Historic Houston Streets

by Marks Hinton

  CORTLANDT: Houston Heights developers Oscar Carter and Daniel Cooley named this street for a town of the same name located in their home state of Nebraska. 140

  CORVETTE: America’s quintessential sports car debuted in 1953. That first year each Corvette was hand built and all were white with red interiors. The developer who named this north central Harris County street must have had a sense of humor. The next street over is Isetta, probably the least sporty car ever made. (See Isetta.)

  COSSEY: Kohrville, Texas was a small black community in northwest Harris County founded by freed slaves from Alabama in the 1870s. It was named for Paul Kohrmann, the village postman in the 1880s. Today little remains of this town except the Kohrville Cemetery. Members of the Cossey family are interred here. This street is located just south of the burying ground. 141

  COTTONWOOD CHURCH & COTTONWOOD SCHOOL: Located on Cottonwood Creek in Fort Bend County. This area was promoted by the Waddill brothers as an excellent place to farm corn, broom corn and cotton. The brothers erected a white framed wooden church and a brick school house. 31

  COTTONWOOD SCHOOL: (See Cottonwood Church.)

  COUGAR PLACE: Located on the campus of the University of Houston next to Robertson Stadium, this street is named for the ever popular mascot, the cougar. For years the school brought a live cougar named Shasta to football games and other events. This beautiful beast lived in a zoo-like cage on campus when she was not giving command performances. A more politically correct world ended Shasta’s stardom and she was retired. 142

  COUGAR: Abutting Cy-Fair Stadium, this short street is named for the mascot of Cypress-Creek High School. The two connecting streets, Bobcat and Falcon, are the mascots of Cypress-Fairbanks High School and Jersey Village High School, respectively. 143

  COUNTRY CLUB GREEN: At the end of this tree lined lane sits the Tomball Country Club. Opened in 1948 the club only had a 9-hole golf course. In 2001 9 more holes were added resulting in a 6,275 yard, par 71 links. 144

  COUNTRY CLUB: C. E. King developed Houston Country Club Place in 1941. At that time the venerable old Houston Country Club (now Gus Wortham Park Golf Course) was located just across Wayside from this neighborhood. Graced with brick cottages and ranch-style homes, some rather grand arches once marked its entry, similar to those at the entrance to Villa de Matel. However, only one remains today. (See C. E. King.) 145

  COUNTRY CLUB: This street leads to Golfcrest Country Club. Earl Gammage Sr., a real estate developer opened this golf course in 1927. In 1932 Golfcrest became one of the country’s first clubs to experiment with night golf. Flood lights illuminated nine holes but the novelty soon wore off and night golf was discontinued. The very popular four-ball tournament, one of the most popular in Houston, began in 1951 as a pro-am event. (See Golfcrest.) 146

  COUNTY LINE: This is the closest road to the Waller-Montgomery county line. 147

  » COURTLANDT PLACE: The neighborhood’s east gate

  COURTLANDT PLACE: The area was originally part of the Obedience Smith land grant. In 1908 it was sold to the Courtlandt Improvement Company. The developers modeled the street after an exclusive area in St. Louis, Missouri. This block-long street with its beautiful esplanade was one of the city’s first areas with deed restrictions. These rules prohibited any commercial establishments. Between 1911 and 1921 the homes here were designed by Houston’s finest architects including Birdsall P. Briscoe, Alfred C. Finn (who also designed the San Jacinto Monument), Sanguinet & Staats and Warren & Wetmore. (See Birdsall.) 148

  COW CREEK: This estuary rises a mile north of Damon and runs 12 miles to its mouth on the Brazos River near the Ramsey Prison Farm. (See Beasley-Damon.) 149

  COX: Charles – (See Splendora.)

