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Bellaire Boulevard is an arterial road in western Houston, Texas, United States. The street also goes through unincorporated areas in Harris County and the cities of Bellaire, Southside Place, and West University Place.
Contents
Map of Bellaire Blvd, Houston, TX, USA
Bellaire Boulevard goes through or next to the Houston communities of Alief, Chinatown, Gulfton, and Sharpstown. In addition the boulevard goes through the Greater Sharpstown management district. John Nova Lomax of the Houston Press described Bellaire Boulevard as "a world market of a street, a bazaar where Mexicans, Anglos, Salvadorans, African Americans, Hondurans, stoners, Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans and Thais go to shop and eat." The street ends at Holcombe Boulevard, which extends to the Texas Medical Center.
As of 2005 many Salvadoran immigrants live and work along the portion of Bellaire Boulevard in the Gulfton area. Many Asian American businesses populate the sections of Bellaire Boulevard in Alief and Chinatown.
History
William Wright Baldwin, who was the president of the South End Land Company in the 1900s and 1910s, constructed the portion of Bellaire Boulevard from the Bellaire town site to Main Street in Houston. He also incorporated the Westmoreland Railroad Company to build an electric streetcar line down the centre of the boulevard. The streetcar, known as the "Toonerville Trolley," operated from 12 December 1910, until bus service replaced it on 26 September 1927