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Memories Of Aldine


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Mark F. Barnes said:
http://www.houstonfreeways.com/images/historical_challenge/A06_N3BHLA5371959_800.jpg

This view looks northbound along the North Freeway from just south of Shepherd/North Freeway Merge into Stubner/Airline Intersection in 1959. Boy they've Built some stuff there since then.

This is for all the North Side Boys to challenge the gray matter they have left!!!

Mark F. Barnes said:
This is for all the North Side Boys to challenge the gray matter they have left!!!
Firebird65 said:
I grew up right smack-dab in the middle of that picture!

Mark, I came across that photo of old U.S. 75 in Houston Freeways and it inspired me to write a history of the area, which I'm working on right now as I post this. I stop in here occasionally to see if anyone has posted anything to help in my research. Was I happy to see this post!

To the left of the future I-45 you can see the beginnings of Hidden Valley. I grew up just to the right of the future I-45 in northline Terrace, which in the 1959 photo is an open field.

Toward the top of the photo you can see the new Aldine High School, which was built at Airline and West Road in 1956 after the original school (on Aldine Westfield and Aldine Bender) burned down on Thanksgiving Eve 1954.

Towards the bottom middle of the photo along what was then North Shepherd Drive (U.S. 75) there are three gasoline storage tanks, which is Exxon's (then Humble's) North Houston Products Terminal. I am trying to find out when these were built. If anyone knows, by all means, let me know.

I'd love to start a thread about the history of the area in the photo, but so far, it seems the board is mostly made up of people who grew up in Sharpstown or along South Main. As best as I can determine, I'm the only person on here who grew up in this area.

Anyone out there who wants to talk about the Aldine/Airline area?

mkultra25 said:
That is an amazing photo - I grew up right in the middle of it as well, in Hidden Valley, and my parents still live there. I assume that's Hidden Valley Drive along the north boundary of that first group of houses built in the neighborhood (dead-ending into US 75 as it heads east), and Sunnywood heading north from there parallel to 75 before crossing what would be SH 249.

When I tell people that are more recent arrivals to that area that it used to be practically out in the country, they find it hard to believe given the massive development that's taken place since then. Unfortunately, flood control improvements haven't kept pace with development, which is why you can count on seeing a shot of the intersection of 249 and 45 under several feet of water on the evening news every time there's significant rainfall in the area.

Firebird65 said:
Alright! A fellow northsider!

Yes, that is Hidden Valley Drive dead-ending into 75 and Sunnywood is the north/south street paralleling it. That's Hidden Valley Section 1 and construction started in 1958.

There's a story in the Houston Chronicle interviewing former Aldine ISD supertendent W.W. Thorne talking about the area being nothing but a treeless plain when he bought a house there in 1958. The reason he bought there? Basically because there was nothing else around!

I have an ad from 1966 touting homes in Hidden Valley Section 5 for $115 a month. Wow!

I was doing research through old newspapers last night at U.H. and came across ads for McMahon Chevrolet, which opened in January 1971 at Hidden Valley and I-45. You might be interested in knowing that the Texaco station at that same corner and the Shell at West Mount Houston and I-45 (both incorporating Hidden Valley in their names) were built in 1963 along with the freeway. The now-closed Kroger was built in 1966 and remodeled in 1974. The Hidden Valley Shopping Center apparently was built in 1969 and consisted of a Madsen-Dugan Pharmacy, a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, a TG&Y and later a Weiners.

I've got lots more if you're interested, including info on roads stores, etc., and I'd love to hear anything you've got on the area. As I've said, I'm doing a history on the area. Actually it's a history of the Aldine Mustangs football team and I'm incorporating facts about how the area has grown and changed to add some flavor to it.

Perhaps we should start a new thread? That way others might more easily find it and can join in rather than having it buried as off topic in this unrelated one.

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Aldine/Airline Area Primer

Start dates for various places within the photo... or, make that WILL BE in the photo (feel free to add or correct)

Neighborhoods

Donnybrook Place - 1940?

Blue Bell Place - 1940?

Airline Farms - 1942

Hidden Valley - 1958

North Shepherd Plaza - 1960

Northline Terrace - 1964

Imperial Valley - 1966

Greenridge North - 1968

Schools

Aldine High School - 1956 (moved from Aldine Westfield at Aldine Bender)

Aldine Ninth Grade Center - 1999

Stovall Junior High School - 1964?

