by Marks Hinton
FORT DAVIS: Established in 1854, this was the first military outpost between San Antonio and El Paso. Located deep in Apache and Comanche territory it was constructed to protect travelers from raiding bands of Indians. Following the War Between the States Fort Davis became the home of the famous African-American military regiments known as the “Buffalo Soldiers.”41
FORT SETTLEMENT: The settlement of Fort Bend County began in the early 1820s as part of the colonization of Texas. In November 1821 Stephen F. Austin and a band of colonists sailed from New Orleans to the mouth of the Brazos River. A scouting party proceeded upriver 90 miles to an impressive bend. They landed here and erected a two-room cabin that they named Fort Settlement. Others later called it Fort Bend, a name that stuck.42
FORT SUMTER: This is where the War Between the States began. Confederate troops shelled the fort for 36 hours beginning April 12, 1861. Realizing the indefensibility of their position, the Union troops retreated.43
FORTINBERRY: C. I. – He was a mayor of Goose Creek, Texas before it was absorbed by Baytown. (See Goose Creek.)44
FORUM: This archeological site is among the most famous of the Roman Empire. Located in the Eternal City of Rome between the Capitoline and Palatine hills it contained temples, shops, courts, sporting arenas, etc. As the city grew other forums were developed in the area.45
FOSTER SCHOOL: In 1822 John and Randolph Foster, members of Stephen F. Austin’s Old 300, were granted 12,000 acres of land in southwest Fort Bend County. They were ranchers and farmers. They grew cotton, rice and sugar cane. The Fosters erected a school on their plantation.46
FOSTER: Cora Bacon – Mrs. Foster, a land speculator, and Charles Munger, a retired banker from Kansas, were early backers of the city of Pasadena, Texas. As it was typical for developers of towns to name a street for themselves, it is likely this one remembers her.47
FOSTER: John – He was one of Stephen F. Austin’s Old 300 who moved from Mississippi to Texas in 1822. Foster received a land grant from Austin in Fort Bend County in 1824. While visiting Mississippi in 1837 he passed away.48
FOSTER: The Foster-Epps Company of Fort Worth was granted the right to sell lots in the newly developed town of Tomball in 1907. It is a mystery why Epps did not merit recognition with a street. 49
FOSTORIA: The Foster Lumber Company named this company town. The company store sold employees clothing, groceries, furniture or anything else they needed. Workers were paid with company issued script that had no value except at the store. By 1925 over 1,500 people were employed by Foster Lumber. In 1941 the sawmill produced 20 million board feet of lumber, making it one of the largest sellers of southern pine in America. The plant closed in 1957 and the town ceased to exist. 50
FOUR SIXES: Samuel Burk Burnett established this brand (6666) and ranch near the present day site of Wichita Falls in the early 1870s. He eventually moved the headquarters to King County where is remains today. This 280,000 acre spread was used for Marlboro cigarette commercials in the 1960s with ranch hands playing the role of the “Marlboro Man.”51
FOURNACE: J. J. – This gentleman was a long-time resident of Bellaire. When Texaco established a large research center on Gulfton in Bellaire, management did not like the fact that their address contained the name of a major competitor, Gulf Oil. They went to city council and had the name of this stretch of Gulfton changed to honor Fournace. 52
FRANCIS DRAKE: See sidebar Pirates of the Caribbean, page 280.
FRANKLIN: Benjamin Cromwell – He arrived in Texas in 1835. Franklin actively supported the Texas Revolution and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto. Thomas Rusk, Secretary of War, sent Franklin to Galveston to inform President David Burnet of the victory at San Jacinto. In December 1836 the Republic of Texas established four district courts. He was the first person in the new Republic given a judicial position. Harrisburg was District 2 with Franklin as a district judge. He was not re-elected in 1838 and was fined $20 for sitting on the bar in the new courthouse. Franklin died in 1873 and is buried in Galveston. Franklin was the first street in the city to be paved. It was covered in asphalt in 1897. 53
FRANZ: One of the main streets of Katy is named for this family who began growing rice in the area in the early 1900s. David Peter Franz was a watchmaker in town. 54
FRASER: Neale – He was known as a great tennis doubles player. Fraser won men’s doubles championships in Australia (3), France (3), Wimbledon (2) and U. S. (3). He also won the singles championships at Wimbledon in 1960 and the U. S. in 1959-60. 55
FRASIER: This Freeland Addition street was named for Wilson and Samuel Fraser, land developers in Houston Heights. For unknown reasons it was originally named Fraser, then changed to Frazier and finally renamed Frasier even though the old curb tiles spell it Fraser. For years the street signs at each end had a different spelling. (See Granberry and Reserve.)56
FREDERICKSBURG: One of the largest battles of the War Between the States took place December 13, 1862. Here General Robert E. Lee’s 80,000 troops defeated Union General Ambrose Burnside’s 150,000 men. However, Lee was so undermanned that he had to allow Burnside to retreat and thus failed to capitalize on the victory. 57
FREEMAN: In 1897 the Freeman family moved to Katy from Missouri. Most likely they were rice farmers. 58
FREEMAN: John H. – Without the efforts of this Houston attorney we would not have the world-class medical center our city possesses today. In 1924 four bright lawyers started the firm of Fulbright, Crooker and Freeman. Monroe D. Anderson was one of their clients. In 1936 Freeman was elected a trustee of the M. D. Anderson Foundation. The Texas government voted in 1941 to approve a Texas State Cancer Hospital to be administered by the University of Texas Board of Regents. Through the work of Freeman and others the Regents decided to locate the hospital in Houston. From this medical acorn the mighty Texas Medical Center grew. 59
LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ON YOUR MORNING WALK
Residents of Saddle Creek Farm, a neighborhood on Lake Houston, can exercise their minds as well as their bodies by studying their street signs. All of them are in Spanish. Words to be learned include: Arroyo (ravine), Tesoro (treasure), Cascada (waterfall), Diablo (devil), Lente (lens), Pino (pine tree), El Matador (bullfighter), Cajon (box), Ancla (anchor), Mariachi (musician), Vera Cruz (coastal city), Nogalus (possibly a misspelling of nogal or walnut), and Pinata (a hanging container of sweets usually broken with a stick at a party ). 27
FREEPORT: The Freeport Sulfur Company founded this as a company town in 1929. It is located at the site of the world’s largest sulfur discovery. However, that yellow mineral is no longer mined here. In 1939 Dow Chemical Corporation began erecting what would become one of the nation’s largest chemical plants. Freeport is also home to one of the largest shrimping fleets in the Gulf of Mexico. 60
FRESNO: An early resident named this Fort Bend highway and town after Fresno, California. The area was agricultural. Because of the many plantations in Fresno the main crop was cotton. 61
FRIAR TUCK: A man of the cloth, Tuck was a member of the legendary English hero/ outlaw Robin Hood’s band of “merry men” who were known for robbing from the rich and giving to the poor.
FRIENDSWOOD: In the late 1890s a group of Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends, purchased 1,500 acres of land near the Harris and Galveston County lines. This wooded area was to be home to this religious sect for more than 60 years. Many were farmers and the area produced many fruits and vegetables, rice and livestock. 62
FRIES: This family lived in the Memorial village of Spring Valley. They owned several plant nurseries in the area.63
FRITSCHE CEMETERY: There are more than 20 small cemeteries in northwest Harris County that contain the remains of some of this area’s early German immigrant families. The odd fact about this burial ground is that there are no tombstones marking graves of members of the Fritsche family although some of them are interred in nearby Roberts Cemetery. Of course it is possible that the burials may have been unmarked or the markers were los
t, stolen or damaged over the years. Other early residents buried here include members of the Schiel, Wolters, and Nuemeyer families. (See Schiel and Roberts Cemetery.)64
FROST RANCH: In the 1940s Milo Frost purchased 4,500 acres of land from the State of Texas near Highway 6 and FM 1092. He established the Frost Brahman Ranch. Later he was elected president of the American Brahman Breeders Association. Much of the master planned community of First Colony is on former ranch land. (See First Colony.)65
FRYDEK: In the early 1820s Czech settlers named this town for the Moravian city of Frydek-Mistek. These farmers were members of one of Stephen F. Austin’s early colonies.66
FUEL STORAGE: This road leads to where jet aviation fuel is stored at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.67
FULTON: William – A steamboat captain, he arrived in Houston in the 1840s from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He became a very successful cotton merchant and built a beautiful home at 1507 Rusk in 1859. The house was demolished in 1920.68
FURLONG: A distance of 1/8 of a mile, it is the unit of measure for horse races that are less than one mile long. These sprints are usually five or six furlongs in length.69
G
GAILLARD: John I. – In 1903 this Baytown landowner noticed natural gas bubbles rising to the surface of Goose Creek near where it empties into Galveston Bay. Gaillard leased his property to several petroleum companies over the next few years but none found oil or gas. However, on August 23, 1916 leaseholder American Petroleum Company hit the jackpot. A gusher flowed 10,000 barrels per day and the Goose Creek oil rush was on. By 1918 the field was producing 8.9 million barrels of black gold annually. (See Goose Creek and American petroleum.)1
GALAHAD: The son of Sir Lancelot and Elaine, he was considered the purest of the Arthurian Knights of the Roundtable. Because of the mystical power of the Holy Grail it could only be revealed to a pure Knight. Galahad was sent on a quest to find it.2
GALENA: Located on the Houston Ship Channel, the city of Galena Park was originally named Clinton, Texas by Isaac Batterson. The Galena Signal Oil Company of Texas owned the first refinery in Clinton. The city’s name was changed to Galena Park in 1935 when residents made application for a post office and the name Clinton was already taken by another Texas town. (See Clinton and Batterson.)3
GALLANT FOX: This legendary thoroughbred was the second racehorse to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont, thus prompting the naming of that feat as winning the Triple Crown. His jockey, Earl Sande, one of the top riders of his day, retired after winning the Derby in 1923 (on Zev) and 1925 (on Flying Ebony). Lured back into the irons by owner William Woodward for a swansong, Sande accomplished the feat in 1930 on Gallant Fox. (See Triple Crown.)4
GALVESTON: This highway was once the main road to the beach town to our south before the opening of the Gulf Freeway. That city is named for Bernardo de Galvez, a Mexican viceroy who never set foot on the island. Galveston claims many firsts for Texas including the first: telegraph, private bank, jewelry store, national bank, electric lights, nursing school, brewery, medical college and golf course. The city has one of the state’s more colorful histories. There are tales of cannibals, pirates, vicious storms, gambling and prostitution to mention a few. For more information read Gary Cartwright’s Galveston: A History of the Island. 5
» GALVESTON: Aftermath of the Great Storm of 1900
GAMMAGE: T. E. – Golfcrest, where this street is located, was a T. E. Gammage & Co. development. 6
GANGES: This holiest of Hindu rivers begins its sacred journey high in the Himalayas and travels 1,500 miles through India to the Bay of Bengal.
