Firebird65

You need to check your facts.

They make announcements whenever they have news. Yes, I would consider Clemens gone, as well. Probably just as good for both Roger and the team. Our guys could never score for him anyway. 13-8 and 7-6 the last two years with the fantastic ERA he put up? That's got to be frustrating. If it was frustrating for me as a fan, imagine how hard it was for Roger. I'll miss both Roger and Andy's heart - they brought us to the World Series just like they said they would. But their constant games - are they coming back or not - wears thin after awhile. That I won't miss.

Oh yes he did. Last time I checked, the Astrodome was selling out to 104 percent capacity when Bottom Line Bud wandered over to Nashville. And that was with a bad team (1994) coming off one season that they laid one of the biggest eggs in sports history (1992) then followed that up by folding at home after luring the fans back with a 12-game win streak (1993). I didn't run Bud Adams off. No Oiler fan ran Bud Adams off. Bob Lanier didn't run Bud Adams off. Bud Adams ran Bud Adams off. He had the gall to hold this city hostage for a new stadium that, quite frankly, a very good number of people didn't think he or his underperforming team deserved. When your team gives the city a black eye, that ain't the time to say, "Gimme, gimme, gimme." Bob Lanier was right... you want a stadium, build your own. I can guarantee you Bob McNair isn't going to be asking for anything any time soon after his team pulled a very nice "Oiler" today.

If Bud had been right, he'd have gotten his stadium. Seems that if Bottom Line Bud was half the businessman he thought he was, he could have articulated his point, whatever it was, a lot better. At the very least, couldn't the idiot have at least flipped through the phone book for a PR person? LOL! He was too cheap for even that. Bottom line on Bottom Line Bud, it was a bungled attempt at holding the city hostage. Paul Tagliabue did a much better job.

Are you kidding?!? Bud Adams was jilted? By whom? This clown held us hostage in 1987 for an expansion to the Dome and then not 10 years later tried the same exact thing. Then he got mad when we didn't want to give in to him AGAIN. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. The nanosecond he went to Nashville I bolted for another team and why not? He showed me as a fan not one whiff of loyalty, so why should I return the favor? I suported his underperforming team through thick and mostly thin. And his response was what? "Gimme a new stadium or else I'm outta here." I wish him no good at all (at least in the football sense, not a personal sense). Two of my favorite sports memories are: 1) Carlos Beltran standing there with the bat on his shoulder to end the 2006 NLCS 2) Titans falling one yard short in the Super Bowl They got their money, but they didn't get the real payday. THAT'S karma!

Uh... karma for the jilted Oiler fans would have been Young stuffed at the one yard line and to see the agony on Bud Adams' face. We were loyal to the Oilers. The team left us, we didn't leave them.

That figures! I had a girlfriend actually complain the food came out TOO SOON! LOL! We went to a Monterrey House about 2 p.m. on a weekday afternoon, the waiter took our order, walked back to the kitchen and immediately came back with our food. Couldn't have been more than 2 minutes, tops. I was thrilled because I was starving. But of course, she didn't see it that way, moaning about how quick it came out. Can you believe it? LOL!

Monterrey House was good... for its time. Today's palates have grown much more sophisticated and there is so much more competition. A restaurant like Monterrey House probably doesn't have a chance anymore in a market like Houston. However, I do note you singing the praises of Casa Ole. Casa Ole isn't much different than Monterrey House. (I also like Casa Ole, BTW). It's the same Americanized Tex-Mex food. But hey, sometimes that's what I feel like eating. I don't always want the authetic Mexican experience. Casa Ole probably would have cleaned up in the 1970s, much like Monterrey House did. But now whenever I ask anyone, "want to go to Casa Ole?" they turn their noses. People have gotten more sophisticated in their Mexican food tastes. Sometimes that's good, sometimes not.

Finally found some information on the Gulf Coast Airport that sat on the current site of Aldine High. According to old phone books at the Texas Room, the airport was at 11165 Airline Drive (Aldine High is at 11101 Airline). Apparently it opened in 1947 (meaning at least it was in the 1947 phone book, but not in the 1946).

My parents had HI7-5248 for 37 years. The Hillcrest exchange came into existence in 1955. Prior to that, the Airline area had Melrose.

In that edition of the Post, are there any ads for Weiner's? If so, what are the locations? I'm trying to figure out when the Weiner's int he hidden Valley Shopping Center on the North Freeway was built. The shopping center itself opened in 1969, but I think the Weiner's was added a year or two later as part of an expansion.

I know there's a couple of posters out there interested in school district histories and I wanted to share this I found last night: Came across an October 1961 Houston Chronicle article that discussed how two homeowners in the former Addicks school district were protesting the Harris County school board's decision to assign them to the Houston ISD. The homeowners wanted to be part of Alief ISD because the tax rate was considerably lower. The story mentioned the Addicks district had been dissolved in July of that year (1961) and that the district had been split by the school board between HISD, Spring Branch, Alief and Katy. Hope this proves useful to anyone interested. I didn't know Addicks was still around in 1961. Their football team dropped off around 1947 (about the time the reservoir was built), so I just assumed that was the time the district became defunct.