Hidden Valley Elementary School (now Goodman) - 1964

Inez Carroll Elementary (Raymac) - ?

Thompson Elementary - ?

Bussey Elementary - 2003

Carroll Academy - 2003

Businesses

Car Dealerships

McMahon Chevrolet - 1971 (now Landmark)

Goodson Pontiac - 1971 (now Mac Haik Dodge)

Archer AMC - 1973?

Gullo-Haas Toyota - ?

Lone Star Ford - 1973?

North Freeway Datsun - 1974

Leland Lincoln Mercury - ?

Greenspoint Dodge - 1979?

Supermarkets

Lucky 7 - 1956?

Kroger #85 - 1966 (remodeled and renamed #159 in 1974)

Piggly Wiggly/Rice/Price Fighter - 1969

Safeway (I-45 & W Gulf Bank) - 1972

Safeway/Fiesta (Airline & West) - 1973

Randalls - 1975

Strip Shopping Centers (Main Tenant)

W Mt Houston and I-45 (UToteM) - 1965?

W Gulf Bank and Cheswick (UToteM) - 1966

SE corner of W Gulf Bank and I-45 (Ricardos Rest) - 1967

W Gulf Bank and Cobbleshire - 1968

Hidden Valley (Piggly Wiggly) - 1969

Airline and Goodson - 1972

Greenridge Plaza (Safeway) - 1973

Corum North (Randalls) - 1975

Airline at Buckboard - 1977

Northridge? - 1979 (at I-45 and Aldine Bender. Got the correct name in a notebook somewhere!)

McClendon Towne Crossing (Fry's) - 1993

Greens Crossing (Wal-Mart) - 1996 (expansion from 1989)

Gas Stations

Pearson's Gulf (Airline and W Mount Houston) - 1948?

Hidden Valley Shell - 1963

Hidden Valley Texaco - 1963

Grantham Texaco - 1968

Exxon (W Gulf Bank and I-45) - ? (not the Mobil)

Exxon (W Mt Houston and I-45) - ?

Mobil (W Mt Houston and I-45) ? (Not the one there now).

West Road Shell - 1971?

Sigmor (W Gulf Bank) - 1971 (now Valero)

Williams Shell (I-45 and Aldine Bender) 1971? (got the correct date in a notebook somewhere!)

Mobil (W Gulf Bank and I-45) - 1995 (Texaco now)

Mobil (W Mt Houston and I-45) - 1995 Texaco now)

Fast Food Restaurants

Dairy Queen (Gulf Bank) - 1969

McDonald's (West Road) - 1973

Burger King (Dyna) - 1974?

KFC (W Mt Houston) - 1977 (now Pizza Inn)

Whew! That's enough for now. More to come. Please feel free to add places or categories!

Edited by Firebird65
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McClendon Towne Crossing (Fry's) - 1993

Which was the I-45 Drive-In before that. I'm not sure what was there prior to that.

I grew up near West Mt. Houston and Steubner Airline, by the way. :D

Actually, I have a 1950s map that shows a tiny airport where Airline reaches U.S. 75 (north of where Aldine HS is today). I've never seen it on any other maps. I'm away from my research materials now, or else I'd provide the name of the airstrip.

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Northline Terrace Primer

The Northline Terrace neighborhood sits on land that was at least partially owned by Tommy Okabayashi. Okabayashi established a farm in either 1932 or 1945 at 351 West Gulf Bank Road. (Still need to find exact date - haven't made it to the Harris County Tax Office yet!)

In 1962, a bridge over Halls Bayou was built, extending W Mount Houston Road from U.S. 75 (the North Freeway was under construction) to Airline Drive, taking over portions of the already existing Mosher Lane. In 1964, another bridge was built over Halls Bayou, joining segments of Hacker Road from West Road to Canino. The Road was renamed Sweetwater Lane.

Sometime in the early 1960s (probably 1962 or 1963), Okabayashi sold part of his land. In 1964, the Oak Glen Building Company started development of Northline Terrace Section 1 on 111 acres of land stretching basically from 1-45 east to Cheswick and from W Gulf Bank Road north to Halls Bayou. The 66-acre Section 2 and 9-acre Section 3 were developed in 1965. Section 2 stretches from Cheswick east to Rockcliff and from W Gulf Bank Road to Halls Bayou, save for the 9100 block of Rockcliff. Section 3 is the 9100 of Rockcliff.

