Historic Houston Roads

[Firebird65]

There's been a topic on this before - but that's OK, it's an interesting topic.

Veterans Memorial used to be Stuebener Airline, meaning Stuebner Airline ran from the North Freeway all the way to near the county line. Now it's just from FM 1960 north.

Airline used to be East Montgomery Road. It also used to be U.S. Highway 75 eons ago, until that designation was switched to North Shepherd.

Aldine-Bender west of the Hardy Toll Road used to once be called just Aldine Road, as it was the road that went to Aldine from U.S. 75. Aldine-Bender was the road that went from Aldine to U.S. 59.

West Mount Houston west of I-45 used to be called Airline Link Road.

Sweetwater Drive in North Houston used to be called Hacker Road.

Not a complete name change, but I remember when I was a kid the exit signs for Little York on the North Freeway said Little York School Road. Anyone know what that was about?

Out west, near where I live now, Harwin used to be called Alief-Houston Road (some machine shop still has a sign out front with that street name).

Part of Briar Forest from Dairy Ashford to Highway 6 was called Goar Road (there's still a tiny sliver of Goar left just north of a curve on Briar Forest).

Not as much a name change as a complete replacement, the West Belt was Roark Road before the West Belt was built.

Not sure if this is still the case, or if anything official ever happened changing or ending this, but parts of FM 1960 and Highway 6 used to have differing names, depending on what part you were on. Maybe the names are still used, I don't know. East of the Hardy Toll Road, FM 1960 was Humble-Westfield Road. Then it became Humble-Atascosita Road east of U.S. 59. The part where FM 1960 crosses I-45 was once called Bammel-Westfield; another part was Jackrabbit Road to U.S. 290. Highway 6 south to I-10 was once called Addicks-Satsuma Road.

[JLWM8609]

I believe "Outer Belt" became "MacGregor" became "Cambridge" next to Memorial Hermann Hosp in the TMC over the last decade. Am I right?

The Outer Belt to MacGregor name change came about in the 70s or 80s. The change from MacGregor to Cambridge occurred when the new bridge opened last year.

[kylejack]

The one I was thinking of the first post is still Horse & Hahl Road (it was just truncated).

Interestingly, within a mile, there was a private airfield (Josey Ranch...go to Cottage Cypress Road in Houston and go back to '78).

House and Hahl Road. My friends and I used to go out there to watch meteor showers because it was extremely dark without going too far into the country. It was a pretty good place for my teenage sexcapades too because you could see cars coming from a long way off. It still exists but some of it was replaced by that neighborhood, and there's more light pollution out there now.

[IronTiger]

Yeah, House & Hahl still does technically exist, but it was partially cut off by Bridgelands Lake Rd.

(Google Maps shows H&H going south east of Bridgelands Lake, but that's always been a private dirt path).

Spencer Rd. was rerouted sometime in the 2000s to better line up with 290 (and also eliminate the main railroad crossing)

Edited December 30, 2010 by IronTiger

[FIREhat]

Yes, Bissonnet west of Edloe was Richmond Road and Westpark was Old Richmond Road.

There is one one-block-long street in Southside Place that changes names every year. The parks association auctions off a year's naming rights to the highest bidder for fundraising. It's the street on the east side of the park.

A number of streets in Baytown have been closed by expansion from the Exxon refinery, including San Jacinto, Brunner, Baytown Avenue, and a few others near the ends of Market Street and Bayway Drive. The Baytown Nature Center also has a ton of old roads, most overgrown, from when there was a neighborhood there. Other renamed Baytown streets I can think of:

-Park Street used to be Wooster-Cedar Bayou Road

-ML Wismer used to be South Main Extension

-Avenue J and Harkins Street were both covered over by 146.

Edited January 18, 2011 by FIREhat

[IronTiger]

There was a subdivision called "Lamar Weslayan" near current-day Westpark/Edloe that was built in the 1950s and demolished for Southwest Freeway. It can be seen on the 1950s Google Earth image, and talked about in the book Houston Freeways. Most of the remaining subdivision was demolished soon after for office buildings, and only a small portion exists. One street was Norfolk Street, which still mostly exists.

[samagon]

Can't remember the new name, but there used to be a road between westheimer and alief clodine called old westheimer.

Just checked Google maps, it's called west Houston center.

[Sharpstown Bill]

Can't remember the new name, but there used to be a road between westheimer and alief clodine called old westheimer.

Just checked Google maps, it's called west Houston center.

I remember the old general store & barber shop that used to be on Old Westheimer --I'm sure thats gone now!

