by Marks Hinton
GEORGE BUSH: George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States serving from 1988-1992. He was born in Milton, Massachusetts in 1924. On his 18th birthday he enlisted in the armed services becoming the youngest pilot in the Navy when he earned his wings. He flew 58 missions during WW II, was shot down in the Pacific and won the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery. Bush served two terms as a U. S. Congressman from Texas. Subsequently he was Ambassador to the United Nations, Director of the CIA and Vice President of the United States during the Reagan Administration. 19
GEORGETOWN: This street is named for Georgetown University. It is in a suburb of Washington D. C. and was founded in 1789. 20
GERONIMO: This Chiricahua Apache chief was a fearsome fighter during the Indian Wars of 1867-8. Eventually captured, he died in Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1909. 21
GESSNER: August – This German immigrant arrived in the United States in 1886. A Spanish-American War veteran, he built a monument to Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders in Puerto Rico. He arrived in Houston and opened A. Gessner Cabinet Works. Gessner became friends with longtime Harris County Commissioner E. A. “Squatty” Lyons who named the street for his friend. 22
GETTYSBURG: This is a small town in Pennsylvania where the most famous battle of the Civil War occurred. Here between July 1-3, 1863, Union General George G. Meade faced off against General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The carnage was staggering with the North reporting 23,000 casualties and the Rebels 25,000. Both commanders were criticized for their tactics - Lee for using unseasoned commanders and authorizing the disastrous Pickett’s Charge and Meade for not pursuing Lee’s retreating army when the battle was over. 23
GIBSON: J. A. or John T. – The former was a Mississippi native who moved to Texas as a boy. His son, John T., was born in Fort Bend County in 1878. John was elected county tax assessor in 1902. 24
GIBSON: R. M. – See sidebar Houston Streets Named for Men Killed During World War I, page 22.
GIFFORD HILL: The Gifford-Hill Pipe Company was formed in 1931. It manufactured concrete pipe for sewer and culvert construction. Today it operates 12 plants in Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas (including the one for whom this street is named). It is now owned by Hanson Pipe & Products, the largest producer of concrete pipe and precast in North America.25
GILLETTE: H. F. – This gentleman was a schoolteacher who founded the college preparatory school, the Houston Academy, at Main Street and Preston Avenue. The school charged $2 per month for liberal arts classes and $3 monthly for math, geography and foreign languages. Gillette was also a reverend and a founder of Bayland Orphans Home for Boys. (See Bayland.)26
GILLETTE: Located in the Fourth Ward, this neighborhood, Castania Addition, was developed by Frederick & Gillette.19
GIN: No dear reader, this Kendleton street is not named for Bombay Sapphire or Plymouth gin. It leads to the historic cotton gin in that community. (See Braxton.)27
GIRARD: Auguste – In 1839 public officials hired him to produce a new map of Houston. Of French descent he was born in 1805. He had no formal education. Girard came to Texas from Alabama in 1838 and joined the Texas Army with the rank of “colonel of engineers” but only served for 13 days. Printed on this map is the statement, “City of Houston and Vicinity Drawn and Partly Surveyed by A. Girard, Late Chief Engineer of the Texas Army, January, 1839.” In addition to doing the survey, Girard named a street north of Buffalo Bayou for himself and another for his wife Susan. The plot thickens when you try to find out more about Mr. Girard. It seems that a man who was Chief Engineer of the Texas Army would appear in our historical records. But he does not. The only mention of him in The Handbook of Texas quotes the 1839 map. I have not found him in any other book. There is no record of him at the City of Houston Preservation Office, Houston Heritage Society, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Historic Houston, Government Land Office, Texas State Historical Association, Texas General Land Office, Texas Veterans Land Board, Texas Army Muster Rolls or Texas Army Service Records. And finally, according to historian and map expert Kirk Ferris the numbering system for the blocks on the 1839 map are all wrong, indicating Mr. Girard knew nothing about surveying. It is likely that Girard made up the title in order to be hired and then drew a very poor map. He began speculating in real estate but the 1839 price crash and a yellow fever epidemic sent him packing back to Alabama. (See Chartres and Chenevert.) (See photograph on page 132.)28
GIRL SCOUT: Located in Lake Houston State Park the land where this road is was once owned by the San Jacinto Girl Scout Council and had been the home of the Peach Creek Girl Scout Camp since 1955. The Council sold the 202 acres to the State of Texas for park land in 1990. (See Peach Creek.)6
» GIRARD: The mysterious A. Girard’s name appears on the 1839 Houston map.