Suburban Homes built most of the homes in Section 1 east of Sweetwater (formerly Hacker) and all of the homes in Section 2. Other companies built the homes west of Sweetwater and several of the homes in Section 3 on Rockcliff (which is why they are different from the others).

Sections 1-3 closed out in 1966 at a total of 186 acres.

Northline Terrace Section 4 started development in 1966 south of W Gulf Bank on 42 acres stretching from W Gulf Bank south to Arrowdale. The 26-acre Section 5 opened in 1968 and went from Arrowdale south to Canino.

Most of the homes in Northline Terrace range in size from roughly 900 square foot to about 1100 square foot. All homes were originally single story homes of ranch style construction. Several have been expanded over the years to up to 1400 square feet and many have added multi-story additions. Homes in Sections 1-3 had open ditches in their front yards and asphalt streets. Over the years, many have had these filled in. Homes in Sections 4-5 have covered drainage and concrete, curbed streets.

All students in Sections 1-3 and those in Section 4 north of W Hartwick attend Aldine ISD schools and Aldine Senior High. Those living south of W Hartwick attend Houston ISD schools and are zoned for Sam Houston High.

While once almost exclusively white lower middle class, the area is now overwhelmingly Hispanic. Many of the original businesses and churches in the area have closed and have become something else, generally supporting a Spanish-speaking clientele.

Only the portion west of Sweetwater is in the city of Houston limits, having been annexed in 1978. The remaining portion is in unincorporated Harris County and falls under the recently formed Airline Improvement District. The neighborhood therfore is not served by city of Houston water, sewer or garbage collection and must rely on private companies for these. Water and sewer is provided by the Sunbelt Freshwater Supply District.

The Airline Improvement District, formed in 2005, supposedly aims to improve basic services such as water, serwer and public safety as these areas have proved a challenge as the neighborhood and surrounding community's demographics have changed.

Another challenge has been increased flooding along Halls Bayou, despite several drainage "improvements" in the area. In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison innundated Northline Terrace, causing many homes along Halls Bayou to flood from Beaver Bend to Rainy River. Even today, each time it rains, the intersections of I-45 at W Gulf Bank and W Mount Houston flood with increased regularity, even ending up in recent national news stories as photos of people wading through these flooded street appeared on CNN.com.

Please feel free to expand this should you have additional information.

Edited by Firebird65
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Which was the I-45 Drive-In before that. I'm not sure what was there prior to that.

I grew up near West Mt. Houston and Steubner Airline, by the way. :D

Actually, I have a 1950s map that shows a tiny airport where Airline reaches U.S. 75 (north of where Aldine HS is today). I've never seen it on any other maps. I'm away from my research materials now, or else I'd provide the name of the airstrip.

I believe that was Skyline Airfield near where the blimp use to be parked

Spring_TX_76topo.jpg

Edited by Mark F. Barnes
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I believe that was Skyline Airfield near where the blimp use to be parked

Nope. I remember the old blimp base. That was way up near Holzwarth, I think. I was finally able to dig out my 1953 street map.

aldinemapsa2.jpg

It looks like it's where Aldine HS is today.

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Nope. I remember the old blimp base. That was way up near Holzwarth, I think. I was finally able to dig out my 1953 street map.

aldinemapsa2.jpg

It looks like it's where Aldine HS is today.

Yes, I've seen that same map and the airport does appear to be where the current Aldine High School is. According to the November 26, 1954 Houston Post story about the old Aldine High burning down, AISD was appearently already in negotiations to buy this site when the old high school was destroyed Thanksgiving Eve.

Here's the quote:

"The district is now completing negotiations for a 40-acre site for a senior high school building. The bond money is in the district treasury, but, since it is earmarked for the high school site purchase, the money can not be diverted to other purposes."

Now, that was less than 24 hours after the fire and on a holiday. No way thet could have found a site so quickly. So it would appear AISD was going to buy the Gulf Coast Airport site and build a second high school there but when the original Aldine High was destroyed, it became a replacement school rather than a second campus.

As for your earlier question regarding what was originally on the site of the I-45 Drive-In (now McClendon Towne Center), the answer was there was nothing there. It was a vacant field save for a Mobil gas station at the corner of I-45 and West Road, where the Whataburger now stands.

