more broad. Houston has a lot of excellent modern highrise architecture. If you compare Houston's buildings of the same era to those same era of other cities' buildings, our modern architecture is what REALLY sets us apart.

[Subdude]

Interesting project! It's too bad the Texas Room will be closed, because the city directories etc in there would be a great source. You should post findings/questions - I'm sure a lot of us can provide support.

So far I have read that the Gulf Bldg. was originally the Texas Commerce Bank (TCB) & that 2day it is the JP Morgan Bldg. What I have not yet concluded was the Bldg. purpose built as a bank and over the intervening years new tenants occupied? Does anyone recall if indeed it was @ one time named the TCB or did they have a separate Bldg. elsewhere down town?

The entire building wasn't purpose built as a bank, but the banking hall facing travis was. Along with the National Bank of Commerce (later TCB) and Gulf, another big tenant was Sakowitz, which had the space at the corner of Main and Rusk. As far as I know, it remained the Gulf Building until Gulf was acquired.

[dbigtex56]

Main Street is technically divided into three sections: North Main, Main, and South Main. North Main begins north of the Buffalo Bayou bridge. Main Street proper runs from the south side of the bridge through the Texas Medical Center

There's another thread on HAIF about this somewhere....but

U of H downtown is located at One Main - not North Main.

Main Street and North Main both begin at the NORTH side of the Main Street Bridge.

Seems odd. It is.

[RedScare]

U of H downtown is located at One Main - not North Main.

Main Street and North Main both begin at the NORTH side of the Main Street Bridge.

Seems odd. It is.

Not really odd. If the street names do not change at an exact point, then there will be a stretch of unnamed street. Using Niche's example, the bridge itself would have no name.

[dbigtex56]

Not really odd. If the street names do not change at an exact point, then there will be a stretch of unnamed street. Using Niche's example, the bridge itself would have no name.

"....Cause I've been 'cross the bayou on a Bridge With No Name..."

[scarface]

Hello,

 

It's been a long time since I posted on HAIF, but i have what might seem like a silly question, so i apologize in advance.

 

I was involved in a discussion with a lady about Main Street and if the entire stretch of Main, all the way until where it becomes a freeway, all the way past the beltway is all the same (MAIN).  Her claim was that the Main st in Stafford is a different Main that runs through the downtown core of Houston, even though it is technically the same roadway.

 

My question is: Is it still Main St south past 610? Because I noticed that once you cross BW8 heading south into Missouri city, the signs just say US90 for a few miles, then once you enter Stafford (such as @ 1092/Murphy rd), it splits  and the signs say N. MAIN on one side and then S. MAIN on the other. 

 

So my ultimate question Is this all the same Main? ( main st stafford and  same one that main st downtown?) Because its weird that people refer to it as just 90 along the freeway stretch like it's not still Main, then in Stafford, it picks back up and becomes "Main" again until you pass Murphy road.

 

Just need some clarity. 

 

Thanks

Edited April 6, 2019 by scarface

[mollusk]

They are the same road in the same sense that FM 1093 and Westheimer are.  

 

Actually 90A departs from Houston's South Main when it turns onto OST, and ultimately Wayside, before joining US 90 / Interstate 10.

[scarface]

Thanks for that response. 

 

My confusion is,

 

The lady I got in the discussion with was trying to tell me that section of the US90A stretch where its called " MAIN STREET "in Stafford (south of Present Street until Murphy rd/1092) is different from the "MAIN STREET " just north of Beltway 8 into Houston where it runs along the same US Hwy 90 stretch.

[august948]

It's different in that each "Main St" is in a different town (Stafford and Houston) but it is really the same road.  This is actually a fairly common occurrence across the state as the older highways linked small towns together and were a major street in each one.  Sometimes they go by names other than "Main" but each town tends to rename the highway to something as it passes through.

 

[IronTiger]

Stafford's Main Street is South Main Street, which would arguably be different than (bisected) Main or North Main. All depends if the addresses are contiguous.

Edited April 7, 2019 by IronTiger

[scarface]

That's what the lady was trying to tell me in our discussion the other day. I was confused because Simplicity tells me to just call it all main st from N. 610, downtown, museum district, TMC, Astrodome all the way down to about Murphy road in stafford.

 

It's all the same road and didn't quite understand her adamant need to make Main Street (STAFFORD) so distinctly different from Main Street (HOUSTON)

[mollusk]

Sounds like a situation where the best thing to do is smile and nod, thinking (but not saying) "bless your heart." 

[august948]

1 hour ago, mollusk said:

Sounds like a situation where the best thing to do is smile and nod, thinking (but not saying) "bless your heart." 

 

Wiser words were never said.

[samagon]

On 4/7/2019 at 12:40 AM, august948 said:

It's different in that each "Main St" is in a different town (Stafford and Houston) but it is really the same road.  This is actually a fairly common occurrence across the state as the older highways linked small towns together and were a major street in each one.  Sometimes they go by names other than "Main" but each town tends to rename the highway to something as it passes through.

 

 

right, and in that the "1000 block of main street" exists in 3 different towns, along the same road.

[Highrise Tower]

Is it just me or did all the Houston South Main Street signs get changed to simply say Main Street instead? I’m pretty sure I saw the remembrance of a “S.” on the green street signs.

Maybe even Google Maps has switched to recognizing Main Street, instead of South Main Street. Thought I noticed that recently.

[JLWM8609]

3 hours ago, Highrise Tower said:

Is it just me or did all the Houston South Main Street signs get changed to simply say Main Street instead? I’m pretty sure I saw the remembrance of a “S.” on the green street signs.

Maybe even Google Maps has switched to recognizing Main Street, instead of South Main Street. Thought I noticed that recently.

A quick look at historical imagery on Google Street View shows a few green street signs having the S present in 2015 and blanked out by 2017 The ones that still have the S were signs installed by the Five Corners Management District. Interesting!