[TexasFreeway.com]

TX-6 from I-10 to US-290 was FM-1960. For the most part FM-359 from US-90A to Hempstead was TX-6. (Info verified by TxDOT highway designation database)

[sinister1]

West Montgomery Road has always been West Montgomery Road, going from the Shepherd/Tidwell intersection to western Montgomery County. The state also designated this road as F.M. 149.

What is today's West Mount Houston Road was originally called Airline Link Road and went from West Montgomery Road to Steubner-Airline. In 1956, the state extended Airline Link Road from Stuebner Airline to U.S. 75 (the predecessor to the North Freeway) and designated the road as F.M. 2430 from U.S. 75 to West Montgomery Road.

In 1960, the state realigned FM 149 to deviate from West Montgomery Road at the Airline Link intersection and then proceed to U.S. 75 over the former F.M. 2430. Airline Link Road was also renamed West Mount Houston Road. The remainder of West Montgomery from West Mount Houston south to Shepherd/Tidwell was then given the designation F.M. 2430 (the former designation of Airline-Link).

In 1963, West Mount Houston Road was extended from the new North Freeway over Halls Bayou to Airline Drive.

West Mount Houston and East Mount Houston never meet and probably never will. East Mount Houston actually passes through the Mount Houston area mentioned by isuredid. West Mount Houston never comes close to it.

In case you're wondering if there is an East Mongomery Road, the answer to that is yes. Fulton was East Montgomery Road until it hit Airline and then East Montgomery continued up Airline from that point.

Actually Old maps show West Montgomery Road going way past the Shepard/Tidwell intersection area. It ran from the banks of Buffalo Bayou where the University of Houston sits now and ran the route that North Main runs now. North Main now ends on West Whitney St. I'm not sure if it use to continue to run to where West Montgomery sits now. Does anyone know?

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=whitney+st.+houston&oe=utf-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Whitney+St,+Houston,+TX&gl=us&ei=XheyTcO0DYnc0QHjjqnoCA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQ8gEwAA

[Firebird65]

Actually Old maps show West Montgomery Road going way past the Shepard/Tidwell intersection area. It ran from the banks of Buffalo Bayou where the University of Houston sits now and ran the route that North Main runs now. North Main now ends on West Whitney St. I'm not sure if it use to continue to run to where West Montgomery sits now. Does anyone know?

West (and East) Montgomery was a rather informal name. Airline was also known as East Montgomery after it joined up with Fulton going north. Going south, East Montgomery followed Fulton to downtown.

As for West Montgomery, it followed Yale after meeting with Tidwell, down to Whitney and then a dogleg over to Main where it went to downtown.

http://www.texasfreeway.com/houston/historic/road_maps/images/1955_houston_humble_highres.jpg

I believe that once you got into "town"... that is, you passed Tidwell, neither of those designations were really used, other than on maps. As far as East Montgomery Road, I don't really see any references to it in phone books after the 1930s. As far as West Montgomery Road... if you were on North Main, I don't think anyone other than the mapmaker called it West Montgomery. It was more of a route name, if I understand it correctly. One road was the way to eastern Montgomery County, the other was the way to western Montgomery County. That's the way I've interpreted it. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

Here's a few more maps. They're pretty inconclusive:

1913:

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/maps/images/map0435.jpg

1935:

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/maps/images/map0436.jpg

Edited April 23, 2011 by Firebird65

[sinister1]

Actually Old maps show West Montgomery Road going way past the Shepard/Tidwell intersection area. It ran from the banks of Buffalo Bayou where the University of Houston sits now and ran the route that North Main runs now. North Main now ends on West Whitney St. I'm not sure if it use to continue to run to where West Montgomery sits now. Does anyone know?

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=whitney+st.+houston&oe=utf-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Whitney+St,+Houston,+TX&gl=us&ei=XheyTcO0DYnc0QHjjqnoCA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQ8gEwAA

http://www.box.net/shared/dinisgvl6j

This 1920 Map of Houston shows Main already running North but North Main did not exist prior to the building of the Main St. Bridge Note: West Montgomery Road Highlighted in Blue.

[sinister1]

Ross, thanks so much.This is a bit of Houston history about which I'd never heard.

Could it be that the numbered streets were renamed so as not to be confused with the numbered streets in the Heights?

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/maps/images/map0435.jpg

The link above takes you to a Map from 1913 which shows the Turner addition with the Chestnut and Sycamore streets clearly labeled running vertically but notice that the streets that run horizontal are blank, these are the number streets. My guess is that they are blank because they haven't came up with new names for them but I could be wrong.