GARCIA: Macario – On November 22, 1944 near Grosshau, Germany, a wounded Staff Sergeant Garcia single-handedly captured two German machine-gun nests killing six of the enemy and capturing four others. For his extraordinary act of bravery he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman on August 23, 1945. Garcia also earned a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Combat Infantryman’s Badge. The Government of Mexico gave him its highest honor, the Merito Militar. Killed in a car accident in 1972, he is buried in the ring of honor in the Houston National Cemetery here. (See Veterans-Memorial.)7
» GARCIA: Tombstone in Houston National Cemetery
GARDEN OAKS: Edward Lillo Crane Sr. developed this area in 1937. Crane loved gardens and gave this neighborhood, with its oversized lots, its name. This area was just outside the city limits when Crane acquired it. Garden Oaks quickly became a popular place to live. By 1941, Crane had platted 1,150 lots on this 750 acres and built almost 700 homes. (See Edloe and Jardine.)8
GARNET: This block-long Southside Place street is named for the birthstone of real estate developer Edward L. Crain Sr.9
GARNER PARK: See sidebar The Most Scenic Spots in Texas, page 310.
GARROTT: John F. – This man and his family lived in the James Bute Addition in the Montrose area. He was the general manager of the James Bute Paint Company.10
GARROW: John Wanroy – He was a very successful cotton broker. The Garrows lived in posh Courtlandt Place. Their Italian renaissance home is a Texas Historic Landmark. The architect was Birdsall P. Briscoe. (See Birdsall and Courtland Place.)11
GASTON: Hudson – Katy-Gaston Road was a connector between the farming communities of the same names. Gaston, also known as White’s Switch, was located on FM 1093 (the far west extension of Westheimer Road). The town was established in 1888 near the site of Hudson Gaston’s plantation. For a while it was a switching station on the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad.12
GATLING: Richard Jordan – He was a prolific American inventor best known for developing the rapid-fire machine gun. Capable of firing 350 shots per minute this weapon would change the face of warfare forever. Few remember his other successes such as machines for sowing rice, cotton and other grains and a screw propeller for steamboats.13
GAUGUIN: Paul – This French stockbroker turned Post-Impressionist painter is famous for his ultimate dropout. During a trip to Martinique he conceived a plan to flee his responsibilities in Paris and move to the South Seas. Selling all his paintings and possessions he sailed to Tahiti in 1891. He returned to his native France once but quickly found life in the Parisian capitol was not for him. Returning to the South Pacific Gauguin turned out some of his most famous work. He moved to the Marquesas in 1901 where he died in poverty two years later.14
GAZIN: Henry J. – As this Denver Harbor street is located in a neighborhood with streets named for a mens-and-boys-wear store, a grocer, a department store, two five and dimes and two theaters, why not a pharmacy? He operated Gazin Drug Store at 516 Main Street in the Rice Hotel for many years beginning in the 1940s until the 1960s. His pharmacy was located in the premier hotel in the city and at the corner of Main and Texas Streets, the center of city life at that time.15
GEARS: John – This German immigrant owned a farm north of town where this road is located. Following his death his heirs continued the operation. 16
GEMINI: See sidebar Space City U.S.A. or “Houston the Eagle Has Landed”, page 106.
GENE CAMPBELL: Owner of a concrete plant and a real estate developer, he donated 60 acres of land to Montgomery County for a park. This road and Gene Campbell Sports Park honor this man. A life size statue of him stands in the park. 17
GEORGE ALTVATER: He is credited with establishing the hugely successful Barbours Cut Container Terminal on the Houston Ship Channel. Altvater arrived in Houston in 1959 and was named Director of Trade Development for the Port of Houston. He retired in 1979 having served as the Port’s Executive Director for the previous eight years. 18