  CRANE: Ichabod – He is the lean and extremely superstitious schoolmaster in Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. After attending a party one evening where he was wooing the farmer’s daughter, Katrina, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman. This specter is supposedly a Hessian trooper whose head was shot off by a stray cannonball. Nightly he rides the roads near Sleepy Hollow in quest of his head. Crane is so frightened by this sight that he flees town. (See Washington Irving, Sleepy Hollow, Brom Bones and Tarrytown.) 150

  CRAWFORD: Joseph Tucker – He was an agent of the British government who was sent to evaluate the situation in the newly born Republic of Texas in 1837. While the English were not interested in making Texas a colony they were trying to find a way to halt American expansion westward. This international attention was one of the major factors in the United States annexing Texas in 1845. 151

  CRAZY HORSE: This Oglala Sioux chief is remembered for his victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Also called “Custer’s Last Stand,” Crazy Horse inflicted the worst defeat of the Indian Wars on the American frontier army. It took the Sioux less than an hour to kill Lieutenant-Colonel George Armstrong Custer and all 211 of his men. (See Custer and Sitting Bull.) 152

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

  » CROCKETT: Davy Crockett: Battle of the Alamo hero

  CROCKETT: Davy – He sits in the highest pantheon of Texas heroes. Jane Bowers immortalizes him in her 1959 song, Remember the Alamo, with the lines “Young Davy Crockett stood smiling and laughing, the challenge fierce in his eye/For Texas and freedom a man bold and willing to die.” Prior to coming to Texas he served as a U.S. Congressman from his native Tennessee. Teddy Roosevelt characterized Crockett as “distinctly, intensely American stock.” 153

  CROSBY-DAYTON: In eastern Harris County there are a number of roads with dual names involving Crosby such as Crosby-Cedar Bayou and Crosby-Barbers Hill. In this case the Crosby is for the small town of Crosby, Texas. It was named for G. J. Crosby, a railroad construction foreman. Charles Karcher opened the town’s first business, a general store, in 1865. Dayton, in Liberty County, a small town three miles west of Liberty (named for Santisima Trinidad de la Libertad) was first called West Liberty. By 1854 it was known as Day’s Town for a landowner there named I. C. Day. Over the next few years the name was Days Station and Dayton Station. It officially became known as Dayton in the mid 1880s. 154

  CROSBY: This 4th Ward street is named for the Crosby family who were early land-owners in the area. 155

  CROW: W. D. – Now a part of Baytown, in 1892 this gentleman and his partner, Q. A. Wooster, laid out the town of Wooster. (See Wooster.) 156

  CROWN: In 1917 the Crown Oil & Refining Company (now Crown Central Petroleum) was almost bankrupt when they hit “black gold” with “Well Number 3” near the Pasadena city limit. This strike saved the young firm. In 1920 the company constructed a refinery on the Houston Ship Channel just east of where the entrance of the Washburn Tunnel is located today. This Pasadena street leads to a facility on that same site that refines 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day. 157

  CRUSADER WAY: In 1960 Father Michael F. Kennelly received permission from the Catholic Church to establish a college preparatory school for boys in Houston. Strake Jesuit opened its doors to the freshman class in 1961. Today it is one of our city’s finest schools. Their mascot is the “Fighting Crusader.” 158

  » CRYSTAL BEACH: Hurricane Ike devastated this town in 2008

  CRUSE: Aubrey – Prior to the formation of the Pasadena Police Department in 1937, law and order in our neighboring city was maintained by city marshals. This gentleman was Pasadena’s second marshal. 159

  CRYSTAL BEACH: Originally called Patton and then Patton Beach its current name was made official in the early 1940s. The seven mile community runs through the middle section of Bolivar Peninsula. Crystal Beach suffered catastrophic destruction during Hurricane Ike in 2008 when a 20-foot storm surge rolled over the peninsula destroying 80% of the buildings. 160

  CULBERSON: Charles Allen – This Texas politician started his career as attorney general. He was elected governor in 1894 and re-elected in 1896. Nicknamed the “veto governor” he once vetoed a general appropriations bill that he thought had too much “pork
” in it. Culberson called the Texas Legislature to a special session in 1895 to pass a bill prohibiting the Corbett-Fitzsimmons heavyweight-boxing match in the state. In 1898 he was elected to the U.S. Senate where he served for 24 years. (See Roy Bean.) 161

  CULLEN: Hugh Roy – Here is one of the larger than life Houstonians that we love to brag about. He earned a phenomenal fortune in cotton, real estate and oil despite his lack of a formal education. He had a reputation for finding huge pools of oil where others drilled dry holes. But the real story is what Cullen did with his money. During his lifetime he gave away $175,000,000 to charitable and educational institutions, created the Cullen Foundation and established the University of Houston among many great deeds. When once asked about his generous donations Cullen was quoted in the Houston Chronicle as saying “It’s just as easy to give away $2 million as two bits.” In one four day period he gave four Houston hospitals more than a million dollars each. Now that’s philanthropy Houston style! 162

  CUMMINS: See sidebar Texas Heroes’ Names for Houston Streets Urged in 72 Proposed Changes, page 96.