[sinister1]

The link above takes you to a Map from 1913 which shows the Turner addition with the Chestnut and Sycamore streets clearly labeled running vertically but notice that the streets that run horizontal are blank, these are the number streets. My guess is that they are blank because they haven't came up with new names for them but I could be wrong.

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/maps/images/map0435.jpg

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/texas/txu-pclmaps-topo-tx-houston_and_vicinity-1955.jpg

Okay this 1955 Map shows 11th street as Bissonnet, so somewhere in between 1913 and 1955 the names of the streets changed. Maybe like Ross mention it was because it was annexed by Houston and the Heights already had similar names or because of re-construction due the building of freeways. It would be very interesting to find out.

[sinister1]

The Shepherd Street bridge over White Oak Bayou used to have a plaque calling it Erie Street Bridge. The plaque disappeared when they rebuilt the bridge. I have a small hope that someone takes those and puts them in a warehouse somewhere for posterity, rather than just junking them.

I seem to remember seeing that plaque; was it the smaller bridge? If I remember correctly this was before they built the bigger brige that goes over the railroad tracks where the Houston Car Auction use to be. Is this right?

[sinister1]

West (and East) Montgomery was a rather informal name. Airline was also known as East Montgomery after it joined up with Fulton going north. Going south, East Montgomery followed Fulton to downtown.

As for West Montgomery, it followed Yale after meeting with Tidwell, down to Whitney and then a dogleg over to Main where it went to downtown.

http://www.texasfreeway.com/houston/historic/road_maps/images/1955_houston_humble_highres.jpg

I believe that once you got into "town"... that is, you passed Tidwell, neither of those designations were really used, other than on maps. As far as East Montgomery Road, I don't really see any references to it in phone books after the 1930s. As far as West Montgomery Road... if you were on North Main, I don't think anyone other than the mapmaker called it West Montgomery. It was more of a route name, if I understand it correctly. One road was the way to eastern Montgomery County, the other was the way to western Montgomery County. That's the way I've interpreted it. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me.

Here's a few more maps. They're pretty inconclusive:

1913:

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/maps/images/map0435.jpg

1935:

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/maps/images/map0436.jpg

Wow W.Montgomery running down Yale st. explains why there is an old Yale st. Probably after they renamed that section of W. Montgomery to Yale they changed it. Cool

[sinister1]

From 05-15-1892

Names of Streets Changed

By a recent act of the city council the following changes have been made in the names of streets, the names generally being after some one prominently connected with the present or past of Houston:

Wards First and Fourth north: Bradley to Sabine street, Heiss to Colorado street, Stanley street to Stanley place, Park to Johnson street, Nicaragua to Moore, Bismark street to Bismark place, Clay street to Houston avenue, Susan to Kessler street, Cushman street to Cushman place, John to Hickory street, South street to Artesia place, Herbert street to Herbert place, Kane street to Reisner street, Morin street to Morin place.

Second ward: First street, Factory addition, to Lockhart, Second street to Bering street, Third street to Kennedy street, Fourth street to Fox street, Fifth street to Dumble street, Sixth streed to Freund street, Seventh street to Foley street, Clarke street to Flynn street.

Third ward: West Broadway to Hutchins street, East Broadway to Dowling street, Shanghai to Velasco street, Bremond street to Burke place.

Fourth ward south: Bomelt street to Baldwin street, Trinity street to House street, next street west of Trinity to Fuller street, Sabine street to Heiner street, Bayou street to Crosby street, Hobson to Meyer street,Baker to Buckner street, Gentry to Sherman street, Runnels to Cushing street, First street west to Mathews, Second street to Wilson, Third street to Bailey, Fourth street to Gilette, Ennis street to Ruthven, Cline to Cleveland street, First street south to Arnold, Second street south to Cook, Third street Sutton, Center to Erichson street, Houston to Curtin street, Laura street to Rusk avenue.

Fifth ward: Henry and Johnson streets from Webster addition east to Clarke street, to Campbell street, Pascal to Leo street, Campbell to Noble, James street to Sumpter street, Grand avenue and Stephens street to Loraine street, Pinkney to Wills street, Dumble street change to Leona street, Price and John street to Opelousas, Venice and Burr to Liberty street, Second and Bull to Sterrett, First to Grayson street, Ducong and Hare to Nance street, Waverly to Brooks street, Stephens to Hogan, John street Richey addition to Walnut street, Mariana to Huntington, Walker street to Willaimson place.

