Goatman79

Hello,

Vintage West Houston here- I made a recent visit to the country store on 12/27/21 and happened upon two gentlemen working amongst the rubble and tree cutting.  They let me snoop around and take some photos.  I hope they can save the main building if nothing else.  What really made me sick was that Studebaker Champ pickup truck with the roof caved in.  It wasn't caved in when I was there in 2013, so it happened recently.  These trucks are very rare and this one would have been a prime candidate for restoration if the roof hadn't been smashed in.  The orange Ford pickup on the other hand might have a chance, if they don't go to the scrap yard.  If anyone knows who holds the title for the trucks, please e-mail goatman1979@hotmail.com.

I can confirm that the 290/Little York location was definitely a Safeway, and later, Apple Tree.  I grew up in the area and passed by it often.  There was also a Safeway in the Bear Creek area on State Highway 6 at Loch Katrine Dr., which is close to Kieth Harrow Blvd.  That Safeway also became an Apple Tree, and a Hobby Lobby, and is now a thrift shop.  Those conglomerate rock walls seem to be characteristic of Safeway stores and other late 1970's ventures.

Three crude drawings I made of Tower Oaks Plaza, showing the configurations 1) Before the Eldridge Extension. 2) The planned extension of Eldridge overlayed on the original map. 3) The end result after the project was completed.

I saw Susquehannah Drive mentioned in a post from 2007 and wanted to shine some light on it, as I spent several months in 2014 researching the area and what happened to it.  Apparently, in the very early 90's, the neighborhood of Tower Oaks Plaza, which sits just south of today's Cypress-North Houston & Eldridge, was bisected by the extension of Eldridge Parkway from FM 1960 to Grant Rd.

   The neighborhood looks to have been built in the 1950's, and consisted of a loop known as Morgan Drive/Morgan Loop, and included the streets Mills Ln, Lieder Dr., Oralia Dr., and Susquehannah Dr.

Susquehannah Dr. ran south from Cypress-North Houston Rd. into the heart of Tower Oaks Plaza, touching Mills and Lieder, and finally ending on what is now West Morgan Dr.  When Eldridge Parkway was extended through the middle of the neighborhood, it completely overshadowed the Susquehannah right of way, and the road was done away with altogether.  The only traces left today are a wide bank of grass on the east side of Eldridge as you approach Cypress-North Houston, with a drainage ditch placed much further from the roadside than you would normally see. 

   Where Susquehannah ended at W. Morgan, very close to Oralia, there is only a portion of raised earth sitting in an otherwise uninterrupted drainage ditch on the side of the road.  There seems to be zero traces of the actual old road surface anywhere.  However, a local resident of the community saved a street sign for Susquehannah Dr. and posted it in their front yard, as some sort of permanent homage to their beloved neighborhood street that was erased from existence in the name of progress.  I could imagine the community was quite upset over the ordeal, but I have yet to speak with anyone who was directly affected by the project.  I'd love to have a chat with the folks who own the Susquehannah street sign and hear their story.

Ah, that actually would make sense.  I wondered why they would bother to build the ground level roads at a diamond shape if there wasn't already a main underpass in place.  I thought it would be quite beneficial for local residents to have those ground level roads just for whipping around the corner while the heavy traffic passed by harmlessly below.  If the railroad is really the one to close off those surface streets that was kind of a mean thing to do.  Any idea when that happened?

Hi all, 

I am John Williams, I operate the westhoustonarchives.org site Marty mentioned above (thanks for the shout-out Marty).  I have been ongoing in my efforts to document more of historic West Houston.  I have not been posting on this forum for quite some time now but I wanted to see what has been posted about the area of town I pay the most attention to.  I have been quite occupied with documenting the construction of various parts of Grand Parkway and the 290 overhaul, but I have also unearthed quite a bit of new topics regarding abandoned roads.  I still find them four years after thinking I'd seen them all.

  I covered a few new discoveries in 2014, such as Susquehannah Dr. in Cypress, the Telge/Spring Cypress intersection, Old North Belt Dr., and North Shepherd near 38th.  

