By
the first decade of the twentieth century, railroads were one of the
principal industries in the economy of Houston. Business transportation
and personal travel into the city largely came on the railroads, and
most of that traffic arrived and departed from the Southern Pacific's
Grand Central Station on Washington Avenue. Much like today's airports,
the train station was the hub from which visitors arrived in the city.
From the station, they took taxicabs, public transportation or walked
across Buffalo Bayou into the downtown district to the hotels and
business they wished to visit. The limited access across the bayou on
the bridge at Louisiana Street prompted the city to conceive of an
elaborate bridge across Buffalo Bayou in order to welcome visitors to
the city and to provide easy access to the business district.
Mayor Horace Baldwin Rice announced on August 30, 1912 that a reinforced concrete covering over Buffalo Bayou would be built between Louisiana Street and Franklin Avenue. The Franklin Avenue and Louisiana Street bridges would be replaced with a girder type triangular structure that occupied the space of the two bridges, and in the center would be a statue of General Sam Houston.
The bayou covering would be 200 feet at its widest point and was to have a monument to keep the traffic divided and regulated. The proposed covering over Buffalo Bayou would connect with the Houston Ice and Brewing Company covering on the north side of Franklin Avenue, and it was intended to hide the unsightly view of the bayou from strangers coming to town from the passenger station who might get the wrong impression of the City's "real waterway."
The new triangular bridge at Franklin Avenue and Louisiana Street was dedicated on February 6, 1915. The reinforced concrete bridge had an area of 44,120 square feet and it cost $130,000. Built at grade level and "ornamented with a handsome balustrade and standing lights," it was hailed as "one of the handsomest bridges in Houston" and the "most beautiful bridge spanning the bayou."
On January 18, 1915, the City began a campaign to raise $50,000 to erect a monument of Sam Houston in the space set aside for it. Not every person, though, liked the original idea. Mayor Ben Campbell, who succeeded Rice, favored an equestrian statue. The controversy over the center piece of the bridge persisted. As late as 1921, the traffic circle consisted of a 50 foot diameter bed of 400 English daisies planted with a large Phoenix Canariensis palm in the center.
Yet, the expanding economy of Houston in the post-WWI years brought more people to the city, and the traffic congestion near Grand Central Station continued to be a problem. On November 28, 1922, plans for a "monster bridge" over Buffalo Bayou from Smith Street to Franklin Avenue were announced at City Council. This enormous bridge would cover one city block from Grand Central Station to the downtown district and it would relieve the traffic congestion on this side of town. The bridge was to be so expansive that the space would even provide a place for a fire station or a curb market for farmers on the bridge.
George
P. Macatee of the
Macatee Interests, owner of the land on the north bank, offered to
donate the land for the project to cover over the bayou ravine from
Smith Street to Franklin Avenue, providing that the City buy or remove
the Boyle Hotel on the south bank and not improve the assets of a
private landowner. [See picture to the right for the site of the Boyle
Hotel today.]
The large covered bridge was to be built in conjunction with a Buffalo Bayou bridge with a sixty foot roadway and sidewalks that would connect Congress Avenue and Smith Street to the north bank at 6th Street. Financing for the larger project, however, proved to be difficult to obtain, but nevertheless, the bridge at Smith Street was constructed. The new bridge at Smith Street was built by Charles K. Horton for a cost of $180,000 and it opened on August 7, 1925.
The City did eventually acquire the Boyle Hotel, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1928. Additional factors, however, came into play. On May 31, 1929, Buffalo Bayou flooded to such an extent that the pavement was washed out from several downtown bridges, including the bridges at Milam Street, Smith Street, Preston Avenue and Franklin Avenue. The effects of this event may have altered the plans for the large bridge project. In any case, a more limited project was undertaken along the north bank of the bank in this location. The Franklin Avenue extension was constructed as an elevated roadway on the north bank in 1931. This road is clearly evident from the bayou today, even though it is relatively unnoticed by motorists using the streets on their way into downtown Houston.
All thoughts of an extensive covered concrete platform over Buffalo Bayou were dismissed after the flood of Buffalo Bayou that occurred on December 8, 1935. With water rising to levels about seven feet higher than the flood of 1929, the Capital Avenue bridge was submerged, the new Farmer's Market was flooded and damage was done to the Houston Ice and Brewing Company platform and buildings, a different approach to development of the bayou was needed.
The bayou between Smith Street and Franklin Avenue has seen little improvement in modern times, except for the landscaping on the north bank and the hike and bike trail near the normal water level. The south bank is overgrown with brush and filled with construction debris. A positive sign for the future is the construction of the new home for the Houston Ballet on Congress Avenue.
The property at the corner of Smith Street and Preston Avenue, on the diagonal from the Wortham Theater Center and just south of where an exit from I-10 enters downtown is under construction as an 115,000 square foot, six-story mid-rise that will become the Houston Ballet Center for Dance. The Ballet's new home is scheduled to open in Spring 2011. The $53 million structure will be connected to the Wortham Theater Center by an aerial walkway angled across the intersection of Smith Street and Preston Avenue.
The proposed replacement of the elevated section of Congress Avenue also offers hope that the hike and bike trail along the south bank will be completed from Sesquicentennial Park to Travis Street.
