A crossing of the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio (GH&SA) Railway and the San Antonio and Aransas Pass (SA&AP) Railway
In 1880, the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio
(GH&SA) Railway built a new line to provide a connection
between Stella (near Pierce Junction on the GH&SA
east/west main line south of Houston) and the Texas &
New Orleans (T&NO) Railroad yards northeast of downtown
Houston. This line crossed the Houston & Texas Central (H&TC)
Railway at Chaney Junction (Tower 14). As GH&SA did
not have its own passenger depot in Houston, it began using this route to access
the H&TC passenger depot. Eight years later,
the San Antonio & Aransas Pass (SA&AP) Railway built a
line into Houston from the town of Kenedy, southeast of San Antonio. The SA&AP
crossed the GH&SA south of downtown. When interlocker commissioning began in
1902, Tower 12 was one of the early interlockers to be commissioned. This
occured on
July 6, 1903 to serve the GH&SA / SA&AP junction with a 12-function
mechanical plant. By this time, the GH&SA had
long been owned by Southern Pacific (SP). SP had also acquired controlling
interest in the SA&AP in 1892, but a lawsuit resulted in SP divesting its SA&AP
stock in 1903. It was not until 1925 that SP was able to re-acquire the SA&AP
permanently.
According to Railroad Commission of Texas (RCT) records,
Tower 12 was located at "Blodgett". The origin of the name "Blodgett" is in
question; it's appearance in the RCT lists of interlockers published annually
was in the context of a location that was virtually always a town or community
(or in rare cases, a geographic reference.) But no applicable community or
geographic reference to the name "Blodgett" has been found in the vicinity of
Houston (the Handbook of Texas lists a town of Blodgett near Mt. Pleasant in
north Texas.) It appears that RCT simply listed the tower as being located at
"Blodgett" because it was near the intersection of South Main and Blodgett
Street south of downtown Houston. Why it wasn't listed as "Houston (Blodgett)"
is a mystery. It was recorded simply as "Blodgett" through its last appearance
in an RCT list dated October 31, 1915. After that, it no longer appeared in RCT
interlocker lists because it had been decommissioned.
And why was it
decommissioned? In 1914, the H&TC constructed a line from
Tower 13 (Eureka Junction) in Houston to the newly established
West Junction southwest of town on the GH&SA main line to San Antonio. This connection allowed transcontinental
Southern Pacific (SP) traffic between El Paso and Texarkana to bypass
the main yards in Houston. [A faster connection, the Dalsa Cutoff
between Giddings and Flatonia, was built by the T&NO at the
same time and became SP's primary bypass.] Rice Institute opened near Tower 12 in 1912. This served to
stimulate population growth southwest of downtown Houston and
shortly thereafter, civic leaders were encouraging the GH&SA
to abandon their rail line through Montrose so the neighborhood
could expand. The GH&SA obliged and began using the H&TC's
line between West Junction and Tower 13 instead of the line through Montrose. This alternate route into Houston was faster and
allowed Tower 12 to be closed in 1915. The rail segment through Montrose was
abandoned except for a spur running south from Chaney Junction. On Christmas
Eve, 1917, the GH&SA opened a new line parallel to the H&TC tracks between
West Junction and Chaney
Junction (Tower 14) via Eureka Junction (Tower 13). Why build a parallel line of
significant distance when both railroads (the GH&SA and the H&TC) were already
affiliated with Southern Pacific? Texas rail historian S. G. Reed explains that
since the abandoned route from Stella to Chaney Junction through Montrose was
GH&SA's
only track into Houston, its abandonment meant that GH&SA
technically did not serve Houston. The new line was built because it was "thought best
for the GH&SA to actually own a track into Houston...".
Chris
Tolley adds..."The bridges of the old GH&SA
main across Memorial Dr. and Allen Parkway have been removed for
some time now (c.1990). The spur track at Chaney is still there,
but the switch to the Glidden/Terminal mains is gone. There used
to be some grain silos on the SE end of Washington and Studemont
that used to be a customer long time ago
for the SP. That got torn down about 1996 (I think) and is now
home to an upscale strip shopping area and some new apartment/condo
buildings on the land."