  » CULLEN: Hugh Roy Cullen

  OUNEY: Norris Wright – Son of a white plantation owner and a black slave, Cuney settled in Galveston in the late 1860s. He was a remarkable man. Cuney became an attorney, Inspector of Customs at Galveston, elected alderman in 1883 (the first black Galvestonian to hold this office), Collector of Customs, operated a stevedore business and served as Grand Master of the Negro Masons of Texas. Cuney Street leads to Cuney Homes, the first black housing project in Houston (1940). Cuney, Texas, a small town southwest of Tyler is also named for him. 163

  CUNNINGHAM CREEK: This stream is named for Colonel E. H. Cunningham a veteran of the War Between the States who was wounded four times during that conflict while fighting for the Confederacy. After the War he bought the Sugarland Plantation from W. J. Kyle and Benjamin F. Terry. He purchased other acreage in the area forming one of the largest plantations in Texas. Cunningham invested more than $1 million to construct a sugar refinery on the property. Like other owners in the area he leased convicts from the State of Texas to work his sugar cane fields. (See Kyle and Terry) 164

  CURTIN: Henry M. – A number of streets in Houston are named for political figures— mayors, congressmen, etc. This gentleman was a prominent citizen as well as the Harris County tax assessor. Evidence leads me to believe this east side street remembers this man. 165

  CUSHING: Edward Hopkins – This pioneer Houstonian was the publisher of the Houston Telegram, the city’s earliest newspaper. Cushing bought it from Gail Borden in 1856 and operated it for the next 10 years. During the War Between the States he faced two serious problems for a newspaperman. One was how to gather accurate news without mail service (suspended during the War) or telegraph lines (often cut by marauding troops). He solved this dilemma by setting up his own pony express. Two, he faced a severe shortage of newsprint. He used any paper he could find, so often, the newspaper was different colors every day. Cushing sometimes used wallpaper, just printing the news on the reverse side. He obviously succeeded in solving his problems and printed much accurate history of the War. In fact, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, used Cushing files when writing his version of the conflict. 166

  » CUSHING: “Bohemia,” the home of Edward Cushing

  » GAIL BORDEN: Early Houston newspaper publisher

  CUSTER: George Armstrong – Custer was a brilliant and heroic Union cavalry officer who distinguished himself in the Civil War and the campaign against the Cheyenne. However his ego overwhelmed his tactical skills and cost him and many men their lives. At what came to be called the Battle of Little Bighorn (1876), Custer, underestimating the strength of the Sioux, divided his troop into three columns and attacked Chief Crazy Horse. It was a fatal mistake and the troopers were slaughtered. (See Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull) 167

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

  CYPRESS CHURCH: German immigrants began settling here in the 1840s. This street led to one of the early Lutheran churches in the area. 168

  CYPRESS CREEK: Rising where Snake and Mound Creeks meet southeast of Waller, this estuary runs 49 miles to its mouth at Spring Creek. Stephen F. Austin made his first land grant on Cypress Creek to John Callihan in 1835. In the 1840s and 1850s this area was a popular place with German immigrants because of its fertile soil and abundance of fresh water. 169

  CYPRESS GARDENS: For 65 years this Winter Haven, Florida theme park hosted the finest water ski extravaganza in the world. Over the years it expanded to add a botanical garden, alligator habitat and an ice skating show. Unfortunately, the arrival of mega-theme parks like Disney World resulted in it and other smaller entertainment venues’ demise. Cypress Gardens closed in April 2003. 170

