It’s scarcely two blocks from downtown Alvin, hidden from traffic and noise by 100-year-old oak trees and a bunch of old frame houses. It’s been sitting there quietly for almost forty years, minding its own business.
There’s extraordinarily little traffic on these city streets. No retail stores, no advertisements in the
local papers and no foot traffic or sidewalks.
No civic events or nonprofit fundraisers. All those kinds of events happen nearby, and
they tend to ignore this quiet neighbor that doesn’t hanker for visitors in the
first place.
Founded in 1989, (yes that was almost forty years ago), Alvin
Chemical, Inc. purchased 4.7 acres of land along the south side of the railroad
tracks. The seller was Dr. Granville
Hayes, who was well-known around town as the owner of the old Alvin Memorial
Hospital and the Gulf Coast Furniture store on Gordon Street.
A chemical company?
Downtown? Yes. It wasn’t until twenty-five years later that
the area began to awaken just a bit. This
time the corporation purchased the north half of another city block adjoining
the complex. This time the seller was
another well-known citizen, Warren Stanton.
The City of Alvin agreed to make the eastern parts of Talmadge and
Snyder streets disappear, and more warehouses and tanks began to appear on the new
property. The growth was steady and
subtle, and again the local news made no mention of it.
And so it goes. Trains
continue to load and unload their cargo on the two-track outer spur and the
one-track inner spur. Twelve blending
tanks continue to hold inventory. All six
warehouses are busy all the time. Every
day, eighteen-wheelers travel quietly along W. Willis in both directions, headed
out to Highway 6 and then their final destinations.
This is the story of just one of Alvin’s hidden gems. There are several more. And your octogenarian historians are busy taking
notes and saving the past for future generations.