Where the Franklin Monument Circle once welcomed untold numbers of businessmen and visitors to downtown Houston, a new gateway to the city welcomes vehicular traffic exiting from Interstate 10. In 1999, a concrete and bronze art work by Team Hou Architects, entitled The Downtown Houston Gateway, was erected in the location of the previous entry way [see above], and proudly calls out "Welcome to Downtown Houston."
All material printed on
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and this web site is copyrighted. All rights reserved.Mayor Horace Baldwin Rice announced on August 30, 1912 that a reinforced concrete covering over Buffalo Bayou would be built between Louisiana Street and Franklin Avenue. The Franklin Avenue and Louisiana Street bridges would be replaced with a girder type triangular structure that occupied the space of the two bridges, and in the center would be a statue of General Sam Houston.
The bayou covering would be 200 feet at its widest point and was to have a monument to keep the traffic divided and regulated. The proposed covering over Buffalo Bayou would connect with the Houston Ice and Brewing Company covering on the north side of Franklin Avenue, and it was intended to hide the unsightly view of the bayou from strangers coming to town from the passenger station who might get the wrong impression of the City's "real waterway."
The new triangular bridge at Franklin Avenue and Louisiana Street was dedicated on February 6, 1915. The reinforced concrete bridge had an area of 44,120 square feet and it cost $130,000. Built at grade level and "ornamented with a handsome balustrade and standing lights," it was hailed as "one of the handsomest bridges in Houston" and the "most beautiful bridge spanning the bayou."
On January 18, 1915, the City began a campaign to raise $50,000 to erect a monument of Sam Houston in the space set aside for it. Not every person, though, liked the original idea. Mayor Ben Campbell, who succeeded Rice, favored an equestrian statue. The controversy over the center piece of the bridge persisted. As late as 1921, the traffic circle consisted of a 50 foot diameter bed of 400 English daisies planted with a large Phoenix Canariensis palm in the center.
Yet, the expanding economy of Houston in the post-WWI years brought more people to the city, and the traffic congestion near Grand Central Station continued to be a problem. On November 28, 1922, plans for a "monster bridge" over Buffalo Bayou from Smith Street to Franklin Avenue were announced at City Council. This enormous bridge would cover one city block from Grand Central Station to the downtown district and it would relieve the traffic congestion on this side of town. The bridge was to be so expansive that the space would even provide a place for a fire station or a curb market for farmers on the bridge.
George
P. Macatee of the
Macatee Interests, owner of the land on the north bank, offered to
donate the land for the project to cover over the bayou ravine from
Smith Street to Franklin Avenue, providing that the City buy or remove
the Boyle Hotel on the south bank and not improve the assets of a
private landowner. [See picture to the right for the site of the Boyle
Hotel today.]The large covered bridge was to be built in conjunction with a Buffalo Bayou bridge with a sixty foot roadway and sidewalks that would connect Congress Avenue and Smith Street to the north bank at 6th Street. Financing for the larger project, however, proved to be difficult to obtain, but nevertheless, the bridge at Smith Street was constructed. The new bridge at Smith Street was built by Charles K. Horton for a cost of $180,000 and it opened on August 7, 1925.
The City did eventually acquire the Boyle Hotel, but it was destroyed by a fire in 1928. Additional factors, however, came into play. On May 31, 1929, Buffalo Bayou flooded to such an extent that the pavement was washed out from several downtown bridges, including the bridges at Milam Street, Smith Street, Preston Avenue and Franklin Avenue. The effects of this event may have altered the plans for the large bridge project. In any case, a more limited project was undertaken along the north bank of the bank in this location. The Franklin Avenue extension was constructed as an elevated roadway on the north bank in 1931. This road is clearly evident from the bayou today, even though it is relatively unnoticed by motorists using the streets on their way into downtown Houston.
All thoughts of an extensive covered concrete platform over Buffalo Bayou were dismissed after the flood of Buffalo Bayou that occurred on December 8, 1935. With water rising to levels about seven feet higher than the flood of 1929, the Capital Avenue bridge was submerged, the new Farmer's Market was flooded and damage was done to the Houston Ice and Brewing Company platform and buildings, a different approach to development of the bayou was needed.
The bayou between Smith Street and Franklin Avenue has seen little improvement in modern times, except for the landscaping on the north bank and the hike and bike trail near the normal water level. The south bank is overgrown with brush and filled with construction debris. A positive sign for the future is the construction of the new home for the Houston Ballet on Congress Avenue.
The property at the corner of Smith Street and Preston Avenue, on the diagonal from the Wortham Theater Center and just south of where an exit from I-10 enters downtown is under construction as an 115,000 square foot, six-story mid-rise that will become the Houston Ballet Center for Dance. The Ballet's new home is scheduled to open in Spring 2011. The $53 million structure will be connected to the Wortham Theater Center by an aerial walkway angled across the intersection of Smith Street and Preston Avenue.
The proposed replacement of the elevated section of Congress Avenue also offers hope that the hike and bike trail along the south bank will be completed from Sesquicentennial Park to Travis Street.
Where the Franklin Monument Circle once welcomed untold numbers of businessmen and visitors to downtown Houston, a new gateway to the city welcomes vehicular traffic exiting from Interstate 10. In 1999, a concrete and bronze art work by Team Hou Architects, entitled The Downtown Houston Gateway, was erected in the location of the previous entry way [see above], and proudly calls out "Welcome to Downtown Houston."