Historic Houston Streets

by Marks Hinton

  NEWGULF ACCESS: Newgulf was founded by Texas Gulf Sulfur Company atop the Boling Dome in 1928. Under the dome was the largest known inland sulfur deposit in the world. It was a company town and got its name after management sponsored a naming contest for employees. Mary Ertz won. She based her choice on the fact that Texas Gulf’s first town was Gulf. This company town had over 400 homes, shops, hospital, pharmacy, barber shop, library, school, post office, movie theater, tailor, cleaner, four churches, clubhouse and a nine-hole golf course. By 1940 almost 1,600 people lived here. In the 1960s the world sulfur market crashed. The company had located cheaper-to-extract deposits elsewhere so the town was closed. Today it is an interesting ghost town to visit because of its post-apocalyptic, Mad Max ruins. Street signs remain named Texasgulf, Newgulf, Reservoir and Burning Stone. 15

  NGPL: This road leads to Natural Gas Pipeline Compression Station 301 west of Hungerford and north of Wharton. 16

  NIBLICK: Old time golfers know this is a golf club. Before irons were numbered they all had names such as mashie, mashie niblick, etc. The niblick equates to a nine iron today.

  NICHOLAS BRAVO: During the Texas Revolution 21 Texas Army prisoners were held for 11 months in Matamoros, Mexico. Following Santa Anna’s defeat at San Jacinto they were supposed to be released. However, the soldiers remained in prison until this gentleman was named commanding officer in Matamoros. He released them in January, 1837. This street is located in the historic town of San Felipe. 17

  NICHOLS: A prominent Dickinson, Texas family, the Nichols first arrived here in 1857. Ebenezer B. Nichols, a director of the Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railroad, had a summer home here. He was a partner with William Marsh Rice in a commission and freight forwarding business. Fred M. Nichols and his partners organized the Dickinson Land and Improvement Company to sell real estate in the town. These civic-minded citizens gave the city the land for the Dickinson Picnic Grounds, a popular gathering place. (See Dickinson.) 18

  NICHOLS: This gentleman was granted a league of land in the 1820s where Bellville is today. 19

  NICHOLSON: Claud – See sidebar Houston Streets Named for Men Killed During World War I, page 22.

  NICHOLSON: E. S. – He was a real estate promoter in the Galveston bayside town of Seabrook in the early 1900s. (See Sydnor.) 20

  NIMITZ: Chester W. – A graduate of the Naval Academy in 1905, he was a career officer in the U.S. Navy. A submariner in WW I, Nimitz was most famous for his naval successes in the Pacific Theater during WW II. His forces racked up decisive victories at Guadalcanal, Midway, the Solomons, the Gilberts, the Marshalls, the Marianas, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Nimitz accepted the Japanese surrender documents on the deck of his flagship, the battleship Missouri, in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. 21

  NINA LEE: This lady was the wife of Harold P. Hill, office manager of Oak Forest Addition. Frank Sharp, the developer, named it for her. (See chantilly and Frank Sharp.) 22

  » NINA LEE: On her wedding day to Harold Hill

  NO NAME: This three block long lane runs through a concentration of townhouses. It is not marked in any manner and has no addresses, thus the name and in this case the lack of even street signs. 23

  NOBLE: This 5th Ward street is named for the Noble family. Grace Noble married Elbert E. Adkins. Her grandfather, Stephen Noble, is associated with the Kellum-Noble house located in Sam Houston Park. (See Adkins.) 24

  NOGALUS: See sidebar Learn a Foreign Language on Your Morning Walk, page 125.

  NOLAN RYAN: It is only proper that this high-speed expressway is named for one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history. His record setting career of 324 wins, 7 no hitters, 383 strike outs in a season and 5,714 strike outs in his 26 years (1967-1993) in the majors are the stuff of baseball lore. We were lucky that he sported a Houston Astro uniform for a portion of his career. 25

  NORHILL: Now one of the city’s historic districts, Norhill was developed in the 1920s by the Stude family and one of the creators of River Oaks, Will Hogg. It was a nice working-class neighborhood not dissimilar to Houston Heights to its west or Studemont to the east. Its name was probably chosen because it was north of downtown and on a higher elevation. However, Sherrie Chisholm, a resident involved with the historic district, says that years ago a man named Norbert Hill lived in the area and it’s possible the street remembers him. (See Stude.) 26

  NORMANDY: This region of northwest France on the English Channel was the sight of the D-Day landing on June 6, 1944. Code-named “Operation Overlord,” it was led by the Allies’ Supreme Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Remembered as “the Longest Day,” the success of the Allied troops here spelled the beginning of the end of the War for Nazi Germany. (See Eisenhower.)27

  NORRIS: Earnest Mishael – He was born in Normangee in 1903. This black student earned his B. S. (1927) and M. S, (1931) from Prairie View A & M University and Ph.D from University of Ithaca in 1934. He was hired by Prairie View in 1937 to serve as a professor in the Agriculture Department. Norris taught here until he retired in 1968.28

  » NORRIS: Paririe View A & M street marker

  NORTHAMPTON: See sidebar All Things English, page 175.

