Historic Houston Roads

[mblaise]

Sometimes when I am using Uber maps or Waze, I'll be told to turn on a street (usually a very new street) and the name was not the same as the street sign. Maybe a developer of the subdivision changed it. Anyone run across this? I know this is not completely historic, but I did not know what topic to place it in. Several years back there was a great discussion of Houston area roads that changed names. That was a a fun discussion.

[mkultra25]

I can't say that I've encountered that before, but I'm only an occasional user of those apps. 

It did get me thinking about a tangentially-related question, however - have a sufficient number of new transplants moved to Houston in the past 20-odd years (and/or a sufficient number of old-school natives passed away) to where "San Phillipy" is no longer a commonly-accepted pronunciation of "San Felipe"? 

[bred]

In my line of work, I find myself in a lot of new housing developments all over the city, and occasionally I find streets in new subdivisions that have recently been renamed (mostly in Brazoria County).  Usually this is because it is discovered that there is a duplicate or similar street name within the same city.

[JLWM8609]

19 hours ago, bred said:

In my line of work, I find myself in a lot of new housing developments all over the city, and occasionally I find streets in new subdivisions that have recently been renamed (mostly in Brazoria County).  Usually this is because it is discovered that there is a duplicate or similar street name within the same city.

I've seen County Roads in Brazoria County renamed when they link up with other roads to make a long, continuous street, even going as far as to renumber addresses. Ex: The 2600 block of CR 59 is now the 11600 block of Magnolia Pkwy.

[Specwriter]

Another example is when two existing streets "meet" like when Ella Blvd. becomes Wheatley just north of Pinemont. Strangely, Wheatley becomes Ella Blvd. again as it crosses Dewalt about a quarter mile south of W. Gulf Bank. Consider also how Elgin seems to "segue" into Westheimer although the route does curve there.

[Ross]

20 hours ago, Specwriter said:

Another example is when two existing streets "meet" like when Ella Blvd. becomes Wheatley just north of Pinemont. Strangely, Wheatley becomes Ella Blvd. again as it crosses Dewalt about a quarter mile south of W. Gulf Bank. Consider also how Elgin seems to "segue" into Westheimer although the route does curve there.

Westheimer and Elgin were originally separate streets, with the Eastern portion of what is now Westheimer named Hathaway Street. This thread has some links that show this 

 

I just noticed on the 1955 map that Montrose stops at Westheimer, and North of Westheimer, it's Lincoln Street. Here's a block book map for Hyde Park, that shows Lincoln Street on the far right, West of Grant 

Notice that Grant runs along the railroad, which was the separation point between Westheimer and Hathaway(as far as I can tell) And, it looks like Waugh was named Euclid in 1905 when Hyde Park was platted. There is a Euclid Street in the Norhill/Woodland Heights area now. I wonder when that got changed.

[mblaise]

Studemont (Studewood) and Montrose did not connect until the late 60s. Maps show dashed lines proposed

[editor]

On 1/12/2022 at 2:32 PM, mkultra25 said:

I can't say that I've encountered that before, but I'm only an occasional user of those apps. 

It did get me thinking about a tangentially-related question, however - have a sufficient number of new transplants moved to Houston in the past 20-odd years (and/or a sufficient number of old-school natives passed away) to where "San Phillipy" is no longer a commonly-accepted pronunciation of "San Felipe"? 

 

When I moved to Houston, I was given a quick lesson in local pronunciation.  "San Phillipy" was the correct pronunciation of San Felipe for use on air. 

Another one I remember people making a point of was Tuam.  "Too-am," not "Twam."

[hindesky]

When I first moved to the Houston area I lived in Pasadena, they had a street spelled Tartar but everyone pronounced it Tater. It led into Pasadena Blvd at Burke Rd. but a few years ago they renamed the whole road Pasadena Blvd.

Edited March 1, 2022 by hindesky

[mkultra25]

4 hours ago, editor said:

 

When I moved to Houston, I was given a quick lesson in local pronunciation.  "San Phillipy" was the correct pronunciation of San Felipe for use on air. 

Another one I remember people making a point of was Tuam.  "Too-am," not "Twam."

I'd imagine "San Jacinto" (with a hard "j" and a short "i") and "Kirkendoll" were covered in that lesson as well.

