"Historic Houston Streets, the stories behind the names"
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Selections of streets from the book beginning with the letter "A".
Abbott: Newton C. – Born in New York in the 1850s, Abbott came to Houston in 1900 and opened his law practice. He gave some of his westside land to thecity for the construction of a school. Consequently the street and the school were named for him. The school no longer exists but the building hada short reincarnation as a hamburger stand in the early 1980s. 20
Abercrombie:The Abercrombie were significant landowners in Houston. However, they made their fortune in the oilfield equipment business. James Smithers “Jim” Abercrombie invented the blowout preventer to keep an oilwell under control when large pockets of high-pressure gas were hit while drilling. He partnered with Harry Cameron to found Cameron Iron Works, acompany that became a world leader in the manufacture of oil well equipment.
18Academy: Developers of West University Place chose to name many of thestreets in their addition for famous colleges and universities in keeping with the neighborhood’s proximity to Rice University (nee Institute). Since
academy is defined as “a secondary or college preparatory school, especially
a private one,” it only makes sense that it is located in this community
with its focus on higher learning. 11Adams: John - Based on the historical evidence of accomplishments during his
term as President of the United States it would seem this street is named
for John and not his son John Quincy. A revolutionary hero, signatory of the
Declaration of Independence and George Washington’s Vice President, John
Adams became the 2nd President of the United States (1789-1801). He was the
first President to live in the White House. 12Addicks: Henry J. - “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night
stayed this courier from the swift completion of his appointed rounds” and
as a result Mr. Addicks was honored by several roads in west Houston bearing
his name including Addicks-Clodine, Addicks-Fairbanks and Addicks-Howell. He
was the first postman in Addicks, Texas, a village named for him in 1884.
Prior to that date, the town was known as Bear Creek (named for the nearby
waterway), Bear Hill and Letitia. 30Addicks-Howell: T. E. Howell was a principal landowner of a village on the
Harris/Fort Bend County lines named Howellville. It was a stop on the Texas
& New Orleans Railroad. Except for the street named for Mr. Howell,
Howellville has passed into history. 52Addicks-Satsuma: (See Dairy Ashford.)
Addison: Joseph - Often in an attempt to make a neighborhood appear more
intellectual than those around it, a real estate developer will name the
streets for well-known authors, poets and playwrights. This practice caught
on in our fair city many
years ago. Addison was an Englishman who wrote poems, prose and essays.
These works were often published in The Tatler, a magazine he founded. 31Affirmed: Winner of the 1978 Kentucky Derby and the last Triple Crown
(Derby, Preakness and Belmont) winner. His battles with rival Alydar were
the stuff of racing legend. While Affirmed defeated Alydar for the Crown,
each race was closer than the previous one. 13Agassi Ace: Andre Agassi is an American tennis professional. An early
phenom, he gained a reputation of not being able to win the big matches. He
eventually proved his critics wrong by capturing major titles at Wimbledon
(1992), the U.S. Open (1994 and 1999), the Australian Open (1995 and 2001)
and the French Open (1999). He is one of only a few tennis players to have
won each Grand Slam tournament. 44Airline: On a 1930 city map North Main appears to dead end at Airline, a
street that goes north on the map straight as an arrow. Near the outskirts
of town Airline became U.S. Highway 75, the main route to Dallas before the
construction of Interstate 45. The story is that the street was named
because this was the route an airline would fly to go directly to Dallas. 23Airport: This boulevard is the main thoroughfare fronting William P. Hobby
Airport from which it derives it name. One of Houston’s longer streets it
runs from the Gulf Freeway on the east into Fort Bend County on the west. 14
A.J. Foyt: A Houston native, Foyt was the first racecar driver to win four
Indianapolis 500s (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977). He also won the Daytona 500 and
the
24-hours of Le Mans. 43Aladdin: He was the boy hero of Arabian Nights who possessed a magic lamp
that contained two genies. When he rubbed the lamp they would appear and do
his bidding.Alamo: If this name is not familiar possibly some lighter reading would be
appropriate.Aldine: This small village on Houston’s north side was a station on the
International-Great Northern Railroad beginning in the 1890s. The place and
the streets were named after a family who owned a farm in the area. Today
Aldine is usually connected with another name such as Aldine-Mail,
Aldine-Bender, Aldine-Westfield, etc. 26Alief-Clodine: The earliest settlers of the town of Dairy were John S. and
Alief Ozelda Magee. Mrs. Magee’s first application for a post office was
rejected because of possible confusion with another Texas town so the
citizens decided to honor her by changing the name to Alief. In the early
days she operated the post office out of the front room of her home.