  NORTH HOUSTON: This small community grew up on the Trinity & Brazos Railway beginning in 1907. Once known as Tomball and later as Scoville it finally received its present name in 1910. Today little remains of the small oil town. (See Tomball.) 29

  NORTH MAIN: Originally know as East Montgomery Road, City of Houston Water Commissioner David Fitzgerald, who lived on this street, got the name changed in 1913. 30

  NORTH: (See Parkway.)

  NORTHAMPTON: See Southampton’s English Streets, page 255.

  NORTHWESTERN: Opened by the Methodists in 1855, this Evanston, Illinois university is one of the finest centers of higher learning in the country. 31

  MAYOR BOB AND HIS BELOVED ROSES

  Long before serving as mayor of Houston, Bob Lanier was a real estate developer with a passion for growing roses. His home featured some of the finest rose gardens in the city. To honor this, the most beautiful of flowers, Lanier decided to name the streets in one of his developments, Twin Lakes, for a variety of roses. Today you can drive on American Beauty, Summer Snow, Tropicana, Gold Medal, King’s Ransom, Pristine, Carrousel, Honor, Oregold, China Doll, Sweet Surrender, Peace and Spartan. 37

  O

  OAHU: See sidebar Bali Hai May Call You, page 322.

  OAK RIDGE: In 1964 an Arkansas land developer, Spring Pines Corporation, named this thoroughfare and the neighborhood of Oak Ridge North. The tract was originally owned by early Texas pioneer, Charles Eisterwall. 1

  OAKLAND: Since this street is in a Sugar Land neighborhood with streets referencing other historical names I believe this one is named for a plantation of the same name that was near here. It was owned by Nathaniel F. and Mathew R. Williams. These brothers built the plantation in the 1840s and began raising sugar cane thus starting the industry for which the town is now named. 2

  OAKLAWN PARK: This Hot Springs, Arkansas horse race track is the site of the Arkansas Derby, one of the prep races for three year old thoroughbreds with hopes of going on to the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky on the first Saturday in May to “Run for the Roses.” 3

  OAKLAWN: This plantation was owned by Samuel May Williams. He gave it the name because there were five varieties of oak trees there. In 1828 he received this league in Fort Bend County on Oyster Creek from Stephen F. Austin. (See Williams.) 4

  OAKSHIRE: See sidebar All Things English, page 175.

  OATES: James Wyatt – Oates Road is just north of Jacinto City. This settler arrived in the area in the early 1860s. Nearby is a cemetery variously referred to as Oates Prairie, Oates-Singleton and Hart-Singleton cemetery. Members from all three families are interred there. In Trevia Wooster Beverly’s fascinating book, At Rest: A Historical Directory of Harris County, Texas Cemeteries (1822-1992), she mentions that D. R., Patton, a Houston police officer killed during the 1917 Camp Logan
riot, is also buried here. (See Logan) 5

  OBERLIN: This street is named for a liberal arts college in the Ohio town of the same name that opened in 1833. Oberlin was one of the first centers of higher learning to have co-educational classes. 6

  OCTAVIAN: Caius – He was the son of Julius Caesar’s sister. The first and one of the greatest Roman emperors, Octavian was given the honorific title of Augustus by the Roman Senate in 27 B.C. He is remembered for his political skills, support of road building throughout the empire, fair taxation, construction of the Forum in Rome and his support of the arts. (See Forum.) 7

  ODIN: John Mary – A minister ordained in 1823, he was sent to Texas in 1840. Odin was greatly responsible for the rapid growth of the Catholic faith in early Texas. By 1847 he was named Bishop of the Diocese of Galveston (that included Houston then). The original street named for him was later changed to Lyons in honor of a famous local saloonkeeper. Possibly a fit of guilt or fear of heavenly recrimination resulted in another street in this Third Ward neighborhood remembering the Bishop. (See Lyons.) 8

