Sabine Street

Sabine Street. . From the beginning, improving Houston streets was a primary concern because the frequent heavy rains and soft soil made travel difficult. Houston's road material of choice was gravel, wood, planks, and blocks. By the early 1900s, vitrified brick became the best available material for paving streets because it was fired at a higher temperature and for a longer period, making it harder and impervious to the absorption of water., The oldest of Houston's six remaining brick-paved roads, Sabine Street's brick-paving construction from Washington Avenue to the Sabine Street Bridge, was completed in 1902 with stone curbs instead of concrete. At the same time Sabine Street was paved, Heiner Street was paved from the bridge to San Felipe Road (now West Dallas). This created a high-quality route between Washington and San Felipe, the main roads into downtown from the west. Although the manufacturer of the original bricks on Sabine Street is unknown, some of the bricks from the intersection of Sabine and Washington (paved in 1898) bear the stamp "Thurber Brick Co.," a brick plant located in Thurber (Erath County). , Over the years, Sabine Street fell into disrepair but endured as a beloved asset of the Old Sixth Ward Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. In 2018, the city and the Old Sixth Ward Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 13 revived the three remaining brick-paved blocks. Refurbished bricks and historic stone curbs were reinstalled. Salvaged brick and stone curbs supplemented the lost Sabine Street materials, and new underground sewage, storm drainage, and accessibility ramps were installed, renewing the historic road landscape.