I also have done some research on the Elysian Viaduct.  Not abandoned but most certainly doomed.  I was excited to see there were still parts of ground-level Elysian St. intact beneath the viaduct.  That was a 1950's creation.

I was hoping someone who knows the older parts of Houston (such as Heights, River Oaks) could shed some light on something for me.

I hunt for abandoned roads and old right-of-ways in the primarily west side of Houston, and I recently took notice of one on North Shepherd Dr. between 34th and 38th St., near the Garden Oaks Theater.  On either side of the North Shepherd main drag where the underpass goes beneath the railroad corridor, there are two old right-of-ways surrounding the main road at ground level.

   These old right of ways have been closed off for a long time, but they are very unusual.  Even the oldest aerial imagery I could find shows both the main lanes of North Shepherd, and the little side street up at ground level.  Were the two built in conjunction?  Or did the outer roads pre-date the current right of way that dips below the railroad?  I would love to learn more about this bizarre configuration.

This subject always saddens me. I hate to see my beloved Astrodome in such a state of disrepair. While there are many that share my passion for this historic landmark, I feel powerless to make any kind of actual difference in the saving or demolition of the dome. We are talking about costs in the tens of millions, and nothing the average person could do would ever be able to block the inevitable wrecking ball that looms over our beloved dome.

I have accepted that one day, not so far away, I will witness the Astrodome being demolished. It seems that nothing in Houston is considered sacred unless it's part of the holy inner sanctum of downtown/midtown buildings. Everything else is expendable, and it sickens me that so many people are on board to destroy this thing. I guess memories don't matter as much as money, and living for the moment.

For those of you who are on the hunt for old abandoned bridges, I located one earlier this year within the confines of the Addicks Reservoir, directly along the western shoulder of the elevated portion of SH-6 that runs through the reservoir. The bridge is in two sections, a north and a south section, crossing over South Mayde Creek.

Before SH-6 was built at an elevated height through the reservoir (circa 1968), the road was a simple asphalt road which sat at ground level, and was known only as Addicks-Satsuma Rd. There was a slight bend in the road near South Mayde Creek which was eliminated in the new SH-6 elevated stretch, but today, the old bend can still be found, as it is home to these two sections of old bridge.

Due to a lack of detailed information on the road, I can only assume these bridges, which were constructed in the late 1950's, were replacements for earlier wooden bridges. Addicks-Satsuma Rd. dates way back to the beginning of the 20th century, so there had to be something there to cross the creek. These two sections of abandoned bridge are somewhat modern in design, with concrete and steel on the deck surface, and a wooden substructure that has remained relatively intact to this day. Unfortunately, these new bridges only served for about ten years or so before SH-6 was elevated, and this bend in the road was bypassed altogether.

Some forty years after being abandoned, these two bridge sections remain, nestled about 10 feet below the sidewall of SH-6 on the west side, just a few hundred paces from the dam itself. The south bridge is in much better shape, and you can still explore underneath it. There is a large amount of old discarded beer cans and tires from the 1970's scattered around. There are also ruins of what appeared to be some concrete culverts or possibly stability points for some type of superstructure.

The north bridge, which is all the way on the other side of the creek, is much harder to spot, as it has been almost completely engulfed by topsoil, and the side rails are all gone. On either side of the bridge, you may also notice a metal gate. This pair of gates used to open and close as needed to prevent drivers from crossing the bridge during floods. Now, they are just ghostly reminders of what used to be.

I have pictures but cannot figure out URL codes, nor do I care to. If you visit my webpage, you can view over a dozen photos of the bridges. www.westhoustonarchives.org , and go to the abandoned roads page. The bridges are listed alphabetically after Addicks Clodine Rd, and Addicks- Fairbanks Rd.

I'll have to check that out next time Im on the seawall. I knew about the gun turret installations in front of the San Luis, and always point it out to my passengers when I ride past it. If any of y'all remember Sea Arama, it also used to be along the seawall near the long fishing pier that got destroyed by Hurricane Ike. Numerically, it would have been located approximately at 89th street, if such a road exists. I managed to get inside and take plenty of photos before it got bulldozed in 2007.