Notice how Airline is up near Klein along Cypress Creek? It's also the first time I've ever seen Bender on a map. I knew its approximate location from research, but I'd never seen it on a map before. Hey, and Mt. Houston is on the map too!

So where the heck was Hartwell High School? Obviously Hartwell was not the Aldine school photo you posted earlier. That must have been the primary school, along with Westfield and Higgs (and later Brubaker). Was perhaps Hartwell also later the Marrs High mentioned in the 1935 School District book? Is this a 1913 book you're looking at?

So apparently the Brubaker school was only around from sometime between 1915 and 1934, as the 1913 book doesn't list it, the 1914 map doesn't list it and the 1935 book calls it the "former" Brubaker school. I keep thinking that map I saw that was similar to yours said either 1919 or 1929.

That's almost identical to the one I saw in the Texas Room and posted a smaller cropped version on the board. 'Bout the only difference was the colors. I also saw a similar one to this there that had the old schools - Aldine, Westfield, Higgs and Brubaker. Yours is missing Brubaker. From memory, I'd say the handwriting on the maps I saw and this one you've posted is the same, so perhaps those that I saw were later versions? You say this one shows 1914 schools... maybe that means Brubaker was left out here because it wasn't yet around?

Thanks. I just saw that in his other post on the "Schools That No Longer Exist" thread. I gotta tell you, he's something. I sure look forward to seeing what he'll turn up next.

What is it?

Wow... you're behind the times. Don's has been closed for several years, perhaps even for a decade or more. Partly because no one was buying vinyl records and partly because he was at the age where he wanted to do something else. And yes, that is sad... don's was a real treasure.

HCAD says that 9912 Airline is a residential structure built in 1930. It's now occupied by yet another of what appears to be quite a few used car lots or automotive repair businesses along that stretch. However, based on the location, it's possible this address could have been Lorino's home and/or the Lorino store location. It is on Airline near Lorino Street. I want to go to the Texas Room and look up Lorino's store in the old phone books. I had hoped to do that tomorrow, but apparently there's some sort of festival downtown and I really hate fighting traffic. So much for that idea. But I'll mark this addy as something to look for later when I finally do make it there.

I've noticed those block books often overlap with others, like they are cross referenced. The block map you provided earlier from the archives was much more helpful than the ones on the Tax Office's site. For one, they are much older and provide a date to age the community. Second, as evidenced in the later plats, that area has been subdivided several more times over the years. Most of that Brubaker area on the east side of Airline became Northfield Place in the mid 1940s. On the west side it became Donnybrook and Blue Bell Place at about the same time. On HCAD's site I could only find a few lots that were under the legal description of Brubaker. The rest reflect the later neighborhoods. 480 East Montgomery? Sure it's not 9480 East Montgomery? Although 9480 comes out at Hill Road and Airline, a little south of Lorino Street. 9840 Airline comes out perfectly at Lorino Street and Airline.

I didn't catch the part about the school being on E Montgomery. I would guess the Lorino store was at the corner of Lorino street and Airline. I'd sure love to see a picture of the area then.

Possible, but unlikely. For one, that's the location of the former Inez Carroll Elementary. Second, according to the wording in that book you posted earlier, the Brubaker school was already closed by the time Aldine ISD came into being in 1935. Note how the book said the "former" Brubaker school. Also, I'm not sure if the Brubaker school was a high school. It's only been described as a school. Perhaps it was only a one-room schoolhouse. Probably that's all it was. I suppose it's possible Inez Carroll was built on the site of the former Brubaker school, but Carroll was built sometime in the 1950s or early 1960s, long after the Brubaker school. Still, never say never. I never thought there was a Marrs High in 1935, but you've shown evidence there was.

Thanks! Would it be safe to say, then, based on that plat, that the Brubaker community/neighborhood/subdivision/whatever was founded around the year 1910? You've found so much great stuff I really ought to give you a credit somewhere in my report. Would that be OK? Guess I ought to get your name. Send me an IM and I'll be more than happy to give credit where credit is due when I finish my report. I don't know what to think about the topo maps and the schools. That book clearly stated Marrs was around in 1935 and I did double check on the AISD web site and it does say there Marrs was built in 1936. Either someone was wrong (unlikely) or there were two schools. I mean, the kids in the area had to go to school somewhere before CSD 29 or AISD were around, right? I don't know what to think about the topo maps and the schools. That book clearly stated Marrs was around in 1935 and I did double check on the AISD web site and it does say there Marrs was built in 1936. Either someone was wrong (unlikely) or there were two schools. I mean, the kids in the area had to go to school somewhere before CSD 29 or AISD were around, right? Even that book mentioned a Brubaker school, or actually, a former Brubaker school.

Yes, that is quite possible. Marrs High was named for Starlin Marion Newberry Marrs, who was state superintendent of public instruction from 1923 to 1932. I've been trying to figure out why in the world would Aldine name a school after him as he apparently had no ties to the area that I can find. However, as Common School District 29 was formed in 1932, maybe the county built a school in the Aldine area and as Marrs had just died, named it after him. Or they renamed an old school when the CSD was formed. Then a newer, probably bigger school took its place in 1936. There was at least one school building in the Aldine area when the CSD was formed. The district mentions a two-room school house being built in 1910 and expanded to four rooms in 1912. Perhaps this was expanded other times in the next 20 years?