  CYPRESS-ROSEHILL: This road leads from Cypress, west of Houston, to the small rural community of Rosehill to the north. German immigrants settled Cypress in the 1840s. Its name is derived from a nearby stream, Cypress Creek, the banks of which were lined with cypress trees. In 1904 while drilling for oil here a wildcatter accidentally hit a hot artesian well. It wasn’t long before entrepreneurs opened the Houston Hotwell Sanitarium and Hotel. Houstonians flocked to the spa to soak in its supposedly “healing waters.” P. W. Rose settled Rosehill in the early 1830s but until 1892 it was called Spring Creek. He was chosen for the first grand jury of Harrisburg County (the name was shortened to Harris in 1839). German immigrants found the area excellent farm country. In 1852 they founded Salem Lutheran Church, one of the oldest Lutheran congregations in Texas. (See Cypress Creek.) 171

  D

  D. S. BAILEY: For over 30 years beginning in the 1960s this black pastor founded and served the congregation of Galilee Baptist Church in Acres Homes. 1

  DA VINCI: See sidebar Buon Giorno, Let’s Visit Italia, page 268.

  DACUS: Over the years many communities came and went in Montgomery County including this one. In 1687 the French explorer, Le Salle, passed through here and recorded about 40 Indian huts. White settlement began in 1823 with a man named Francis Wheeler. Later the village was named for J. B. Dacus, also an early arrival. 2

  DAGG CEMETERY: This small family cemetery is located in southwest Harris County. Family members buried here include Garret W. Dagg Sr. (1856-1922), Elizabeth Dagg (1866-1928), Garrett W. Dagg Jr. (1890-1942) and Lee M. Dagg (1885-1905). Other families interred here include Perrys and Woods. Coincidently, there is a dead end road sign on this street. (See Dagg.) 3

  DAGG: Garrett W. Sr. – This man settled in the area near Pearland in the late 1800s. The Dagg Family Cemetery is located nearby. (See Dagg Cemetery.) 4

  DAIRY-ASHFORD: In 1894 surveyors named the town we call Alief today Dairy or Dairy Station as it was located on the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad line. Residents nicknamed the day train the “Dinky” and the night train the “Davy Crockett.” When the U. S. Post Office denied an application under the name Dairy the town changed its name to Alief honoring the first postmistress, Alief Ozelda Magee. Ashford, also known as Satsuma or Thompson Switch, was located near Cypress on the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. J. T. Thompson platted the town and called it Satsuma because of the orange groves in the area. It was later changed to Ashford. (See Alief-Clodine) 5, 6

  DAMON GIN: The old cotton gin in Damon was on this road. (See Beasley-Damon.) 7

  HOUSTON’S BEST STREET INTERSECTIONS

  Never let it be said that real estate developers in Houston lack a sense of humor. While some of these intersections and parallel streets might have just been put together accidentally I can’t help believe most were intentional. Here are some examples: 14

  Sears & Roebuck – old line retailer

  Bell & Telephone – the phone company

  Preston & Smith - a Texas governor

  Thomas & Jefferson – our third President

  Corvette & Isetta – high horsepower vs. no horsepower

  Longneck & Lite – have a cold one


  Six pack & Strohs – a little free advertising

  Plantation, Tara & Rhett – Gone with the Wind Too Far

  Scarlett & O’hara – ditto

  Affirmed & Alydar – greatest thoroughbred rivals

  Girl Scout, Campfire, Boy Scout & Webelos – all-American

  Discipline & Patience – good virtues

  Currency & Dividend – financial responsibility

  Perception, Edification, Insight & Enlightenment – good streets for a guru

  Fearless, Courageous, Bravery & Victorious – early Texas virtues

  Sigma, Kappa, Gamma & Epsilon – fraternity row

  Faith, Grace & Hope – an intersection for optimists

  Stonewall & Jackson – the South’s great martyred general

  Miracle & Gospel Way – hallelujah

  Gulf Stream & Jet Stream – rapid water and air currents

  Edinburgh & Castle – that city’s most famous site

  Aztec & Inca – two great pre-Columbian civilizations

  Madrigal & Minstrel – olde English music

  Black Gold & Oil Center – it’s a gusher

  Metairie & Ponchartrain – laissez les bon temps roulez

  Mutiny & Bounty – Captain Bligh vs. Fletcher Christian

  Pitcairn & Mutineer – the resting place of HMS Bounty

  Okra, Tomato, Carrot, Turnip & Squash – vegetarian’s delight

  Old Masters & Rembrandt – very artsy

  Packard, Reo & Kaiser – defunct automobile manufacturers