I have enjoyed reading these threads. I have been researching the many abandoned roads and settlements inside the Addicks and Barker Reservoirs for the past few years. In short, a lot of evidence of human settlement was left behind after the creation of the Addicks and Barker dams in the 1940's. Most of these were early 20th century residential properties, such as farms, cemeteries, church sites, and the like. There was also a simple network of basic roads throughout both reservoirs. Most of those located within Addicks Reservoir have been maintained, widened, and kept in service, such as Clay, Patterson, Addicks-Fairbanks, and Groeschke. However, the ones in Barker Reservoir have largely been abandoned.

Noble Road (now a hiking trail), Beeler Rd., Addicks Clodine, and Barker Clodine have been reclaimed by nature. Barker Clodine was turned into a bike trail some time ago, but according to early aerial photographs, it too was once a fully functional road, much like Addicks Howell. I think Noble and Beeler Roads were always gravel, as there seems to be no evidence of any pavement having existed on their paths.

I have yet to explore Lamb Road, mainly because I was waiting for winter of 2011 to kill off some of the tree growth and get the wasps and other critters into hiding, but just as soon as the time was ripe, we started getting heavy rains again, which made it difficult to explore within the reservoir. I would like to go and see all this crap that's been discarded along Lamb Road. Old road maps actually labeled it, but then the labels disappeared from newer maps. All I could gather was that it used to be someone's farm, and like most of the residents within the reservoir, they had to pack up and move their operations when the government decided their land would best be used as a flood basin.

HBCU, I recently noticed the construction at Bauer & 290 as well. This appears to be (finally) the beginning phases of the Hempstead Tollway out in that area. At least on the eastbound side. The new right-of-way being built along the westbound frontage roads may be ramps to the Grand Parkway's Segment E, which is the part that runs between I-10 and US 290. According to planning maps, the Grand Parkway will spill out onto 290 just east of Becker Rd., which is fairly close to Bauer.

I am not 100% certain as to the layout of the ramps and planned interchange, but it appears that 290's corridor will be significantly widened between Houston Premium Outlets and Roberts Rd./Katy-Hockley. Could be main lanes, could be exit ramps. At this point it's hard to tell.

I noticed that there is a ramp-like structure being built at the northwest corner of 290 & Bauer. My guess is that what we are seeing now is part of the Grand Parkway interchange, but it all goes hand in hand with the Hempstead Tollway, which will be an integral part of the design. Now, I am wondering how much of the tollway will be elevated, and how much will be built at ground level, as with the Westpark Tollway.

In regards to Addicks Clodine Rd., I finally found a good access point for photos (as well as a good hike). If you head west on Westheimer from HWY-6 South and enter George Bush park, there is a small parking lot directly across from Addicks-Clodine Rd. There is a small gravel path with a gate leading into Addicks-Clodine.

The gravel path turns to the right into a bald spot on the reservoir, but the actual road itself is dead ahead, barely discernable unless you notice the trees in a straight line. The road surface is almost totally washed away, but the drainage ditches on either side contain discarded tires and rims, and this sunken path is the best way to explore the old alignment. The abandoned path continues north all the way to the north end of Barker dam, but it's quite a hike.

I would recommend going in two vehicles, parking one at the north end, and driving to the south end to begin the hike. Once you reach the north end, drive back to the south access point and retrieve the other vehicle.

I don't remember it personally, but I sure found it on the map. That looked like a pretty nasty dead man's curve. Apparently the curve was bypassed in the 70's at some point, and an apartment complex was built right over it.

While exploring old maps, I discovered an isolated segment of Old North Houston-Rosslyn Rd. on the southeast corner of SH-249 and North Houston Rosslyn Rd. The road appears in photos as far back as 1943, but has been abandoned since approximately the 1970's since the newer road was built to the west. Part of the old road now serves as a parking lot for a church, and the other half, which borders some shady apartments, is almost totally overgrown on both shoulders, but can still be traversed on foot (though I highly recommend not going alone in this part of town). Get your pictures taken now, because urban development trends suggest that this abandoned road, which sits alone in a grassy field, will likely be built over in the near future.

