AFFILIATION AND COOPERATION WITH OTHERS

TO  PROMOTE TRANSPORTATION

Throughout its existence, the Club has been a member of only one outside organization, but has cooperated with others to promote transportation.  By letter dated October 22, 1922, the Club was notified that at a special meeting of Associated Traffic Clubs of America held in Cleveland, Ohio on October 17^th and 18^th their application for membership was approved.

Associated Traffic Clubs of America later became National Transportation Clubs, and finally, Transportation Clubs International.  The Club has been a continuous member since 1922.  There is no indication in the minutes of membership in any other organization.

Dale Crawford

THE TRANSPORTATION CLUB OF  HOUSTON

Houston has always been the center of Texas transportation.  One of the earliest forms of multi- passenger transportation was the stage coach.   Mention stagecoaches and we usually think of the Wild West, cowboys and Indians.  Most people are surprised to learn that the first stagecoach lines in Texas were established in Houston.  In 1837, when Texas was still a Republic, a line was operating between Harrisburg (now part of Houston) and Houston.  By 1839, a stage line was operating between Houston and Washington-on-the-Brazos.  Later in the same year, a line operated between Houston and Egypt, TX via Richmond, TX.  Service between Houston and Austin began the same year.  The Houston-Austin stage line began operations over a run where twenty days was considered good time for freight wagons.  The freight wagon rates were $30 per hundredweight.  As the population increased, stage lines were operating from Houston as far west as El Paso, TX.   

Houston was the site of the first successful railroad in Texas.  General Sidney Sherman was instrumental in acquiring the necessary capital, and construction of the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway.  The railroad began operation on September 7, 1853 offering service from Harrisburg to Stafford’s Point (now Stafford, TX).  The BBB & C Ry. was not only the first railroad in the State of Texas, it was the second railroad to be built west of the Mississippi River. It later became the oldest component of the Southern Pacific.  

Prior to completion and opening of the Houston Ship Channel, water trade was alive and well in Houston.  In January of 1837, the “Laura” was the first steamship to come up Buffalo Bayou to call at Houston.  It took the ship three days from Harrisburg because of having to stop and blow up log jams or cutting down trees and overhanging limbs.  This was the voyage that opened Buffalo Bayou and Houston to steamship trade. Vessels came up the bayou to the area of Main and Commerce streets.  In 1840 the first local dock was built while the Texas Congress authorized the City to build and maintain wharves.  In the year 1844, eighty ships docked at Houston, taking on 6,891 bales of cotton and 6,486 hides.  The following year, the Port handled 11,359 bales of cotton.

When the Houston Ship Channel opened, the railroad industry began to expand.   Rail service to Houston was provided by the Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Beaumont, Sour Lake & Western, St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico, Ft. Worth & Denver, Rock Island, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, International and Great Northern, Houston Belt & Terminal and Port Terminal railroads.  Cotton was king. Anderson, Clayton and Co., headquartered in Houston, was the largest cotton merchant in the State of Texas, maybe in the U.S.  The freight forwarding industry and cotton brokers became two of the big industries in the area. Stone Forwarding Co. was the largest freight forwarder in Houston. The car loading industry thrived.  Universal Carloading, Republic Carloading, Acme Fast Freight, Texas Carloading were just a few. All of these industries were directly dependent on the railroads for service.  Thus, the Chamber of Commerce adopted “Houston, Where Seventeen Railroads Meet the Sea” as the City logo. For many years this was the masthead of the Houston Press.  The Port of Houston today brings billions of dollars into the local economy and is responsible for thousands of jobs.

The motor carrier industry was not a major factor in the early stages of Houston transportation. In its infancy the motor carrier industry provided mainly local drayage service.  However, as the rail industry lost its less carload traffic, the motor carriers captured that class of freight and began to provide inter-city service.  World War II saw tremendous growth in the motor carriers, particularly on the tank truck side.  The refineries and chemical plants on the Houston Ship Channel produced billions of gallons of gasoline, oil, fuels and chemicals.  The demand for products in World War II, led to the establishment of the two largest tank truck carriers in the State.  York Petroleum Transport specialized in the transportation of gasoline, aviation fuel, oils and other petroleum products.  Robertson Tank Lines transported petroleum products, but also had equipment to serve the budding chemical industry.  These two carriers became the benchmark for tank truck transportation in the State of Texas. 

On April 4, 1840, the Chamber of Commerce was organized and immediately set standard rates for freight handling and storage in the City of Houston.  Houston was ahead of the game, since the Interstate Commerce Commission Act wasn’t enacted until 1887, and the Railroad Commission of Texas came even later.

With this rich history in transportation, it should be no surprise that the first organization devoted exclusively to transportation matters would be established in Houston.   No other City in the State of Texas can equal the transportation facilities, and trained personnel, that are available here!! The Traffic Club of Houston, the oldest in the State of Texas.