Clodine, in Fort Bend County, was a station on the San Antonio & Aransas
Pass Railroad. It was named for a railroad employee named Clodine King. 10,
29Alexander: Robert – This early Baytown citizen was a well known Methodist
missionary in the 1840s. He founded what is today known as the Cedar Bayou
United Methodist Church. This sanctuary was originally called Alexander
Chapel. 50Allen Parkway: Our city’s laissez faire attitude has been part of our warp
and woof from the beginning. In 1836 two New York real estate speculators,
John Kirby Allen and his brother Augustus Chapman Allen, bought half a
league of land on Buffalo Bayou, just north of the town of Harrisburg. As
the Bayou was deep enough for navigation, they laid out a town and named it
after General Sam Houston. The rest is history and an interesting story it
is. John died of disease just two years after the city’s founding. Augustus
lived until 1864 when he passed away from pneumonia. This beautiful parkway
was called Buffalo Drive until its name was changed in 1961 to honor
Houston’s Founding Fathers. 47Allen Street: There are two possible sources for this street. The most
likely is Henry R. Allen, the brother of city founders John and Augustus
Allen. He was an early landowner in the Sixth Ward where parts of this
street are located. Allen was also a city alderman, helped organize the
first Chamber of Commerce in 1840 and strongly backed the creation of a
deep-water port in Houston. Next is Augustus C. Allen, a co-founder of
Houston and the owner of a large tract of land north of where this street is
located The street first appeared on a city map in 1839. 48Almeda-Genoa: This road runs between the southwestern Harris County towns of
Almeda, named by Dr. Willis King for his daughter, to the town of Genoa
(named for the Italian city by its founder J. H. Burnett) it ran along the
Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railroad line. 27, 28Altic: Russell – See sidebar Houston Streets Named for Men Killed During
World War I. page 10 25Alvin-Sugar Land: In 1876 Alvin Morgan founded the town of Alvin as a
station on the Houston Tap & Brazoria Railroad. Sugar Land is named for the
sugar cane fields and sugar mill located there. Up until the mid-1940s the
Imperial Sugar Company operated the world’s largest sugar refinery here. 32,
33Alydar: This thoroughbred may be the best racehorse to ever place second. In
1977 as a two-year-old colt Alydar began what was to become a legendary
rivalry with Affirmed (see Affirmed). These two horses captivated the racing
public with their head to head duels for two years. For the fading Calumet
Farms, the once mythic Kentucky thoroughbred stable, Alydar was a final
burst of glory. Despite losing each Triple Crown race in 1978 to Affirmed,
Alydar’s “never quit” resoluteness earned him place in racing lore. 15
Alysheba: This 1987 Kentucky Derby winner turned in one of the greatest
racing performances of all time. Coming down the stretch Alysheba caught the
rear hooves of race leader Bet Twice. He stumbled and it looked as if horse
and jockey, Chris McCarron, were about to go head over heels. But some how
Alysheba regained his balance, took up the chase again and nipped Bet Twice
at the wire to win by _ of a length. Those who saw the race called
McCarron’s ride the greatest of the 20th century. 16American Petroleum: This early Texas oil company is credited with finding
the massive Goose Creek Oilfield near Baytown. On August 23, 1916 drilling
contractor Charles Mitchell hit pay dirt at 2,017 feet. That well came in at
10,000 barrels per day. Over its productive lifetime this field produced
140,644,377 barrels of crude oil. (See Galliard.) 54Amherst: This street is named for a liberal arts college founded in 1821 in
the small Massachusetts town of the same name. 34Andrews: John – Andrews came from Virginia in the late 1830s and settled in
Houston. He was president of the Buffalo Bayou Company, a maritime services
firm. He bought 10 acres of land in Freedman’s Town where this street is
today. Active in local politics Andrews served as mayor in 1841-42. In
return for granting the city the right of way to put a street through his
property, the street was named for him in about 1890. 45Andrau: Evert Willem Karel – This World War II veteran served in the U.S.
Army Air Corps where he developed his affinity for flying. Born of Dutch
parents in Sumatra, Indonesia, his family immigrated to California prior to
the Japanese capture of Indonesia in the early 1940s. He joined Shell Oil
Company as a geologist and moved to Houston following the close of the War.