Edited by Firebird65
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This was a little before my time, but I looked at a 1964 map of the city and noticed that Aldine HS was once called Alamo HS. When did the change occur? I thought it was always called Aldine HS.

Yeah, it was before mine too. I looked it up at the public library as part of my research on the football team.

As for AHS being called Alamo HS, not sure where you got that but the current school has always been called Aldine High. The original campus, built in 1936 at Aldine Westfield and Aldine Bender, was also called Marrs High School, named for former Texas state superintendent of schools Starlin Marion Newberry Marrs. Not sure of what the connection was between Marrs and AISD was, especially since he died four years before the school was built, but he must have impressed someone.

Going through newspapers from 1936 to 1954, I've found no record of the school ever being referred to as Marrs High by anyone other than AISD. All news reports, be they general news or sports stories, always call it Aldine High.

Still, I have noticed that other schools were referred to by just the town's name in the news but also had different official names. Port Arthur Jefferson High was always just called Port Arthur until a second campus was built. Baytown Lee was called just Baytown in the news until Sterling came along. And the original Conroe High was officially called David Crockett HS by the Conroe ISD although I never saw any mention of that in either the Post, Chronicle or Conroe Courier.

Edited by Firebird65
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Here's where I picked up the Alamo HS reference. I tried to find some kind of history on the AISD Web site, but I didn't have much luck.

alamohsbx6.jpg

That's an interesting map, to say the least. Where did you get it?

There are numerous discepancies that either were planned and never came to pass or are just outright errors on the part of the mapmaker.

Too many to list now. I've got to pick up the dog from the groomers. When I come back, I'll go into more detail. But I'd love to see more of that map, particularly just a bit to the south, where Northline Terrace and Hidden Valley are.

Gotta run... wife's giving me the evil eye...

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Yes, that is Hidden Valley Drive dead-ending into 75 and Sunnywood is the north/south street paralleling it. That's Hidden Valley Section 1 and construction started in 1958.

My parents live in the section yet to be constructed in the photo, west of Sunnywood and north of Hidden Valley Drive.

I was doing research through old newspapers last night at U.H. and came across ads for McMahon Chevrolet, which opened in January 1971 at Hidden Valley and I-45. You might be interested in knowing that the Texaco station at that same corner and the Shell at West Mount Houston and I-45 (both incorporating Hidden Valley in their names) were built in 1963 along with the freeway. The now-closed Kroger was built in 1966 and remodeled in 1974. The Hidden Valley Shopping Center apparently was built in 1969 and consisted of a Madsen-Dugan Pharmacy, a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, a TG&Y and later a Weiners.

I remember that Texaco station well. Mr. Futrell, the owner, lived a few houses down the street from us when I was growing up. Also spent a lot of time in the stores in the Hidden Valley Shopping Center as a kid. The Dugan's Drugs had a great lunch counter with a grill and soda fountain. Wasn't Piggly Wiggly the first supermarket to be built in that area? The closest one I can remember before that was an A&P in Northtown Plaza at 45 and Tidwell.

I've got lots more if you're interested, including info on roads stores, etc., and I'd love to hear anything you've got on the area. As I've said, I'm doing a history on the area. Actually it's a history of the Aldine Mustangs football team and I'm incorporating facts about how the area has grown and changed to add some flavor to it.

It's pretty rare to run across anyone who even knows where Hidden Valley is, let alone anything about the history of the area. If you're doing a history of the Mustangs, have you talked to W. W. Thorne himself? He'd probably be interested in something like this, and was certainly "present at the creation", as it were, of a lot of the things under discussion in this thread.

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Aldine/Airline Area Primer

Start dates for various places within the photo... or, make that WILL BE in the photo (feel free to add or correct)

Supermarkets

Lucky 7 - 1956?

Kroger #85 - 1966 (remodeled and renamed #159 in 1974)

Piggly Wiggly/Rice/Price Fighter - 1969

Safeway (I-45 & W Gulf Bank) - 1972

Safeway/Fiesta (Airline & West) - 1973

Randalls - 1975

Whoops, I need to read for content more carefully - I glossed over your mention of the Kroger when I posted my earlier question about Piggly Wiggly being the first supermarket in the area. Now that you mention it, I do recall the Kroger and the Piggly Wiggly coexisting at the same time, but my memory's obviously a bit fuzzy as I was only two years old when the Kroger was built.