I've occasionally heard Tuam pronounced as "chew 'em", but I'm pretty sure anyone using that variant isn't from Houston.  

[Ross]

1 hour ago, mkultra25 said:

I'd imagine "San Jacinto" (with a hard "j" and a short "i") and "Kirkendoll" were covered in that lesson as well.

I've occasionally heard Tuam pronounced as "chew 'em", but I'm pretty sure anyone using that variant isn't from Houston.  

The pronunciation of the town in Ireland(where the name came from) is something like "chewm". Tuam is the town where Dick Dowling was born. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/dowling-richard-william#:~:text=Richard William Dowling%2C businessman and,and settled in New Orleans.

[Dave W]

19 hours ago, hindesky said:

When I first moved to the Houston area I lived in Pasadena, they had a street spelled Tarter but everyone pronounced it Tater. It led into Pasadena Blvd at Burke Rd. but a few years ago they renamed the whole road Pasadena Blvd.

The street was Tatar, not Tarter. It was named for developer Herbert Tatar.

[Dave W]

15 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

I'd imagine "San Jacinto" (with a hard "j" and a short "i") and "Kirkendoll" were covered in that lesson as well.

I've occasionally heard Tuam pronounced as "chew 'em", but I'm pretty sure anyone using that variant isn't from Houston.  

"Kirkendall" is the correct pronunciation of Kuykendall. It's a Dutch thing, not a Houston oddity.

[trymahjong]

What about avondale= ah von dale? But there is a Hathaway street as in Shakespeare wife and also  Stratford street within Avondale…..so should it be like Straford on “Avon”……. A von dale?

[hindesky]

14 hours ago, Dave W said:

The street was Tatar, not Tarter. It was named for developer Herbert Tatar.

It was spelled Tartar St., I can clearly remember seeing the signs and wondering why people where calling it Tatar.

 

[hindesky]

14 hours ago, Dave W said:

The street was Tatar, not Tarter. It was named for developer Herbert Tatar.

I disagree, I lived in Pasadena for 25 yrs, I know I wasn't seeing things and the name was written "Tartar St." on the street signs but pronounced Tatar St. by the locals.

http://www.pasadenatexas.com/non-profit/harris_county_geneological_society.htm

[Dave W]

On 2/28/2022 at 10:38 PM, hindesky said:

I disagree, I lived in Pasadena for 25 yrs, I know I wasn't seeing things and the name was written "Tartar St." on the street signs but pronounced Tatar St. by the locals.

http://www.pasadenatexas.com/non-profit/harris_county_geneological_society.htm

That's a misspelling. I don't care how many organizations or real estate companies misspelled it, it's Tatar.

Look up the history of Pasadena. Consult a city historian. Look up the Herbert Tatar Lumber Company, which he established well before WWII. See what the city says about Herbert Tatar Park https://www.pasadenatx.gov/facilities/facility/details/Tatar-Herbert-Park-79 . Look up the ethnic origin of the name Tatar.

Herbert Tatar's son Curtis was a classmate of mine for several years. I know the street was named after his father, and I know how the family spelled their name.

EDITED TO ADD: go to https://www.oldmapsonline.org/map/usgs/5491873 then view the 1982-83 map (or any of the other 3 historic street maps), enlarge in the area of City Hall and Town Square, and you will see Tatar St.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Dave W

[Highrise Tower]

Road In Between South Main Street & Old Main Street Road.

A decade before Speer Park on Speer Drive, there was a long road connecting South Main Street to Old Main Street Road.

Here's the unknown road dating back to 1944.

Any ideas on what this road was called? It's one street after present-day McNee Road.

The road hits the corner of the Main Street Auto Speedway.

Here's the road surrounded by the present-day streets.  The road crosses Kirby Drive.

Edit:

A decade after this, in the 1950s, there was an amusement park called Speer Park located off of South Main on Speer Drive.  The road aligns with the unknown road.  Seems like the road was abandoned by the city and then remade to Speer Drive? Speer Drive did not go all the way through to connect to Old Main Street Road. It stopped about half way.

[Highrise Tower]

wow.

In this 1960s photo of the Astro Domain area, you can see that Fannin Street and West Bellfort were not extended yet.  The bottom road is Holmes Road.

Crazy to see this!

I circled the roads before they were expanded.