A few light years ago, a fellow named John Churchill Chase wrote an entertaining book on the origins of street names in New Orleans. Entitled “Frenchmen Desire Good Children and Other Streets of New Orleans,” the book was a popular hit in the Crescent City, where colorful events and the names of its roads and avenues usually sparked of mystery and adventure. Heck! During the time I worked for Tulane Medical School in the mid-1960s, I lived in Pirate Alley. Hard to top that one for color anywhere.
Now a fellow named Marks Hinton has written a book about the history of Houston street names. It’s called “Historic Houston Streets: The Stories Behind the Names.” It’s not nearly as extensive or colorful as the New Orleans book, but so what? We’re Houston. We were never the home of famous buccaneers like Jean Lafitte. We are what we are – and it’s still interesting to know how we got some of the street names we still use. The book falls far short of explaining many that I personally would like to know about, but let’s take a quick look at some of the bigger ones it covers.
Crawford: Today this north-south downtown street is most famous as the namesake of the seats that sit perched a mere 315 feet down the left field line at Minute Maid Park. These so-called Crawford Boxes are all that stands between a right-handed batter’s home run swing and Crawford Avenue or Street that lays just beyond the Minute Maid Park exterior. It was always called Crawford Avenue when I was a kid, but today I hear and read a lot of references to it as Crawford Street. Pick which you like better, I guess. At any rate, Crawford was named for Joseph Tucker Crawford, a British agent who was sent to Houston to evaluate the developing situation in the newly formed Republic of Texas back in 1837. According to Hinton, Crawford’s mission wasn’t to explore ways of making Texas a British colony, but to see how Texas could usefully help block America’s expansion westward. So, what it comes down to is this: Crawford came here to try to get Texas to help England throw a monkey wrench into the American Manifest Destiny and our city’s pioneer leaders ended up naming a major downtown street for him. Go figure. Or else use this little known information as a part of a local parody of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”
“…Buy me a seat in the Crawford Box; that guy came here an American Pox.”
Cullen Boulevard. It is the main street at the University of Houston and it once served as the main drag beyond the right field line at Buff Stadium on the Gulf Freeway. Most people know this one, but it bears repeating for the sake of remembering one of Houston’s greatest philanthropists. Hugh Roy Cullen is the namesake person here. Cullen was the wildly successful oil man who gave millions to Houston charities over the years – and especially to the University of Houston, Baylor University, and most of Houston’s major hospitals. They threw away the mold for generosity when Mr. Cullen departed this world years ago.
Kirby Drive. Named for John Henry Kirby, a very successful 19th century Houston lumberman and capitalist, this is the street that runs directly beside the Reliant Stadium-Astrodome complex in a very appropriate way. In 1895, when professional baseball was struggling for a breath of fresh sustaining life in Houston, Kirby headed up a small group that established the “Houston Baseball Association” to keep the city on its feet in the new Texas League. The “HBA” capitalized the Houston baseball club with $3,000 in operating funds and installed Kirby as its first president. Because of Kirby, early professional baseball in Houston survived the turn of the 19th into the 20th century and set all in motion for the long banner life of the Houston Buffalos through 1961.
Westheimer Road. Named for Michael Lewis Westheimer, who immigrated from Germany to Houston in 1859, the namesake here was a diversified buusiness entrepeneur who bought and developed a 640-acre tract of land west of Houston. If you know Houston, you’ve already heard enough to get where this is going. Most famous locally for his Westheimer Transfer and Storage Company, Westheimer Road followed from here where Mr. Westheimer went, becoming to this very moment the other major artery alternative to Memorial Drive and the Katy Freeway as the major corridor to Houston’s forever expanding western growth. Memoril, of course, is assigned as a name to honor all men and women who have given their lives in defense of this nation; Katy Freeway and old Katy Road before it were named for the little city they once approached to the west of Houston. That same Katy, Texas was swallowed long ago as one of Houston’s present and major bedroom communities.
Gessner. August Gessner also migrated from Germany to the United States in 1886. He fought in the Spanish-American War with Teddy Roosevelt and later built a monument to the Rough Riders in Puerto Rico before coming to Houston and establishing himself in business as a cabinet-maker. Years later, when Harris County built a north-south way that covered a lot of ground on the then unincorporated west side, they needed a name. Longtime Commissioner Squatty Lyons raised his hand and offered something like the following, “Hey! I went to school with this nice guy named Gessner. We could name it for him. His family are all good people.”
Sometimes it is who you know that matters, but I would like to see us do more to name our city streets for people who have made some particular contribution to the city. Holcombe Boulevard was a great pick, deriving its name from longtime former Mayor Oscar Holcombe, a politician who stood up to the Ku Klux Klan back in the 1920s, loosening their hate-mongering control of things and freeing Houston for future growth. We’ve also named a number of streets for Houstonians who served in World War I. The later wars could use a little better presence on the naming list.
Hey. All that’s good. I’d just like to see us make better use of street-naming as a way of remembering the many others who have made significant contributions to the history of the city.
For example, Allen Russell, the 1946-1952 President of the Houston Buffalos who really put our city on the map for major league baseball expansion, tops my list of people who are most deserving of a significant street name. I’m sure we have others in the fields of sport, education, business, space, and the arts who are just as deserving too. In fact, if you have a favorite candidate for a Houston street name, please list it below with a brief statement of why you think that person deserves the mention.