GLADYS YOAKUM: The music for our state song, Texas, Our Texas, was written by an Englishman, William J. Marsh, while he was living in Fort Worth. He partnered with native Texan Gladys Yoakum (later Wright) who wrote the words. They submitted their entry to a statewide contest sponsored by the Texas Legislature in 1929 and won.29
GLASTONBURY: A beautiful town in southwest England, Glastonbury is known for its two major legends. The first is that King Arthur is buried at Glastonbury Abbey. The other says that St. Joseph of Arimathea founded the first Christian church there on Wearyall Hill. (See King Arthur, Lancelot, Merlin and Guinevere.)30
GLEN CHEEK: Located in front of the Tin Hall, a honky-tonk and reception hall founded in 1889 in Cypress, is Glen Cheek Road. It was named in memory of a longtime Precinct 5 Constable who died of cancer in 2007. (See Tin Hall.)31
GLENEAGLES: The famous James Braid designed this superb Scottish golf links in 1919. After playing his first round here, American golf professional Lee Trevino, a man known for his wit as well as his golf game, said “if Heaven is as good as this, I sure hope they have some tee times left.”32
» GLENN HERBERT McCARTHY: Tombstone in Glenwood Cemetery
GLENHAVEN: Glenn Herbert McCarthy was born in Beaumont, Texas on Christmas Day 1907. He began working in the oilfields near town at the age of eight years earning $0.50 a day. McCarthy enrolled at Rice Institute (now University) but soon dropped out to start his own oil company. He hit major fields 38 times between 1932 and 1942. His wealth, estimated at $200 million in 1949, came from 400 producing oil and gas wells. He purchased a tract of land south of downtown and in 1949 McCarthy invested $21 million building the Shamrock Hotel. He spent over $1 million on its lavish opening, dubbed “Houston’s biggest party.” In spite of his assets the “King of the Wildcatters” found himself more than $50 million in debt in 1952. However, a federal loan bailed him out for the time being. By 1955 he lost control of the Shamrock, selling it to the Hilton chain. Two years later he opened the exclusive Cork Club in downtown. (Your author was invited to the grand opening.) McCarthy was a notorious drinker who introduced his own label, Wildcatter, bourbon. He was the inspiration for the character Jett Rink in Edna Ferber’s novel, Giant. (See Shamrock.)33
GLYCOL: It is only right that this dihydric alcohol named street leads into the massive Dow Chemical Company complex in Lake Jackson. The formula is (CH2)n(OH)2. The most important glycol is ethylene glycol used to manufacture antifreeze, Dacron and explosives.34
GO-MAN-GO: This street honors one of the greatest American quarter horses. Foaled in 1953 he was later named World Champion Racing American Quarter Horse three times. He set track records, world records and retired to be one of the greatest sires in quarter horse racing history. (See Easy Jet.)35
GOEDECKE: This is another German immigrant family who settled in the Spring, Texas area in the late 1800s. Five family members (Dora, George, George Jr., Katie and Sophie) are buried in the nearby Budde Cemetery. (See Budde Cemetery.)36
GOLDEN CHORD: See sidebar It’s Music to My Ears, page 218.
GOLDEN SPIKE: On May 10, 1869 at Promontory, Utah the rail lines of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific joined cr
eating the world’s first transcontinental railroad. This tremendous engineering feat was celebrated by the driving of a golden spike.37
GOLDENROD: This Pasadena street recalls a residential development there called Golden Acres, Texas. The name came from a marketing slogan used by the developers – “a golden opportunity.” Golden Acres Elementary School is a part of Pasadena ISD.38
GOLFCREST: (See Country Club.)
GOLIAD: Founded in 1749 this city is one of the oldest of the Spanish colonial municipalities in Texas. Colonizer Jose de Escandon erected the historic Espiritu Santo mission here. In 1836 James Walker Fannin was in charge of the garrison stationed in Goliad. General Sam Houston ordered him to evacuate as the Mexican army was bearing down on the presidio. Nonetheless, Fannin and 500 retreating Texians were capture by Santa Anna. They were returned to Goliad where they were executed. This tragedy became known as the “Goliad Massacre.” At the Battle of San Jacinto the battle cry of the Texians was “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” (See Fannin and Texian.) 39, 40
GONZALES: Alphonse – See sidebar Houston Streets Named for Men Killed During World War I, page 22.