  OIL CENTER: This north Harris County street leads into the Houston Intercontinental Oil Center, a commercial development for companies in the energy industry. It this case most of the tenets are oilfield service firms. 9

  OILER: The Pearland High School teams are the Oilers. 10

  OJEMAN: This is one of many streets in the Spring Branch area named for German immigrants. The Ojeman family came from Frankfurt. It is possible that the first to arrive were brothers Carl, Willie and Robert. Some family members are buried in the St. Peter’s United Church cemetery on Long Point. In the Borgestedt Cemetery off Huffmeister Road there are a number of persons interred with the sir name of Ojemann. It was not unusual for immigrants to alter the spelling of their names after arriving in America. I believe this is the case here since the street and cemetery are not far apart. Family members buried here include Fred (born 1884), Emma (born 1884), Edna (born 1913) and Marie (born 1914). 11, 12

  OKINAWA: This is the largest of the Ryukyu Islands. It is located about 500 miles southwest of Japan. It was the site of the last amphibious battle of the Pacific War. Casualties were enormous on both sides. The Japanese lost 103,000 of 120,000 troops stationed on the island. U.S. casualties totaled 48,000 with 25% of those killed in action. 13

  OLD ARCADIA: Established on Hall’s Bayou in Galveston County, Arcadia was first named Hall’s Station in 1889. A year later Henry Runge, an early resident, renamed it Arcadia for a town in Louisiana. Dairy farms became the backbone of the local economy. In the 1920s Arcadia Creamery was established to produce milk, cream, butter and cheese. (See Santa Fe.) 14

  OLD CANEY: Caney Creek is a historic estuary. Originally called Canebrake Creek because of the thick stands of cane that grew along its banks, it meanders 155 miles from its source in Colorado County to its mouth on the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway near Sargent. During the War Between the States Confederate General Jeb Magruder fortified the mouth to halt the Union advance up the coast toward Galveston. The fortress at Caney Creek was shelled by Union gunboats in January and February of 1864. Today it is known as a great place to catch speckled trout, drum, sheep head and red fish. 15

  » OLD CANEY: Caney Creek with Hinton/Treichler pier in 1960

  OLD DANVILLE: Samuel and Joseph Lindley moved to this area in 1830. They named it for their hometown of Danville, Illinois. On September 11, 1858 the town hosted a barbeque for Sam Houston. It remains a small, quiet, rural community near Willis today. 16

  OLD DOBBIN-PLANTERSVILLE: The area around Plantersville was settled in the 1830s. Alabaman Isaac Baker operated a 2,850 acre plantation here beginning in 1840. When the post office was established in 1856 Mrs. J. L. Greene suggested the name to honor the many planters like Baker who lived around here. (See Dobbin-Hufsmith.) 17

  OLD GUY: No, this street is not named for your author. Orr Rowland was the first postmaster of Guy, Texas. He named the town for his crippled daughter Una Guy Rowland in 1898. When the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad bypassed Guy most of the townspeople moved near the tracks, called that new town Guy and the few remaining citizens renamed their town Old Guy. This was a popular place to visit because of its rocking dance hall. It was closed in 1980 and the building was moved to the George Ranch Historical Park. (See A. P. George Ranch.) 18

  OLD HICKORY: See sidebar the Antebellum Streets of River Plantation, page 122.

  OLD NELSONVILLE: Named for D. D. Nelson, a shopkeeper, who lived in this Austin County village after the War Between the States, it was settled by German immigrants from Bohemia in the late 1860s and 1870s. Most of the citizens were cotton farmers. 19

  OLD RICHMOND: This road once lead to Richmond, Texas, the seat of Fort Bend County. Brothers Henry and Randal Jones settled the area in 1822. These early settlers’ hometown was Richmond, Virginia. 20

  OLD RIVER: This street and river are named for the old riverbed of the San Jacinto River. This four-mile watercourse, to the east of that river, separates Channelview and Lynchburg. During World War II the U. S. Army operated the 5,000-acre San Jacinto Ordinance Depot along the banks of Old River. Originally the land here was owned by Texas Revolution hero Lorenzo de Zavala. (See de Zavala.) 21

  OLD SAN FELIPE: (See Peters-San Felipe.)