I don't know if these qualify as abandoned, but there were two airfields on my side of town that are now built over.

There's Andrau Airpark, which was located on the south side of Westheimer near Kirkwood until it was closed around 1998 and later demolished. Today, the area is all residential, but on the left side of the property when viewed from an aerial map, is a small section of the old drive that led to the airport from Westheimer.

Another small airstrip used to be located on the northeast corner of I-10 and Eldridge Parkway back when Eldridge was known as Addicks-Fairbanks Rd. The airstrip appears on photos until 1973 when they ran Dairy Ashford through the north side of I-10 to connect with Eldridge. That added section of Dairy Ashford runs right over where the old airport used to be. On old road maps, it is labeled Crutcher-Rolfs-Cummings.

I just learned some interesting things about Astroworld from it's early days that I had never paid attention to before. The walkway that connects Astroworld with the Astrodome parking lot (the only remaining sign of Astroworld having been there), was not always just a walkway. Back in the early 1970's, when Astroworld was in it's infancy, you used to be able to drive cars across that bridge and drop people off right at the front gates.

During the 1980's when I first visited Astroworld, this privelege was no longer given. You had to park at the dome and walk or be shuttled across the bridge to Astroworld's front gates. If you look at the walkways, you'll notice they are wide enough to easily accommodate any vehicle from a passenger car to a bus.

I also noticed the hotel on the corner of the loop and Kirby (which is now the Crowne Plaza) was originally called the Astroworld Hotel. Many people know this, I'm sure, but it was interesting to see on video in the 1970 film "Brewster McCloud" wearing it's original Astroworld Hotel signage. I think the base for the original marquee sign is still on the street corner right beside the curb.

The Astrodome itself was much more of a wonder than just a domed stadium to play baseball in. When it was brand new, the dome served as kind of a public place. There didn't necessarily have to be a ball game in action for the public to use the dome's other facilities, like the lounge, or take a tour of the brand new stadium they payed for with their tax dollars. It's a shame we can't even get inside the place now. It's badly in need of repairs just to gain a certificate of occupancy, but nothing will be done. I am fully convinced the dome will be demolished before any of the public gets to see the inside of it again.

I remember both the Hockley Oil Ranch, and Physical Whimsical. I got to take a trip out to the oil ranch several times either through school field trips or Cub Scout outings. It was probably the single most awesome rope swing I had ever used. At the top of the barn with the rope swing was also a maze made from hay bails that kids could crawl in and out of.

The Physical Whimsical had two locations, the one on 1960 and 249, and another one inside Sharpstown Mall. I tended to visit the Sharpstown location more often, for birthdays and such, but I do recall the FM 1960 location quite well.

It had a lot of moonwalks, including one that resembled an old western saloon, and the place smelled like Wild Berry Skittles candy.

The Sharpstown location was much better in my opinion. More things to do. There were two stories, and you could climb a giant net to get to the top floor, and ride the spiral slide down. There was also a room that had glow-in-the-dark walls. While the light was on, you held a position, and then the lights would go out, and you could see your shadow still on the wall for a minute or two. There was also lots of jungle gyms, a ball pit, a maze of giant padded-vinyl blocks (that we used to hit eachother with), and those little roller racers you sat on and pivoted the steering handle back and forth to move around the floor. Ah, such fond memories. I think both locations were closed by the early 1990's.

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 a couple dozen photos of Sea Arama (but they are from 2006 when the place was badly in ruins. I explored the entire property and got lots of photos of everything inside and out, but am not very savvy with posting them as URL's yet. If they are of interest, I can figure out a way to post them. I also have some older photos of it from the internet.

