There is a big green wall along
Memorial Drive just downstream of the Studemont Street bridge.
Constructed as a bulkhead for the roadway of the new Memorial Drive in
the mid-1950's, the green wall does not seem that extraordinary.
However, upon closer examination, you will find a large notch in the
top line of the green wall. That notch, precisely wide enough for a
railroad track, is a reminder of the historically significant railroad
spur that crossed Buffalo Bayou at this point.
In 1847, the assets of the Harrisburg Railroad and Trading
Company and the town site of Harrisburg was sold to a group headed by
General Sidney Sherman. Sherman received a charter for the Buffalo
Bayou Brazos & Colorado Railway on February 11, 1850, and tracks
were laid across Harris County from Harrisburg to Stafford's Point. In
August, 1853, the BBB&C began operations to bring cotton and sugar
from the Brazos valley to the port at Harrisburg.
The period after the Civil War saw the expansion and consolidation of the railroads in Texas and the United States. In 1870, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad was sold to Thomas W. Peirce who changed its name to the Galveston, Houston and San Antonio Railroad. Peirce had grand visions of a coast to coast rail line, and in 1883, his railroad joined with the Southern Pacific Railroad a few miles west of the Pecos River to create the southern route of the transcontinental railroad.
In an attempt to facilitate shipments into the City of Houston, an "entrance" was built in 1880 to connect the GH&SA main line on the south side of the City to the Houston and Texas Central main line on the north side of Buffalo Bayou (paralleling Washington Avenue). This spur joined the H&TC tracks at Chaney Junction and it curved southeast across the south end of town where it connected with the GH&SA tracks at Stella (located south of the Astrodome).
The growth of residential development in the Montrose area and along South Main Street prompted the GH&SA to establish a better connection into Houston. In 1918, the GH&SA constructed a new entrance into Houston between Chaney Junction and West Junction. This spur went west to the Eureka Junction and then turned south (passing through today's Memorial Park) to West Junction (near the modern intersection of South Main Street, Holmes Road and Hiram Clark Road).
The original 1880 rail cut off was partly abandoned at this time. The tracks that remained extended only from the main line on the north, across Buffalo Bayou, to the south side of Buffalo Bayou as far as West Dallas Avenue. In the late nineteenth century, an industrial center developed along this railroad siding and the rail line served several important businesses including the Dickson Car Wheel Company foundry, the Southern Cotton Oil Company refinery, Butler's Brick Works, the Bayou City Rice Mills and others. In the 1920's and 1930's, the siding served the Sears, Roebuck and Company store on the south bank of the bayou, as well as the Houston Lighting and Power Company construction yard on West Dallas Avenue.
The redevelopment of the inner city in the late twentieth century led to the complete abandonment of the historic railroad spur. The wooden trestle across the bayou was removed about 2000 and the industrial complex on the north side of the bayou was replaced by the residential development called the Memorial Heights. The former Sears store was demolished in early 2007, and little evidence of this railroad link to Houston's earliest times remains.
All material printed on
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and this web site is copyrighted. All rights reserved.In 1847, the assets of the Harrisburg Railroad and Trading
Company and the town site of Harrisburg was sold to a group headed by
General Sidney Sherman. Sherman received a charter for the Buffalo
Bayou Brazos & Colorado Railway on February 11, 1850, and tracks
were laid across Harris County from Harrisburg to Stafford's Point. In
August, 1853, the BBB&C began operations to bring cotton and sugar
from the Brazos valley to the port at Harrisburg.The period after the Civil War saw the expansion and consolidation of the railroads in Texas and the United States. In 1870, the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad was sold to Thomas W. Peirce who changed its name to the Galveston, Houston and San Antonio Railroad. Peirce had grand visions of a coast to coast rail line, and in 1883, his railroad joined with the Southern Pacific Railroad a few miles west of the Pecos River to create the southern route of the transcontinental railroad.
In an attempt to facilitate shipments into the City of Houston, an "entrance" was built in 1880 to connect the GH&SA main line on the south side of the City to the Houston and Texas Central main line on the north side of Buffalo Bayou (paralleling Washington Avenue). This spur joined the H&TC tracks at Chaney Junction and it curved southeast across the south end of town where it connected with the GH&SA tracks at Stella (located south of the Astrodome).
The growth of residential development in the Montrose area and along South Main Street prompted the GH&SA to establish a better connection into Houston. In 1918, the GH&SA constructed a new entrance into Houston between Chaney Junction and West Junction. This spur went west to the Eureka Junction and then turned south (passing through today's Memorial Park) to West Junction (near the modern intersection of South Main Street, Holmes Road and Hiram Clark Road).
The original 1880 rail cut off was partly abandoned at this time. The tracks that remained extended only from the main line on the north, across Buffalo Bayou, to the south side of Buffalo Bayou as far as West Dallas Avenue. In the late nineteenth century, an industrial center developed along this railroad siding and the rail line served several important businesses including the Dickson Car Wheel Company foundry, the Southern Cotton Oil Company refinery, Butler's Brick Works, the Bayou City Rice Mills and others. In the 1920's and 1930's, the siding served the Sears, Roebuck and Company store on the south bank of the bayou, as well as the Houston Lighting and Power Company construction yard on West Dallas Avenue.
The redevelopment of the inner city in the late twentieth century led to the complete abandonment of the historic railroad spur. The wooden trestle across the bayou was removed about 2000 and the industrial complex on the north side of the bayou was replaced by the residential development called the Memorial Heights. The former Sears store was demolished in early 2007, and little evidence of this railroad link to Houston's earliest times remains.