At any rate, the little reference book on local street nmes is a fun read for Houstonians. One of its sidebar features is a display of interesting street intersections. Someplace in town, the streets of “Mutiny” and “Bounty” intersect. We may not have much of a local histroy in piracy (excluding mention of some closely similar practices in the oil industry), but we do apparently have some recollection of major conflict on the high seas, even if quite a bit of it was fictional in content.
The least we might do is to get rid of that practice of allowing developers to build new neighborhoods with all those cute-sounding similar names that just make it easier for our postal service to fail us. Know what I’m talking about? Try sorting the mail for a neighborhood that includes Westwick, Wickwild, and Wild West, for example. I think I made up the “Wild West” street, but you get the idea. We do have a Wilcrest, a Wickchester, and a Wilchester that are all pretty near each other. Maybe it’s time to finally simplify the things that can be simplified.
Tags: History, Houston, street names
April 20, 2010 at 12:57 pm |
Good article as usual, Bill.
I have always wanted someone to pen a Book on the backgrounds of the people Houston Schools are named after. Who knows, maybe one exists.
May 3, 2010 at 1:51 pm |
Yours is a wonderful idea that I often heard in HPL’s Texas Room. You may wish to visit there and begin reviewing their newspaper clippings and city directories.
April 20, 2010 at 2:46 pm |
And of course there is Hamilton Street running right beside Minute Maid Park and named for our Hall of Fame broadcaster…….just kidding.
April 20, 2010 at 3:19 pm |
I have this book on Street names and love it. What a nice article you wrote
on some of Houston’s History.
April 21, 2010 at 5:49 pm |
Hey Bill,
I lived on North Super St just off Canal and next to Eastwood near the Ripley House. When I would tell people my street name they thought I lived on the Super Gulf Freeway.
Vito from the Eastend
May 3, 2010 at 1:48 pm |
So glad you mentioned Hinton’s new edition of his book. The book’s really a delight to read. Keep a copy in your car!
January 17, 2021 at 4:40 am |
what is the name of the book on street names in houston and the writers name? Do YOU KNOW IF THE STRFET NAME “southmore” IS INCLUDED IN YOUR BOOK? WhERE CAN I BUY THIS BOOKAS WELL AS THE NEW EDITION?
Debbie Denaple
debbiesig@aol.com
September 3, 2010 at 7:27 pm |
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December 7, 2010 at 11:12 pm |
Few people know that after Buffalo Speedway was built, they put up a net to keep the buffalo on the thoroughfare. The original location of the net became a street known as “Bison Net”, and over the years we have come to call it simply “Bissonet”.
December 7, 2010 at 11:42 pm |
Darrell:
Even fewer people knew that Houston’s first car thieves operated on a street parallel to Bissonet under the direction of an Arab gang leader. They later set up the city’s first chop shop on that same street, calling it Ali Bama and the Forty Thieves Body & Car Parts Store. As a result, the street of their infamy picked up its name, also simplified over time from Ali Bama to Alabama.
As David Letterman might add, “and that’s a true story!”
Bill McCurdy
December 8, 2010 at 4:24 am |
Great explanation of how Bissonet and Alabama came to their
current street names.
January 28, 2011 at 1:35 am |
ho
February 25, 2011 at 12:21 am |
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December 5, 2011 at 1:54 pm |
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November 26, 2017 at 9:22 pm |
I believe that Crawford Street should be renamed to Russell Street, in honor Mr.Allen Russell, President of the Houston Buffalos (1946-1952), who put our city on the map for major league baseball expansion. Most people do not know this. Now I do, thanks to you. I love reading about my City (and yours). Your article is very interesting and informative. Thank you so much!
July 20, 2019 at 12:23 am |
Does anyone know how “Hopper Boulevard” got its name in Houston?
January 17, 2021 at 5:56 am |
do you know where I CAN PURCHASE or order THE ORIGINAL BOOK BY mARK hINTON ENTITLED “HISTORIC HOUSTON STREETS: the stories behind the names.” also i HEAR THERE IS A NEW EDITION OF THE SAME BY Mark Hinton. WHERE CAN I BUY THIS BOOK?
Thank you.
Debbie Denaple
January 19, 2021 at 6:06 am |
I am looking the history of a street in Houston, TX named SOUTHMORE AVENUE, particularly during the 1940’s. Do you or any other source have the information I am looking for? If you suggest other sources, please send contact information. Although I grew up in Houston, I now live in NJ so unfortunately I can’t visit The Texas Room at the HPL.
January 23, 2021 at 12:49 am |
Please advise if you have information on the historical street named “Southmore Avenue?” iF NOT, CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE i can find the information that I AM LOOKING FOR?
April 25, 2022 at 2:00 pm |
The original owner of this blog passed away in 2019. —Casey McCurdy
February 4, 2021 at 12:19 am |
I AM LOOKING FOR HISTORIC INFORMATION ABOUT SOUTHMORE AVE 77003, IN HOUSTON DURING THE 40’S. IF SOMEONE WOULD BE SO KIND AS TO SEND RESOURCES WHERE I CAN FIND THE INFORMATION I AM LOOKING FOR, I WOULD BE GRATEFUL.