» GOODE: West University street sign
GOODE: Commercial artist turned bar-b-q, seafood and Mexican restaurant impresario Jim Goode and his wife Kate have been extremely generous over the years to West University Elementary School. They raised funds via auctions prompting the principal to annually name a small street north of the school for the couple. When the Goodes made a particularly important contribution to the school library the street was permanently named Goode. 41
GOODNIGHT TRAIL: Charles Goodnight was a Texas Ranger, Indian scout, cattle rancher and Civil War veteran. He and his partner, Oliver Loving, founded one of the most famous cattle drive trails in the Old West. The original Goodnight Trail was an extension of the Goodnight-Loving Trail. It ran from Young County, Texas to the Pecos River, then over to Fort Sumner, New Mexico and finally up to Goodnight’s ranch at Trinidad, Colorado. 42
GOODSON: James – The town of Hufsmith was founded as a station stop on the International-Great Northern Railroad in 1872. It is likely this north Harris county loop is named for that town’s first blacksmith. 43
GOODYEAR: This street is named for the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Chemical plant that is located on it. 44
GOOSE CREEK: This Baytown street is named for a creek of the same name that flows into Galveston Bay near Hog Island. Oil was discovered at Goose Creek in 1915, creating a boomtown the locals called Old Town. It was wiped out in an oil well explosion. Immediately the survivors started New Town near by. The name Goose Creek was adopted in 1916. (See Gaillard and American Petroleum.)45
» GOOSE CREEK: Wooden derricks in Goose Creek Oil Field
GORE: Arthur William Charles Wentworth – This English tennis star won gold in the men’s indoor singles and doubles at the 1908 London Olympic Games. He was also Wimbledon singles champion in 1901, 1908 and 1909 and doubles champ in 1909.46
GOSHEN: Located on the banks of the West Fork of the San Jacinto River in Montgomery County this tiny town was named for the biblical Land of Goshen. It was in the eastern part of the Nile River delta and was inhabited by Israelites from the time of Jacob until the Exodus.47
GOSTIC: Like other streets in our area this one is misspelled. Gabriel “Gabe” Gostick was an Englishman who arrived in Houston in 1839. He quickly purchased 600 acres of land where the Houston Heights is today. Shortly after Gostick was beaten to death in his own yard. The crime remains unsolved. Rumors at the time said someone was outraged that he was able to buy this parcel from Houston founders John and Augustus Allen when the brothers were forced to sell it to pay off debts.48
GOULD: Robert Simonton – This Alabama attorney supported secession and assembled Gould’s Battalion for the Confederates. He was a major in Walker’s Texas Division. During the War he saw action at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana. Gould was wounded at Jenkins’ Ferry, Arkansas. He came to Texas in 1870. Elected to the Texas Supreme Court, he served there from 1876 until 1882. He became one of the first law professors at the University of Texas in 1883 and taught there until his death in 1904.49
GRADUATE: See sidebar Neighborhoods with Interesting Street Names, page 104.
