The Old Sugar Land Club House: More Views of Old Sugar Land

I've been reviewing several old documents over the past couple of months and came across two items I wanted to post. I may have posted the first one, but it's worth repeating. It shows a layout of The Hill, dated February 18, 1919.

Note the numbering of the street names. What we now know as First Street was labeled 'Boulevard.' Actually, Boulevard or First Street was undeveloped at the time this drawing was made. We know it wasn't created until four or five years later.

Also notice that the first four homes on the west side of Main Street and the homes on Boulevard are just sketched in. All the other homes have numbers assigned to them. This another indication of the progression of development that occurred during the early 1920s. The first hospital shows more detail than I expected. (It was built in 1924.)

Click on the image to enlarge the view.

The next drawing shows development that never occurred. (The title of the drawing is 'Map of Sugar Land Improvement Company's Addition to Sugar Land, Texas.') I can't find a date, but I can tell the drawing was made before 1924. Had Sugarland Industries executed this big plan, the town would have developed eastward in its early years. Our current industrial park would have been a residential district.

This next set of images comes from aerial photos taken in 1941. (I've posted selected images from this set in the past.) These images show the town on April 5, 1941. Click on the images to magnify them.

The first shows a view of the center of town. You can easily see Highway 90A and the loop Oyster Creek makes around Mayfield Park and the refinery.

Sugar Land on April 5, 1941.

Here is a blow up of Mayfield Park. Note the track. M. R. Wood School was the set of structures north of the track. (The school would undergo significant expansion in 1953.) Also note that houses abut the refinery's northern perimeter. (I'm not certain there was a fence, but I assume there was one.)

Mayfield Park on April 5, 1941.

The next magnification shows the east side of town. I've added some annotations to identify particular structures and sites.

East Sugar Land on April 5, 1941.

The next zoom shows Brooks Street. I've added annotations to this photo, too. Notice the first two homes on the west side of Brooks Street. They would be moved a few years later when Guenther Street was extended westward. I believe Dr. Carlos Slaughter lived in the first house.