Hi,

I would like to know where did you find this article? I have not been able to find any maps showing Houston Ave. as Clay St. I went as far back to an 1887 map and is shows up a Houston Ave. I would be most grateful if you could share the source of this information. Thanks.

[Ross]

I seem to remember seeing that plaque; was it the smaller bridge? If I remember correctly this was before they built the bigger brige that goes over the railroad tracks where the Houston Car Auction use to be. Is this right?

It was on the smaller bridge that goes over the bayou. They redid the concrete railings and the plaque disappeared. I'll have to play with Google Earth to refresh my memory.

[Goatman79]

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.

[IronTiger]

I like this topic. You can kind of see them on Google Earth (but since there's no street view, and SV is bad resolution anyway). House & Hahl Road out near Cypress was turned into a subdivision mostly.

Near Alvin, some abandoned highway sits near the north end of the loop. Although the loop existed since 60s, sometime, circa 2005, the intersection was redone, and now a chunk of disconnected asphalt is now there.

The Beltway was realigned some point in the past (1980s?), creating a four-lane (no space for frontage) "Old North Belt Dr." and another road (two way).

Near I-45 and Saunders, an entire subdivision was leveled, its roads gone.

[Ross]

Goatman, I've used tinypic.com to post photos on other forums. Once you put the pictures there, it gives you a link to embed.

[IronTiger]

Also, Dairy Ashford Road has a cut-off section called Stiles Road near 59. The railroad crossing closed off before '95. And speaking of railroad crossings, there were lots on the railroad paralleling Westpark (now gone). The railroad crossing signals (with gates, too!) remained in areas after the closing of the roads, and even after the abandonment of the railroad.

[sevfiv]

You can either attach images to the post (in the "full editor" there are "choose file" and "attach file" buttons) or host them somewhere and insert the link to the image with the picture button --

I just posted some of the Ora St. area in the Hempstead Drive In thread - here's a street photo:

[Goatman79]

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.

[sevfiv]

I found the Saunders subdivision off of 59 - it looks like it was gone by April 2005 and the roads and houses were just being built in the 1953 view.

Also, here are block book maps - the area was Hall Park and/or Farrington Place:

http://books.tax.hctx.net/v079/AE1997_79_0079.jpg

http://books.tax.hctx.net/v068/AE1997_68_0027.jpg

Harris County Flood Control owns them so Halls Bayou must have had issues..

2011:

April 2005:

February 2004:

December 1978:

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

Dairy Ashford was called Stiles Rd south of the DA/W Bellfort intersection. It was a dirt road until the mid/late 70's.

In the mid 80's, they added in the curve that took it to the Spur 41 intersection with Alt 90, closed the railroad crossing and alt 90 intersection, and renamed the section of Stiles to Dairy Ashford, leaving just the end of Stiles where a few houses were/might still be.

A few years later, they widened the road to it's current configuration.

I took that road every day going to school at the D-Word.

[sevfiv]

Another place that is interesting is Brownwood in Baytown (now the Baytown Nature Center). Last time I went there were still visible slabs and other subdivision remnants.

This was MacArthur street, now a nature trail:

..and here's a HAIF discussion about it:

[Urban Commando]

For those interested, the Saunders/Langley neighborhood is along US 59 behind the Sak-N-Save store and adjacent to Halls Bayou between Parker and Little York. The homes were destroyed by T.S. Allison and I believe the government bought them out,condemned the area, and raised it. The streets were destroyed to prevent them becoming a dumping ground and hang out for illegal activity...although a trip through that area will cause you to debate the success in that.

It was and still is a pretty rough area. It will never be developed again and will probably just be let go to seed although a park MAY eventually result from some of it...as is already the case behind the Fiesta across the freeway.

[NenaE]

Speaking of Telge Rd. (Post #1), it's interesting how Huffmeister curves onto Telge at the Tin Hall location (it becomes Tin Hall Rd.) w/ a Cypress Gun Club Rd. running perpendicular, off of it.. At the intersection of Telge & Tin Hall Rd. the road name changes back to Huffmeister. All of the changes happen on the same straight piece of road. Hmmm...must have been an important place, Huffmeister bows to it, if only for a short spanse. Does the gun club road lead to the old location of Tin Hall. My parents knew of it, said it had been there for a very long time.

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

Tin Hall opened in the 1890's, and was the only gathering place for people in that area.

It was rebuilt a few times (all wooden structure on stilts).

we did a few shows there in the 1990's- I don't even know if the structure is still there (if not, good riddance, i hated that place)