Where Buffalo Speedway Got Its Name

[plumber2]

I'm with you Blue92. Even though the Heritage article is interesting reading it is not always factual. I've just been scrolling around the article and noticed several false statements. One was that Sheperd Drive was named after some investment banker. This is false, it was clearly named after Sheperd's Dam, being called Shpererd's Dam Road on early maps.

The next false statement I spotted was that Holcombe Blvd. was named after the mayor of Bellaire. Oscar Holcombe was a mayor of Houston, not Bellaire.

The last one I spotted before stopping to type this reply was that the streets in Ravenswood where named after some bird becuuse the delveloper wanted to keep the street names natural sounding. That is incorrect because the developer clearly wanted to capitalize on the site of Sam Houston's campground, before he defeated Santa Ana. An earlier name given to Sam Houston by the indians was The Raven.

[NenaE]

Wasn't Shepard's Dam named after the guy who owned the actual property around the bayou, at that location?

[isuredid]

Wasn't Shepard's Dam named after the guy who owned the actual property around the bayou, at that location?

A good write-up on Shepherd's Dam

http://users.hal-pc.org/~lfa/BB25.html

[Geoff8201]

I've heard a theory, (and this may just be people's need to explain things off and look smart) that Buffalo Speedway was planned as a fast route from Buffalo Bayou down to Brays Bayou and beyond, though the lack of that stretch says otherwise, it's not impossible this was it's original intention and to this day from Westheimer on up remains incomplete from the original vision.

Most likely not the case, but I found this theory very interesting and it gets you thinking.

[Riomar]

Both views make sense to me. The Buffalo part coming from the Bayou and the Speedway part coming from the race track.

[Jakfuki]

It has nothing to do with race cars. The real reason as to why they call it Buffalo Speedway is because when the American Indians were still roaming the area, they ran buffalo down into the bayou to kill them for resources. The whole area was a massive plain way back then, and the bayou was the dividing point between the southside and the northside. It's just named that in reference to it being a hunting ground for, and a method of killing buffalo. They'd chase them down into the gorge, and kill what they needed. Another point to keep in mind is that you can't drive faster than 30 mph down Buffalo Speedway. Lol. The street name is deceptive. Someone did once say that there was a track nearby, but it wasn't a racetrack for cars. The neighborhood that was built where the oval track used to be has zero evidence of there ever being a track there. It has been suggested that there was an athletic field over there. As far as the buffalo being run into the bayou, that's true. I can't find the source since it's been years since I learned this; but I it's valid. Speedways aren't deemed as such in reference to racing. There are other streets in the US referred to as such. When I was a kid, I often wondered where the racecars were, but then I grew up. Lol.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Jakfuki