Andrau was nicknamed the “Flying Dutchman” as he used a private plane to
visit many remote oil well locations. Andrau Airport was built on a rice
farm he owned out Westheimer Road in 1946. He was killed
in a plane crash in 1951 but his airfield continued to operate for another
47 years. It was sold to real estate developers in 1998 and is now a planned
community. 22Anita: She was one of the daughters of Samuel K. McIlhenny, a wealthy
merchant in early Houston (see McIlhenny). Anita, her sister Rosalie and
their mother Eva made the fatal mistake of going to the family’s beach house
in Galveston on the weekend of September 8, 1900. That was when the most
devastating hurricane in history ripped into Galveston Island killing more
than 7,000 persons, the three women among them. Their bodies were
miraculously recovered and returned to Houston for burial in the family plot
in Glenwood Cemetery. The streets Anita and Rosalie, just south of McIlhenny
Street, first appear on the 1900 Houston map. They were cut between Tuam and
Elgin that year. These streets were named in honor of these sisters, victims
of the Great Storm of 1900. 8Annapolis: Founded in 1845 the United States Naval Academy is located in
Annapolis MD. The nickname of this military college is “Annapolis.” 35Annunciation: Although under law there is a separation of church and state,
Planning & Development may not disallow a street name unless it is
repetition; so developers are free to use religious references on their
plats. This street is named for the Angel Gabriel’s announcement to the
Virgin Mary that Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary and he is the Son
of God. In a possible fit of religious fervor the developer named the street
just to the south Guadalupe, as in the Virgin of. 36Antietam: On September 17, 1862 the bloodiest battle of the War Between the
States occurred. On that morning General Robert E. Lee and 35,000
Confederate soldiers squared off against General George B. McClellan and his
95,000 Union troops. By sundown 4,808 men were dead, the most people ever to
die in a battle on American soil. This place will always be remembered as
“Bloody Antietam.” 1Anzio: In January 1944 Allied troops landed at this Italian beach town to
divert German forces away from Cassino. Because of the success of the attack
here troops were able to the capture Rome in June of that year. Anzio also
happens to be the birthplace of Roman emperors Nero and Caligula. 2
Appian Way: This is the most famous of the Roman roads. Begun in 312 B.C. it
extended more than 350 miles and was the main highway to Greece. It had
connecting roads to Naples and Rome’s seaport. 37Appomattox: This is a small town in south central Virginia where Robert E.
Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at the courthouse on April 9, 1865, thus
ending the Civil War. 3
Archer: This street recalls a ghost town that was located east of Old River.
The settlement existed in the 1830s but was eventually absorbed by the
community of Old River-Winfree, Texas. 49Armour: One of the earliest industrial ventures on the newly opened Houston
Ship Channel in 1914 was the Armour Fertilizer Works. Due to the confluence
of railroads, shipping lines and chemical plants, phosphate was readily
available to be used in the production of fertilizer. This company is also
remembered for the publication of Armour’s Farmers Almanac in the 1920s and
1930s. 5Arnold: Because of its location between Browning and Marlowe, both famous
English authors, it is most likely that this street is named for Matthew
Arnold, an English poet and literary critic. He is remembered for two
volumes of his poetry, Narrative and Elegiac Poems (1869) and Dramatic And
Lyric Poems (1869). There is an outside chance, however, since he is the
least well-known of any writer for whom a West University Place street is
named that the street might recall A. V. Arnold, vice president of Preston
R. Plumb’s Realty Servicing Corporation. It was not unusual for developers
in that neighborhood to name streets for themselves.
(See Plumb and Jarrard.) 53Artesian: In the late 1880s Houston’s water supply was questionable. The
city could not afford to build a water system so a private company dammed
Buffalo Bayou and was selling water from the reservoir. Unfortunately it was
not potable. However, in the early 1890s, it was discovered that Houston was
sitting on a huge supply of pure artesian water. This street is named for
the early well drilled by Houston Water Works on the banks of the Bayou. Old
maps produced by the Sanford Insurance Company clearly show the location of
the well, suction pipes, water pumps and water pipes. 21Arthur: William - Arthur came to Texas in 1850 from Kentucky. He was a
farmer and fought for the Confederacy in the War Between the States. In 1894
his son, Hugh, acquired a small Baytown cemetery where his father is buried.