Interesting, I did some browsing around Google Earth and found a few of those locations. I found Stiles Rd off Dairy Ashford near 59, although the resolution doesn't date back far enough to find out when it was made. I also had some fun touring the Westpark Tollway before and after....so many things have changed down there since the late 90's. Westpark and Hempstead Rd. have a lot in common.

I have over 250 photos of Hempstead Highway, just in preparation for when they finally make a tollway out of it. Every time I drive on it, I feel like I am visiting a terminally ill cancer patient in the hospital. I never know when the day will come when the old road, in the blink of an eye, will be overtaken.

I didn't find the leveled subdivision off I-45 and Saunders....mainly because I didn't know where to look for Saunders, but I did find some other interesting sights along I-45 using the time travel feature. Northline Mall at I-45 and Crosstimbers before, during, and after its demolition, Landmark Chevrolet before and after it's heyday, and an old apartment complex on I-45 and Gillespie Rd. just inside the Beltway that was demolished in the mid 2000's. The only reason it stuck out in my mind is because I remember driving past it while it was open, thinking how seedy it looked. Dozens of hispanic prostitutes and drifters hanging around like it was some sort of 24 hour bordello.

I began to gain interest in an abandoned section of Addicks Fairbanks Rd. in west Houston (present day Eldridge Parkway) when I visited the TexasFreeways website earlier this year. I had known about the seemingly useless segment of old paved road north of Patterson and parallel with Bear Creek Pioneers Park for years, but never knew what it was for.

This spawned a whole new interest in locating other similar abandoned roads on my side of town, because using Historic Aerials and Google Earth, I was able to discover a whole bunch of other roads that have been bypassed, cut off, or re-purposed. I am finding more and more by using the time comparison feature. I thought I would share my information for others with similar interests.

1.)Addicks Fairbanks Rd: (There is a whole thread about this). Find Eldridge Parkway and Patterson Road. Directly north of Patterson and west of the present day Eldridge Parkway is a small portion of the old road pointing north then sharply east. Further south along Eldridge Parkway is another abandoned road that no longer appears on maps called "Lamb Rd." It once led to a farm, but has been closed off for decades. Lamb Rd. will lead you to the mysterious circles cut into the forest, one of which resembles an upside down cross. This used to be some sort of fish farm or other manmade structure, but it is now only a fossil etched into the greenery.

2.)FM 529/Spencer Rd: Before FM 529 intersects the 290 freeway, it takes a slight curve to the south near Golden Gate Drive. If you ignore the curve and follow the map in a straight line, you will see an abandoned segment of the old two-lane Spencer Rd. aiming towards 290. This expansion was done between 1987 & 1989 according to maps, and has been left to decay ever since. FM 529 used to meet up with Hempstead Road until the 290 freeway reached this area of town, and Hempstead Rd. was overrun by the 290 eastbound feeder. The old portion of 529 was barricaded off with concrete guardrail pieces, and has been used as a dumping site for tree branches, and old appliances. You can still see the railroad crossing markings on the pavement, and can still manage to get a car on the old road, although the area has gotten a bit dodgy, and I would not recommend visiting alone.

3.)Little York/Hillcrest: Further along 290 near the Beltway 8 interchange, there is a small asphalt road behind Carpet Texas labeled simply "Little York". It runs east and then turns north, but the freeway bisects the road, which resumes on the other side of the freeway under the name "Hillcrest". The road is barricaded off on both ends, but is still clearly an old two lane blacktop road. The road is pictured as far back as 1944 on Google Earth, long before any freeway reached out into west Houston.

4.)Telge Rd: South of 290, but west of the current Telge Road path, is an older, narrower road that is labeled Cameron Rd. on maps, but it is now off-limits to public traffic. The road, which runs in a straight line, unlike modern Telge Road, is now enclosed within the perimeter fence of the factories there, and is used as an intercompany transit route. The general public cannot get on this road, but it can still be seen in aerial photos.