GRAF NET: Steffi Graf was one of the world’s best female tennis players. At 19 this German professional won the Grand Slam (tennis’ four major tournaments) and an Olympic gold medal. In her career she claimed victory in 22 Grand Slam events winning Wimbledon (7), French Open (6), U. S. Open (5) and Australian Open (4). She retired in 1999 with 107 singles titles to her credit.50
GRANBERRY: In 1904 oil was discovered near Humble, Texas. The Granberry Oil Company was one of the early participants in this famous oil play. (See Humble and Moonshine Hill.)51
GRANBERRY: Prentiss M. – This gentleman was one of the partners that platted the Freeland Addition, a small neighborhood on the eastern edge of Houston Heights in 1920. Born in Mississippi in 1856, Granberry arrived in Houston in 1900. He worked for William Marsh Rice as a ranch foreman and manager of Rice’s Houston Brick Works. He made his fortune on oil wells in the Spindletop Field. The Granberry family lived at 241 Heights Boulevard. (See Spindletop, Frasier and Reserve.)52
GRANGERLAND: Now a bedroom community for Houston and Conroe, Grangerland was once a booming oil town. Until discovery of the huge Conroe Field by the Texas Company in 1931, this area was mainly a cotton and lumber producer. In order to house the oilfield hands and their families Don D. Granger constructed a camp with 32 houses, thus prompting the name. 53
» GRANGERLAND: Old Texas Company filling station sign
GRANT: George W. – In 1841 he bought a significant amount of land from Mirabeau B. Lamar, who owned a large farm where Montrose is today. From this sale several developments were platted including Hyde Park Addition. It is very likely that he named this street for himself. 54
GRAY: Peter – He was a Harrisburg judge and founding member of the Houston Library. Chief Justice Oran Roberts named Gray the “very best district judge upon the Texas bench.” Another judge fined him for sitting on a courtroom table ($20) and smoking in court ($20) in 1838. A year later he was named district attorney. He was an organizer of the law firm Gray, Botts & Baker, predecessor to today’s Baker & Botts. Gray founded and captained the Civil War Texas Grays, was General John B. Magruder’s aide at the 1863 New Year’s Day Battle of Galveston and was elected to the House of the Confederate Congress. He developed tuberculosis in 1873. In 1874 Gray was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court but only served two months due to his failing health. He died October 3, 1874 at the age of 54. Chief Justice Roberts said he was “a man who ought to be remembered.”55
GREEN: Thomas – See sidebar Houston Streets Named for Men Killed During World War I, page 22.
GREENSPOINT: This area is a 12-square mile district on the north side of Houston. It achieved notoriety in the 1980s because of its high crime rate. The Greenspoint Shopping Mall was dubbed “Gunspoint Mall” by local wags. To my knowledge it is the only shopping center in American that was forced to post snipers on the roof for a period of time to deter the criminal element. 56
GREEN’S BAYOU: This northeast-side thoroughfare is named for the 42-mile bayou that runs from northwest Harris County near Jersey Village to where it joins Buffalo Bayou just north of Pasadena. During the 1970s it was so polluted that it was declared a public health hazard. 57
GREGG: Darius – Born in Kentucky, Gregg came to Texas around 1827 and was granted a league of land by Stephen F. Austin. He fought in the Texas Revolution seeing action at the Siege of Bexar and the Grass Fight. He was a land developer and surveyor in the Fifth Ward. His name still appears on the 1900 Houston map, among others, as a major property owner. Surveyors in early Houston like Gregg often named streets after themselves. The Reverend Toby Gregg, a former slave freed by Darius Gregg following the War Between the States, founded Mount Vernon United Methodist Church, the oldest religious organization in
the Fifth Ward. 58
GRETEL: (See Hansel.)
GRIMES: Alfred C. – This Georgia born Texas hero was killed at the Alamo. He was only 19 years old. Grimes was a member of Captain John H. Forsyth’s cavalry company. His father signed the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836 while the Battle of the Alamo raged. The younger Grimes would be massacred four days later by General Santa Anna’s Mexican army.59
GRISSOM: Virgil Ivan “Gus” – One of America’s first space heroes, this brave astronaut died in a tragic fire in an Apollo capsule at Cape Kennedy on January 27, 1967. Grissom was among the first group of test pilots to become America’s astronauts in 1959. He was the pilot for the Mercury-Redstone 4, commander of Gemini 3 and was named flight commander of the first Apollo flight prior to his death.60
GROESCHKE: Louis and Charlotte – This west side road was named for this German couple who operated a farm in the area in the 1850s.61
GROGAN’S MILL: This Woodlands street recalls a sawmill owned by the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Company that had a lumber camp south of Magnolia, Texas in the early 1920s. At one time the company operated 25 sawmills in Texas, with three of those in Montgomery County. (See Cochran’s Crossing.)62
GRUNWALD: Fred – This man owned a ranch and farm near the town of Beasley. (See Beasley-Damon.)63
GUADALCANNAL: This is one of several street names in Houston that is misspelled. The correct name is Guadalcanal, the largest of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. It was the site of a decisive WW II battle when Allied troops recaptured it from the Japanese in 1943. It was the first time the American forces launched a large-scale maritime invasion of a Japanese-held island.64
GUADALUPE VICTORIA: Located in San Felipe, this street recalls the original name of Victoria, Texas. It was founded in 1824 and named for the first president of the Republic of Mexico by Martin de Leon. The town became a stock-raising center and a shipping point. Guadalupe Victoria was a major contributor of volunteers, supplies and weapons to the Texans during the War of Independence.65