Where was the Lucky 7? The only one in the area I can think of was on Airline at Carby Rd - it's now the Airline Grocery, and you can barely make out what remains of the old Lucky 7 sign. My aunt used to live right down the street from there, on Carby Rd - she owned a nice-sized chunk of land there, some of which she eventually sold to the people who started the trailer park that's still there.

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It's a 1964 Texaco street map with credit given to Rand McNally. I picked it up off eBay a few years back.

Here's a link to the area you mentioned in the previous post.

hiddenvalleyrx3.th.jpg

At first I thought that map was from much earlier than 1964 based on how the original one you posted had both Aldine Sr and Jr Highs next to each other on Aldine Bender. I was considering the possibility that Alamo High was the intended name for the possible proposed school that might have been built as a second AISD high school, but that ended up being a replacement for the original Aldine High when it burned.

But upon looking at your latest segment, I know now that the year 1964 is correct. The reason is that is shows the Hacker/Sweetwater bridge over Halls Bayou, which a sign on the bridge says was constructed at that same time. If you look very closely at the 1959 picture, you can see there is no bridge there.

However, looking at the rest of each map, there are numerous errors, which makes for a great post on your part because it's always fun to find goofs on a map or in a book or movie.

Discounting for changes that could have taken place as the map was being printed... the obvious errors in fact are:

Balasan Plaza should be Balaban Plaza

Aldine Senior High is in the wrong place

Alamo Senior High is actually Aldine High

W Mt Houston at I-45 isn't drawn right that's not the way the roadway runs. Plus it's identified as Westbrook, which is a different street.

Frazerlane St is actually Frazer St

Things that might be errors or simple changes made after the map was printed:

Houston Gardens - I've never heard of such a neighborhood

Contreras Estates - Another neighborhood I've never heard of. However, this could have been the working name for Imperial Valley as the name appears over at least part of the area the will be occupied by IV. The name Contreras stems from the 1846 Simon Contreras land survey which you can find mentioned on plats of the area.

Aldine Road - I believe Aldine Road had already been renamed as Aldine Bender by this time, but I could well be wrong on this one.

Hidden Valley Section 8 - that is the part of the neighborhood south of W Gulf Bank. That wasn't built until 1972 - 1974, so what's it doing on that map, I don't know. Perhaps it was originally to be built earlier, but the developer changed his mind.

W Gulf Bank - this road wasn't a divided road with an esplande east of I-45 as the map shows.

Still, who knows who drew the map, where they were when they drew it or what information they gathered when preparing it. Could be honest mistakes, things that changed after they published it or maybe they never figured a couple of people would be dissecting it on a Saturday afternoon via the Internet 42 years later!

Thanks for posting it.

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Whoops, I need to read for content more carefully - I glossed over your mention of the Kroger when I posted my earlier question about Piggly Wiggly being the first supermarket in the area. Now that you mention it, I do recall the Kroger and the Piggly Wiggly coexisting at the same time, but my memory's obviously a bit fuzzy as I was only two years old when the Kroger was built.

Where was the Lucky 7? The only one in the area I can think of was on Airline at Carby Rd - it's now the Airline Grocery, and you can barely make out what remains of the old Lucky 7 sign. My aunt used to live right down the street from there, on Carby Rd - she owned a nice-sized chunk of land there, some of which she eventually sold to the people who started the trailer park that's still there.

The Lucky 7 Supermarket (aka the Fairview Supermarket) was at W Gulf Bank and Airline, just off the right of the pic. To my knowledge, it was the first supermarket in the area in question. Today it is some kind of auto repair shop and unless you knew it was a grocery store, you'd never be able to guess it now.

I looked it up in the old phone books in the Texas Room. Unfortunately, I can't now decipher my notes. On one page I have it being there (meaning having a phone number) in 1956. Yet on another page, I say it has a phone number in 1951. Oops! Which is right? For some reason I keep thinking it only became a Lucky 7 in 1956 and was simply called Fairview before that. But I somehow neglected to right that down. That was smart!

If you never went in there, count yourself as... pardon the pun... lucky. The neighbor who carpooled me to elementary school wold often stop there when she didn't have time to fix her kid lunch. I remember two things about the place. One was the cool sign the owner put on the courtesy booth that said the store was protected five days a week by Smith and Weston... you guess which days. LOL! Second was the gawdaful smell in the place. It was like they hadn't cleaned the place since the 1950s... be it 1951 or 1956!