5.)Cypress North Houston Rd: Between Huffmeister and Eldridge Parkway, Cypress North Houston runs east/west, and then curves smoothly to the northeast near Tall Forest Drive. This was done to bypass a dangerous curve (circa 1970s), but they left the old corner of road intact, which now serves as the entrance to a small private school. If you use the compare feature on Historic Aerials, you will see how the newer alignment plowed through the first line of houses in the nearby subdivision. This also brought a lot of other homes dangerously close to the roadside.

6.)FM 2920: Just west of the intersection of 2920 and Stuebner-Airline Rd., there is an old abandoned segment of 2920 that has been closed off since the mid 1970's. The old road runs parallel with the north fence of Hooks Airport, and on weekends, private vendors use it to sell arts and crafts. Much of the road has been overgrown with greenery, but you can see the clearing in the treeline where 2920 used to meet up with Stuebner Airline.

7.)Ora St: At Hempstead Highway and Dacoma, there is Ora St, a small residential drive that once led to a tract of small houses. The homes were reduced to slabs, and Ora is now closed off, part of the property of the nearby industrial business.

8.)Addicks-Howell Rd.: Not technically abandoned, just without purpose, is the old north/south alignment of Addicks Howell Rd. Before SH6 was constructed, this road was the main artery south of Addicks linking it with Howellville to the south. The old road remains open today, but is not exactly a necessary path, just an alternative.

9.)Jackrabbit Rd: Just south of Hempstead Road, Jackrabbit runs north, and then takes a sharp curve to the left to meet up with Highway 6. Before Highway 6, Jackrabbit ran straight into Hempstead, without a curve. If you keep looking north of this curve, you will see a small section of exposed asphalt & gravel that used to be Jackrabbit's old path directly to Hempstead Road. I imagine the railroad crossing was also moved.

I would love to post pictures of these roads, but cannot figure out how. It only gives me a blank to fill in a URL code, but I don't know how to obtain this code information from my picture files.

Yep, that's it. I guess it does look more like a drive in theatre, now that I am hearing universal agreement that this is what I was looking at. You'd never know where the thing was today. No evidence whatsoever.

With regards to he neighborhood on Ora St., I would like to check it out.

On Hempstead Rd. just west of Dacoma Street, there used to be (according to aerial photographs), some sort of large arena or theatre located on Hempstead Rd. It only appears in photos prior to 1973, and then it was replaced by what looks like industrial buildings.

I am curious as to what this place was, because there seems to be no obvious references to the place, and it's unique structure alone makes it worth learning about.

From aerial photos taken in the 1950's and early 60's, the place resembles a seashell, and is not huge, but not small either. It definitely stands out on a black & white photo map. When you overlay road labels on the picture, it reads Fairway Park Drive. Any information on this ancient place would be greatly appreciated.

I found some other abandoned roads in the west Houston area, thanks to some tedious work comparing new and old aerial photographs of the city layout.

1.)Cypress North Houston Rd.: West of Eldridge Parkway is a bend in C.N.H. road that was the result of a bypassing, probably in the early 1980's. Today, Galson Auto Repair is at the apex of this turn, and directly across the street is the old "dead man's curve" of C.N.H. Road, which now serves as an entrance to a small private school. The old yellow lane dividers are still there as well.

2.)Telge Rd: South of 290: The segment of Telge Rd. between 290 and West Road was constructed in the very early 1980's to the east of the original road, which ran directly north/south and ended at a power station near present day Tuckerton Rd. When Telge Rd was expanded south of 290 to link with West Rd, the old two lane asphalt road was swallowed up by the nearby factories to serve as a transit route between factories, and became known as Cameron Rd., after Cameron Iron Works. Most of this road is off limits to non-employees, but a small offshoot road near the train crossing will give you a view of the old road surface.

3.) Spencer Rd./FM 529: North of the present intersection of FM 529 and 290 (which dips below grade), there is a small remaining abandoned segment of the original FM 529 where it intersected with Hempstead Rd. This road is still accessible by a small driveway immediately east of the train crossing (see Google maps), but it is heavily overgrown, and littered with discarded tree limbs, tires, and hot tub shells. Not the most welcoming place to go exploring, but a fascinating abandoned pathway.