As I sit here at the museum and listen to the constant assault of road noise coming from Interstate-10 I am reminded that just a short 67 years ago I would have been enveloped by the soothing sounds of nature. There was no road connecting east and west Chambers County at Wallisville, if you wanted to travel to Houston, you would drive to Liberty and travel via Hwy-90 (then called the Beaumont-Houston Highway) to Houston or take a rope ferry across to Old River and then by road to Houston.
The first work towards the designation of a highway from Port Arthur to Houston started in the year 1931 with the argument being made that the road would traverse a part of the fastest growing area of Texas and link the major oil refineries of the coastal area. It would also be a vital military highway in time of war. Although the delegations received reasonable assurance the road would be built, the project was deferred until funds were available and plans were further stalled due to WW II.
The original proposed route for the Port Arthur-Houston Highway, also referred to as the shortline, was from Port Arthur to Winnie, to Stowell, to Anahuac, then was to cross just north of Anahuac at the established Turtle Bayou crossing, over to Lawrence Island and across to Hugo Point, continuing from there to Goose Creek. The alternate route was to extend farther north of Anahuac to Wallisville and then cross over to Cove. The road would then extend south hugging the Trinity River all the way to Goose Creek. However, not everyone was in favor of this route.
Kendon Clark in his book Diamond in the Rough, a History of Cove, Texas, states, “…petitions under the date of February 1, were forthcoming in opposition to the plan. Those opposed to the building of a road along the proposed location stated that the road was in “low marshy land all the way,” that it would be “subject to complete destruction by hurricanes,” and that its upkeep would be too expensive. These citizens preferred a road be built farther up the river between Cove and Wallisville.”
The folks living in the county seat of Anahuac were okay with either of the original proposed routes, but you can imagine their outrage when plans changed, and the new route would bypass their hometown area completely.