As for the Kroger, I worked there in high school and college. My mom shopped there since it opened and a lady at our old church worked there from 1968 to the day it closed, including when I was there. She knows all about it. I remember the Piggly Wiggly not because we shopped there but because... don't laugh... I thought it was Porky Pig's store. LOL! What can I say... I was a kid.

As for W.W. Thorne... is the guy still alive? The Harris County Appraisal District still lists him as the owner of his house, but I figure the guy's gotta be close to 90.

Edited by Firebird65
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However, looking at the rest of each map, there are numerous errors, which makes for a great post on your part because it's always fun to find goofs on a map or in a book or movie.

Hah! Stuff like that has taught me to never take a map as the God-honest truth. Even Mapquest has been known to get stuff wrong.

Could be honest mistakes, things that changed after they published it or maybe they never figured a couple of people would be dissecting it on a Saturday afternoon via the Internet 42 years later!
I'm sure they would have put more effort into it had they known that! :lol:
As for the Kroger, I worked there in high school and college.

That's probably the first grocery store I can recall going to. I have lots of memories of shopping there, playing video games at the entrance, and going to the Farm and Home Savings across the parking lot.

As for W.W. Thorne... is the guy still alive? The Harris County Appraisal District still lists him as the owner of his house, but I figure the guy's gotta be close to 90.

My dad attended North Harris College sometime in the mid-1970s. He said W.W. Thorne would stand outside and greet students coming to class.

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As for W.W. Thorne... is the guy still alive? The Harris County Appraisal District still lists him as the owner of his house, but I figure the guy's gotta be close to 90.

Very much alive, healthy and active. He's in his early 80s and still lives in Hidden Valley. My dad talks to him fairly regularly as they've both served for years in the neighborhood civic club.

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What does this mean when you're trying to post a picture on the board?

Sorry, dynamic pages in the %7Boption%7D tags are not allowed

I loaded a map on imagevenue then tried to download it here using the "Insert Image" button. I copied the url and when I hit "Add Reply" that's what I got.

What in the world is a "dynamic page"???

It will let me insert a link, but not an image:

AISD Map

It's a satellite image of the Aldine ISD. I photoshopped in the district boundaries and some other info.

KEY

Red Line - Current Aldine ISD boundary

Blue Line - Aldine High School area (the area covered in my history report)

White Line - Aldine Township

Green Line - Northline Terrace Subdivision (Sections 1-3)

AISD High Schools Past and Present

1 - Aldine High School (1956

Edited by Firebird65
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That's the area Klein picked up from the defunct North Houston district. for someone who lives in that area, it must be a real bear to have to go to one of the Klein high schools so far away.

Yeesh, it sure is. Those kids have to go to Klein Forest up on Bammel North Houston, south of Champions! I don't know why AISD never acquired that area near Acres Homes.

Looking back, I went to Eisenhower and other AISD schools in the area, and I can't name one person who attended those Klein schools. It's like they were part of another world or something.

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Incomplete list of Aldine ISD Superintendents

If anyone can complete the list, by all means...

S.F. Fenton - was superintendent in 1936 (start and end dates unknown)

J.S. "Johnnie" Elsik - was superintendent in 1954 (start and end dates unknown)

W.W. Thorne - 1958 to 1973

M.O. Campbell - 1973 to 1986

M.B. "Sonny" Donaldson - 1986 to 2001

Nadine Kujawa - 2001 to present

If no one knows any other superintendents, I'd just settle for this: What's up with all the initials? LOL! Was that some kind of prerequisite for the job at one time?

Incomplete list of AISD Athletic Directors

If you know of others, please feel free to add...

Swede Lee - ? to 1979

Elliot Lansford - 1979 to 1990

Joe Young - 1990 to 2003

Darryl Wade - 2003 to present

Incomplete list of Aldine H.S. principals

Same as above... if you can add to this, by all means have at it...

J.E. Borden - 1936 to ?

M.B. "Sonny" Donaldson - 1974 to 1978

Vernon Lewis - 1978 to 1986

Ralph Norman - 1986 to 1998

Ron Galindo - 1998 to 2003

Cecil Hutson - 2003 to present

Aldine Mustang Head Football Coaches

Arnold Orsak - 1936 to 1946

Bruce Kivell - 1947 to 1953

Billy Cooper - 1954 to 1961

Larry Rice - 1962 to 1965

Hugh Harkridger - 1966 to 1967

Barton Massey - 1968 to 1974

Bill Smith - 1975 to 2003

Bob Jones - 2003 to present

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Was the district of any help? I'm sure there has to be some district historian at AISD.

