The Interesting Way Downtown Streets Were Named in Midland

If you are driving in downtown Midland and see that many of the streets are names of towns in Texas, there is an interesting reason they were named that way.

When Midland was incorporated in 1885 the streets going north and south in the town were named for depots along the Texas and Pacific Railway which was a railroad that ran from Marshall, Texas to Sierra Blanca, Texas.

The railroad was supposed to be built all the way to San Diego, California but it ended up merging into the Southern Pacific Railroad in Sierra Blanca.

The depots that existed in 1885 are what named the streets that are still being used today.

The westernmost street at that time was Pecos and the easternmost street in 1885 was Marshall. The only oddities along the streets would be Marienfeld, which was what Stanton was known as in 1885, the town was re-named Stanton after Supreme Court Justice Edwin McMasters Stanton who was still on the Supreme Court in 1890.

The second oddity is Colorado which is just the shortened name of Colorado City. There are undocumented history reports that say before Colorado City was incorporated the depot along the T&P was just known as Colorado since it was on the Colorado River

The last oddity is Main Street, which was originally named Abilene Street before July 7, 1910, when the City Council approved a name change of three streets which included Abilene Street being re-named Main Street, Iowa Avenue being re-named Wall Street, and the original Main Street re-named New York Avenue.

So as you are driving east or west in downtown Midland, remember all those cross street names were depots along the T&P Railroad back in 1885.