Corner of This Way and That

That’s a bird’s eye view of downtown Lake Jackson, Texas, a pleasant little town on Highway 288 just north of Freeport. 

Back in 1941, when Dow Chemical began building its huge plants in the Brazosport area, there was concern over where the thousands of plant employees would live.  Dr. A. P. Beutel, first General Manager of Dow’s Texas Division, suggested building a whole new town on the site of the old Lake Jackson plantation, and the city was designed and built from the ground up.  The first resident moved in to the town in January, 1943.

The town’s designers – led by Alden B. Dow, the son of Dow Chemical’s founder – showed a bit of humor in the naming of the town’s streets.The city appears to be a maze to the average stranger, but was in reality a simple system to the designers. The 'drives' go around the outskirts and are through-traffic highways; the streets end at either the 'drives' or the 'ways'; and all 'ways' lead to the downtown area. Center Way is located in the center of town. Circle Way circles the business district. And there are those unusual streets (This Way and That Way) which have caused so much comment over the years.

I notice that even Google Maps, the source of the picture above, could not help adding “Street” where it doesn’t belong at the end of  the names of the Ways.

The street sign below does not come from Lake Jackson, but it would certainly fit right in