Haven't gotten around to asking them yet. I'm still compiling football scores and stories. 70 years worth of football takes awhile to look up Good thing I don't have a life!

The district and local area histories are filler materials to make for a more rounded story, so I'll probsbly do those last. Still, in the course of looking up football info, I have picked up some of the nuggets I posted above and throughout the thread. Once I get through with the football, I'll focus exclusively on the other facets of Aldine life... provided, of course, I ever get through.

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Once I get through with the football, I'll focus exclusively on the other facets of Aldine life... provided, of course, I ever get through.

When I was in elementary school back in the 1980s, we had a section on Aldine/Texas history. We were given these blue books that described the various areas of the state, etc. I remember the book said the name Aldine may have come from the trains that used to stop in the area. The conductor would yell "ALL DINE" when the train pulled into the area. From there, the name Aldine came to be.

That may not be the truth, but it was taught to us schoolkids!

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When I was in elementary school back in the 1980s, we had a section on Aldine/Texas history. We were given these blue books that described the various areas of the state, etc. I remember the book said the name Aldine may have come from the trains that used to stop in the area. The conductor would yell "ALL DINE" when the train pulled into the area. From there, the name Aldine came to be.

That may not be the truth, but it was taught to us schoolkids!

That's the prevailing story, but there are those who doubt it. Some other folks say the town was named after the Aldine Press in renaissance Italy, but that's really farfetched.

The Houston Chronicle ran a story on april 14, 2005 where the Reeves family, descendents of some of the early settlers in the area, talked about some of the ideas on how the area got its name. Here's the quote:

Name's a mystery

One story claims that early railroad conductors inadvertently named the town by shouting, "All dine!" when early trains stopped for passengers to eat in the area, formerly known as Prairie Switch.

Carolyn dismisses that explanation, which has not been documented.

The Reeves have heard of other possibilities. Some people told them the area was named for an early pioneer. Others believe settlers named Aldine after a Kansas town with the same name. But these accounts also are undocumented, Carolyn said.

Maybe the last one seems the most plausible, but who really knows?

As Carolyn Reeves mentions, the town was originally called Prairie Switch, starting in 1873. Before that, supposedly it was called Greens. I've seen an 1883 map that refers to Prairie (Switch was left off) along the International-Great Northern Railroad 13 miles north of Houston between Crosstimbers and Westfield. A 1900 map shows it as Aldine, so when exactly the name change took place, I don't know.

However, what's sorta strange is that, technically, the area we are discussing in this thread - the area in the picture at the top - isn't really Aldine at all. There isn't an offical name for this area even though Aldine High School is in it.

Specifically, Aldine (the town as plannned) was the area at Hardy and Aldine Bender. If you look on the 1964 map posted earlier, it shows a small grid of streets at that locale. The original schools were built just to the east at Aldine Bender and Aldine Westfield. You can also say the Aldine community could be considered everything from Greens Bayou south to Aldine Mail Route and from Lillja on the west to Aldine Westfield on the east. Those aren't even in the photo.

The Aldine School district cuts a 111 square mile swath of land across north Harris County, but that includes several other communities with their own histories - some still around, some long since absorbed by Houston and vanished into history. The closest actual community to Northline Terrace wasn't Aldine, but Brubaker, which joined with Aldine, Westfield and the long vanished township of Higgs to form Common School District #29 (AISD after 1935) in 1932. Brubaker was around where Aldine Mail Route and Airline intersect, although I haven't found an exact location.

I've seen a small effort lately to classify the area in the photo east of I-45 to Hardy from Canino to Aldine Bender as "Airline." That's the basis of the name for the Airline Community Improvement District started last year. The reason is, they explain, that Airline forms the "Main Street" of the area. There is an Aldine Community Improvement District and it consists of the area from Hardy east to the Eastex Freeway from about Little York north to the Beltway. Both districts split the original Aldine area, but also include other neighborhoods as well.

In my report, I intend to call the area where the original Aldine High School (aka Marrs) as Aldine. When I talk about the area I grew up in and where Aldine High relocated, I'll call that Aldine/Airline. Unless someone has something better. I'm all up for ideas... which is why I'm here.