What makes this story interesting is the Arthur-Hale Cemetery is now inside
the boundaries of the Exxon-Mobile Refinery, the largest refinery in the
United States and to my knowledge the only refinery in America with a
cemetery. Six Texas pioneers are interred here in this 28’x28’ plot. Exxon
and its predecessor, Humble Oil & Refining Company, have maintained the
graveyard since 1919. 55Ardennes: Also known as the “Battle of the Bulge,” this audacious German
attack on the Western front caught Allied forces by surprise in mid-December
of 1944. It was the Nazis last offensive thrust and was the greatest pitched
battle ever fought by American soldiers before or since. More than one
million military personnel were involved in this gargantuan conflict. In
this Allied victory the German Air Force was destroyed with the loss of more
than 300 pilots. 4Ashbel: Born in Connecticut in 1805, Ashbel Smith is one of Texas
Renaissance men. He arrived in Texas just after the Revolution in 1837.
Smith held a medical degree from Yale and was appointed Surgeon General of
the Texas Army. Also a great statesman, he served as Secretary of State of
the Republic of Texas and was charge d’affaires to Great Britain, France,
Belgium and Spain. Following Texas’ admission into the Union ,Smith was
elected to several terms in the State Legislature. He was a veteran of the
Mexican War and the War Between the States. Smith was elected the first
president of the Board of Regents of the University of Texas. It was due to
his diligent efforts that the University’s medical branch was built in
Galveston. The most beautiful building on that campus (designed by architect
Nicholas Clayton) is named in his honor. Most people now know it by its
nickname “Old Red.” 51
Ashland: As Houston Heights co-founders Oscar M. Carter and Daniel D. Cooley
were officers (president and cashier, respectively) of the First National
Bank of Ashland, Nebraska before moving to the Houston area, it is likely
this street is to remember that town. In addition D. D. Cooley was married
in Ashland. 9Atascocita: This road is most likely a misspelling of Atascosito, the
Spanish name for a military trail laid out in the mid-1700s. It extended
from the settlement and fort of Atascosito on the Trinity River through
northern Harris County to Refugio and Goliad in South Texas. Eventually
ranchers used it for driving cattle from Texas to New Orleans. It is
probably the oldest street in the Houston area. 38Auburn: A land grant college in the eastern Alabama town of the same name,
it was founded in 1859. The name was changed to Auburn University in 1960.
42Auden: One of the developers of West University Place and Southside Place
was Austin & Haden. This street is a contraction of the two partners’
surnames, W. D. Haden and D. T Austin. 7Augusta: Augusta Bering was an early resident of Houston. Born here in 1860,
she died in 1901. She was August Bering’s niece. This street is located just
west of Bering Drive in southwest Houston. (See Bering.) 41Austin: Stephen Fuller - He is the Father of Texas. There are volumes
detailing his great accomplishments. Just prior to his untimely death at the
age of 43 in 1836 he wrote, “The prosperity of Texas has been the object of
my labors, the idol of my existence--it has assumed the character of a
religion for the guidance of my thoughts and actions, for fifteen years.”
Why don’t we have men and women of character like Austin in political office
today? On the original map of the city (1836) this street was called Homer
for the Greek poet who authored the Iliad and the Odyssey. The name was
changed 1839. 40Autry: Max – See sidebar Houston Streets Named for Men Killed During World
War I page 10.Avalon: According to Arthurian legend this is the island where the mortally
wounded King Arthur was taken for burial. Some stories say Glastonbury (see
Glastonbury) is actually the Isle of Avalon. 39Avenida de las Americas: Great pressure was placed on the Planning &
Development Department as well as City Council to give a Houston street this
name to honor our neighbors to the south. The consuls from every Central and
South American country in Houston wanted Post Oak Boulevard, the principal
thoroughfare in the Galleria, changed to Avenida de las Americas. However, a
compromise was reached and the new street in front of the George R. Brown
Convention Center was so christened. 24Avondale: Houston historian Betty Chapman says this Montrose area street was
named as the result of a citywide contest. Originally known as “Meyer’s
Pasture” for its owner, Joseph E. Meyer, the 31-acres was sold to the
Greater Houston Improvement Co. in 1907 for the princely sum of $105,000.
Over 600 nominations were received, hoping to claim the $25 prize. Avondale
was selected because of its Shakespearian connection and that it was
“beautiful, musical, historical and appealed to culture, refinement and
intelligence.” William Shakespeare lived in Stratford-on-Avon, England. The
street to the north is Stratford. To the south the street was called
Hathaway, for Shakespeare’s wife, Anne. However, its name was changed years
ago when it was connected to Westheimer. 6Awty School: This short road leads to the Awty International School of
Houston. It is one of the cities better preparatory schools. 17