  OLD SPANISH TRAIL: This thoroughfare is named in honor of one of Texas’ earliest highways. However, the actual route of the Old San Antonio Road, the King’s Highway or El Camino Real, its original names, is nowhere near Houston. It started on the Sabine River near what is today the Toledo Bend Reservoir, went southwest to San Antonio and ended on the Rio Grande River in Maverick County near Eagle Pass. Initially traversed in 1691, it was ordered surveyed by the Texas Legislature in 1915 and named a state highway worth preserving in 1929.22

  » OLD TEXACO CAMP: Childhood home of your author

  OLD TEXACO CAMP: On December 13, 1931 George W. Strake, a Houston wildcatter, discovered oil southeast of Conroe. Soon the Texas Company (now Texaco) and Humble Oil & Refining (now Exxon Mobil) began developing the field. Your author’s father, C. M. Hinton Sr., went to work for the Texas Company in the mid 1930s as a field foreman. In 1940 he and my mother, Mocco Dunn Hinton, were transferred to this oilfield company camp. On the morning of June 23, 1942 my mother went into labor and was rushed to Houston’s St. Joseph Hospital where your author arrived at 10:15 AM weighing in at 8 lbs. and 7 oz. On July 7 we were taken by ambulance to our home at Texaco Camp where I would live until age two. Except for this road sign nothing remains of the camp. 23

  OLYMPIA: The Olympia Country and Golf Club is in the Washington State city of the same name. This scenic course, founded in 1926, is located on beautiful Puget Sound. 24

  OMAR: Karla Cisneros, a Houston Heights resident who lives on this street, was told years ago that the name Omar was chosen since it means “the highest” in Persian. The street has the highest elevation in the area north of White Oak Bayou before the land begins to slope downward again. 25

  OPELOUSAS: The old Fifth Ward has several streets named for locations in Louisiana. Examples are New Orleans and Conti. This one is named for the town of Opelousas, also the name of an Indian tribe that inhabited the area. It became a bayou trading post for the French and Indians in 1720. It is famous for its Zydeco music and is the birthplace of “Zydeco King” Clifton Chenier. 26

  THE GREAT TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MILEAGE GAP MYSTERY

  Have you ever wondered why when you are approaching a metropolitan area like Houston the Texas Department of Transportation mileage markers telling how far it is to Houston do not match up with how far you know it is to the city? Well there is a good reason. TXDOT does not measure from city limit to city limit because cities expand and communities may incorporate. That would require constant changing of the mileage markers. Instead they measure from the closest state exit to one city’s center to another. For example, if you were traveling from Dallas or Katy to Houston TXDOT would use I-10 Houston exit 768 because
that is the closest exit to the center of Houston. Yet the city limit sign may be 10 miles ahead but downtown is 20 miles further. Thus the mileage marker would say Houston 30 miles. 38

  OPUS: See sidebar It’s Music to My Ears, page 218.

  ORATORIO: See sidebar It’s Music to My Ears, page 218.

  ORION: See sidebar Starry Night, page 111.

  OROZIMBO: James Aeneas Phelps received a land grant northwest of what is today Angleton in 1824. Legend says he named his plantation after a local Indian chief. Phelps was one of Austin’s Old 300 and surgeon for the Texas Army at the Battle of San Jacinto. Following his capture, General Santa Anna was held prisoner at the Phelps plantation where the Mexican commandante, suffering severe depression, was diagnosed as suicidal. The good doctor talked Santa Anna out of killing himself. Six years later Phelps’ son, Orlando, was captured by the Mexican army while on the Mier Expedition. In a show of gratitude Santa Anna saved the doctor’s son from facing the firing squad. Orlando lived to the ripe old age of 75. 27

  OSCEOLA PLANTATION: William Green Hill was born in North Carolina in 1801. He moved to Texas in 1830 and settled in what is Brazoria County today. In 1835 he joined the Texas Army and saw action at the Battle of Concepcion, Grass Fight and Siege of Bexar. In 1836 William Barrett Travis ordered him to recruit soldiers for the upcoming fight with Mexico. After Texas Independence he was given land between East Columbia and Orozimbo Plantation. On this property he built Osceola Plantation. Hill prospered and died a wealthy man in 1860. (See Travis, Texas Army and Orozimbo.) 28

  OVERBROOK: (See Larchmont.)

  OXFORD: It is named for the English University that was founded in the 12th century. 29

  OYSTER CREEK: Named for the creek that runs from north of Richmond, Texas to the Gulf of Mexico, this area was a favorite of some of Stephen F. Austin’s Old 300. Many of these families owned plantations along its banks. It was named for the large number of oyster beds it contained. 30