Burbank, Texas - The City That Never Was

[Firebird65]

Came across a story in an October 1952 Houston Chronicle talking about the faltering prospects for the proposed city of Burbank, Texas. Anyone else ever heard of this or know any details?

According to the story, the city was to have stretched from the then-U.S. 75 (North Shepherd) on the west to Hardy on the east, and from Tidwell on the south to Halls Bayou on the north. None of this area was in the Houston city limits at that time and there was no such thing as a five-mile extraterratorial jurisdiction as there is today to effectively thwart any attempt at incorporating a new town.

Apparently the idea for Burbank was in its death throes in October of that year as residents along Gulf Bank and Halls Bayou were pretty vocal against becoming part of a new town. So apparently it died not long after.

Was this Burbank ever a real possibility or just a pie in the sky notion? How far along did it get? Anyone know?

Here's a 1952 map of Houston with Burbank's proposed limits in blue:

[musicman]

I know Burbank Elementary is over there. But not sure of anything beyond that.

[Gilder]

I know Burbank Elementary is over there. But not sure of anything beyond that.

Could it be this Musicman?

The following is copied from http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online...s/PP/rkp21.html and not my own writings:

Ten months later Capt. Sidney Burbank, with companies A, B, and F, First Infantry Regiment, arrived at Captain Veatch's campsite on the Rio Grande. Burbank had orders to establish a new post but he bypassed Veatch's location and continued upriver two miles to a more elevated plain, where, on March 27, 1849, his soldiers pitched their tents. He reported his location as "Camp near Eagle Pass, R

[musicman]

I don't think that's it. It appears that there is also a burbank middle school on Berry rd. As i was thinking i do remember Luther Burbank but the hisd website only had burbank elementary and burbank middle school. All the other schools' names have the full name of the person not just a last name. I did find the elementary's website and it does concur on the Luther Burbank name. He was a big horticulturalist with many patents. Evidently he also is the one who invented the Burbank potato.

[FilioScotia]

I think some of it WAS built. I see several maps in the Harris County Block books for Burbank and they look to be in that general vicinity and some of the street names are still the same. Interestingly enough...one of the streets was called Luther...and that street still exists

I found a master directory of schools on HISD's website where the elementary school and the middle school are both listed under the name Luther Burbank. When you get there click on the appropriate heading.

http://www.houstonisd.org/HISD/portal/arti...6_18765,00.html

I'm guessing that somewhere waaaaay back along the line some local admirer of Luther Burbank wanted to incorporate a new town and name it for him.

Interestingly, the city of Burbank, California is NOT named for Luther Burbank. It's named for Dr. David Burbank, a 19th century rancher-business tycoon who owned most of the land that became the town named for him. I never knew that till today, when I was googling around looking for information on the subject of this conversation.

[Guest Marty]

I think the Burbank ideal feel apart when they didn't extend Gulfbank road in the 1950s i seen a old 1940s planning map on another thread were it showed they wanted to extend Gulf bank road to the Eastex Freeway. The rapid growth of new subdivisions like Oakwilde in the 1950s made it impossible to get the Right of Way for the road.

[VicMan]

The odd thing is that the proposed city boundaries is that only a small section of the proposed Burbank city limits is zoned to Burbank ES (see http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...s/BurbankES.pdf ).

I'm not sure if the development of the schools would have been affected by the existence of a city of Burbank. Either way, I found today's zoning boundaries and applied them to the proposed city limits.

The zoning for the (proposed) Burbank city limits would be like this if today's zoning was in effect:

The section south of Gulf Bank Road is in Houston ISD.

The city would be zoned to several elementary schools:

* Barrick ES ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...s/BarrickES.pdf )

* Burbank ES (See http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/LyonsES.pdf )

* DeChaumes ES (See http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...DeChaumesES.pdf )

* Durkee ES ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...s/DurkeeES.pdf )

* Highland Heights ES ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...ndHeightsES.pdf )

* Joe E. Moreno ES ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda.../JEMorenoES.pdf )

* Lyons ES ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...LyonsES.pdf )

* Northline ES ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...NorthlineES.pdf )

* Osborne ES ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...s/OsborneES.pdf )

* Wesley ES ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...ps/WesleyES.pdf )

The city would be divided between several middle schools:

* Burbank MS ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...s/BurbankMS.pdf )

* Fonville MS ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda.../FonvilleMS.pdf )

* Henry MS ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolboundarymaps/HenryMS.pdf )

* Williams MS ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda.../WilliamsMS.pdf )

The city would be divided between two high schools

* Sam Houston HS ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...s/HoustonHS.pdf )

* Booker T. Washington HS ( http://dept.houstonisd.org/ab/schoolbounda...ashingtonHS.pdf )

The (small) section north of Gulf Bank Road is in Aldine ISD.

Aldine ISD zoned schools:

Early Childhood:

* Keeble EC/PK & Head Start Center

* Hinojosa EC/PK & Head Start Center

Elementary:

* Carroll Academy

* Raymond Academy

Intermediate:

* Reed Academy

* Stehlik Intermediate School

Middle:

* Grantham Academy

* Stovall Middle School

High:

* Aldine 9th Grade and Aldine High School

Barrick Elementary School, Carroll Academy, DeChaumes Elementary School, Durkee Elementary School, Lyons Elementary School, Joe E. Moreno Elementary School, Northline Elementary School, Fonville Middle School, and Sam Houston High School would be in the city of Burbank if the city existed.