Historic Map and Satellite Map, Tower 12 Vicinity
Above Left: This 1913 map of Houston
shows the crossing
of the GH&SA and SA&AP served by Tower 12. The diagonal
street adjacent to the crossing is South
Main. Blodgett Ave., for which the tower location was presumably named, is
visible near the crossing. Above Right:
Although Blodgett St. is not labeled on this satellite image, it still exists
east of the 527 freeway spur. West of the spur, it's now called Woodrow St.
Below:
The 1907 Sanborn Fire Insurance index map shows a connecting track at Tower 12.
The precise location of the tower is not known, but there is a suggestion based on some historic maps that have been viewed, but not copied, that Tower 12 was close to the intersection of Alabama and Jack. Given the half-mile distance between the SA&AP /GH&SA crossing diamond and the Alabama/Jack intersection, it would be unlikely for Tower 12 to have been located that far north absent some other compelling reason, particularly since it was apparently associated with Blodgett Street. However, a compelling reason to be located farther north might have existed, as illustrated below.
Above: This 1896 Sanborn index map shows the route of the Texas Western
Railroad (narrow gauge) into downtown Houston, its tracks
paralleling the SA&AP
a couple of blocks to the northwest. The map ends along the left edge with the
Texas Western running due west at
a point approximately one block southwest of
the intersection of Holman and Milam streets, both of which still exist in
Houston. Projecting
a continuation of this route on a due west heading places it
on what is now W. Alabama, as shown below. This line was opened in 1877, three
years before the GH&SA line was built through Montrose. Although the GH&SA would have crossed
the Texas Western somewhere near the intersection of
Alabama and
Jack,
the Texas Western was abandoned
in 1899, three years before RCT began regulating interlockers. However, GH&SA could have built a single control tower to serve
its
rail junctions with the Texas Western and the SA&AP well before the
legal requirement imposed by RCT. If so, Tower 12
might have been located farther north than the "expected" location shown on this
map.
Julian Erceg adds to this discussion...
I was reading your speculation about the
location of the Texas Western Narrow Gauge right of way leaving Houston on your
Tower 12 page. ...I did a very small amount of research on the Texas Western
about 10 years ago just using sources I could find in the Houston Library, and
everything I found says your speculation is, as expected, correct. This is the
most reliable evidence I found: Quoted from
The Road to Piney Point
edited by Melissa M. Peterson, published by the Piney Point Village Historic
Committee in 1994: "In 1877, the Texas Western Narrow Gauge was built from
Houston to Pattison and San Felipe along the route of present Westheimer Road,
swinging northerly past Katy, TX. Piney Point was a regular stop on this
railroad although there is no evidence that any station building ever existed.
The TWNG owned 40 acres north of the line and to the west of the Canfield
homestead. A railroad bridge crossed the Piney Point Gully to the west of Piney
Point Road... A lady living on Piney Point Road around 1950 retold this story
about the Piney Point stop in the 1890's: As a youngster she and her family,
usually on a Saturday or a Sunday, caught the old TWNG to Piney Point Station,
walked down to Buffalo Bayou past the present site of Vargo's restaurant to
picnic areas and sandy beaches and cool clear water for swimming. Late in the
day they caught the train back to town. Apparently this was a popular excursion
for many Houstonians. The stopping place was near the old Canfield House, but
history does not record the role of its inhabitants in this picnic site. This
picnic area was either on Canfield property or on the TWNG property to the
west." A History of the Texas Railroads by S.G. Reed and
Uriah Lott
by J. L. Allhands both use the same wording to suggest the route may have turned
west at Alabama. From Uriah Lott:
"...its freight and passenger stations
were located at the corner of St. Emanuel and Commerce Streets, and its tracks
ran out St. Emanuel to what is now known as East Alabama." Hopefully this helps
confirm your suspicions- it is always satisfying to have a well educated hunch
prove to be correct.
General Location Map for Tower 12