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Yeesh, it sure is. Those kids have to go to Klein Forest up on Bammel North Houston, south of Champions! I don't know why AISD never acquired that area near Acres Homes.

Looking back, I went to Eisenhower and other AISD schools in the area, and I can't name one person who attended those Klein schools. It's like they were part of another world or something.

I sure wish they would have. Klein Forest has a black eye because of it.

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This 1895 map shows Aldine. I haven't yet been able to find any evidence that a farming family named Aldine ever lived in that area.

Aldine2pg.jpg

Yeah, I doubt that story about it being named after a farmer, too. There's a historical marker on Aldine Bender that states most of the families living in the area were of Swedish descent and Aldine doesn't sound very Swedish to me.

I think it most likely that Aldine was named after the Kansas town of the same name. But that then brings up the question: What was Aldine, Kansas named for? LOL!

BTW, if you grew up in the area as I did and wondered about the name of the road Aldine Bender and more specifically, what was the Bender part of Aldine Bender, there's an answer to that.

Bender was a community located, naturally enough, at the other end of Aldine Bender about where the road intersects with the Eastex Freeway. Early rural roads were often named for their terminal points, so Aldine Bender was the road going from Aldine to Bender, Aldine Westfield was the name of the road from Aldine to Westfield. Addicks-Howell on the westside went from Addicks to Howell (wherever that was) and so on.

Edited by Firebird65
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Yeah, I doubt that story about it being named after a farmer, too. There's a historical marker on Aldine Bender that states most of the families living in the area were of Swedish descent and Aldine doesn't sound very Swedish to me.

I think it most likely that Aldine was named after the Kansas town of the same name. But that then brings up the question: What was Aldine, Kansas named for? LOL!

BTW, if you gre up in the area as I did and wondered about the name of the road Aldine Bender and more specifically, what was the Bender part of Aldine Bender, there's an answer to that.

Bender was a community located, naturally enough, at the other end of Aldine Bender about where the road intersects with the Eastex Freeway. Early rural roads were often named for their terminal points, so Aldine Bender was the road going from Aldine to Bender, Aldine Westfield was the name of the road from Aldine to Westfield. Addicks-Howell on the westside went from Addicks to Howell (wherever that was) and so on.

Addicks Howell is named for going between Addicks (SE corner of I-10 and Highway 6) and Howellville. The center of Howellville is at the intersection of Howell-Sugarland Road and Alief-Clodine (which is just east of Highway 6 and Alief Clodine).

Additional roads Dairy Ashford go between the towns of "Dairy" (a seldom used name for Alief) and "Ashford", a town up near the US290 area. Howell-Sugarland Road go between Howellville and Sugarland.

Kevin

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Addicks Howell is named for going between Addicks (SE corner of I-10 and Highway 6) and Howellville. The center of Howellville is at the intersection of Howell-Sugarland Road and Alief-Clodine (which is just east of Highway 6 and Alief Clodine).

Additional roads Dairy Ashford go between the towns of "Dairy" (a seldom used name for Alief) and "Ashford", a town up near the US290 area. Howell-Sugarland Road go between Howellville and Sugarland.

Kevin

I live on the westside now and have driven through the middle of Howellville and never known it. How about that!

Thanks for the update.

Edited by Firebird65
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I live on the westside now and have driven through the middle of Howellville and never known it. How about that!

Thanks for the update.

Yep. Here's the entry from the Handbook of Texas:

Howellville, south of Brays Bayou near the Fort Bend county line and ten miles southwest of Houston in southwestern Harris County, began as a station on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. It was named for T. E. Howell, owner of the townsite.

It shows up on my 1953 map of Houston. As for Dairy Ashford, the road at that time must have run from U.S. 90 to Beeler Road (Westheimer).

The Handbook of Texas reports that Ashford (along with Thompson Switch) is another name for Satsuma.

Also, now that I remember this, there was an effort to have the I-45/Dyna, West Road area designated as part of the Texas Independence Trail. I don't know what came of it, but apparently some fighters traveled through the area en route to San Jacinto.

In fact, there's a mural on the side of a building (if it hasn't been ruined by graffitti) on Airline Road in that area that depicts Texas independence. It's been a few years since I've seen it, but I think that's what it depicted. I know it was tied to the supposed link to Texas independence.

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