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Burke Streets and Roads

Early Roads

The early rural roads were often narrow lanes blazed by the early settlers. Usually the lanes followed property lines, and each property owner would donate one-half the roadway.

• North Burke Road
  
  North Burke is now served by Alf Tidwell Road, which was built by Andrew Lee, who worked for the County at the time. The original road to north Burke was a lane that ran north and south between the property of Frank Johnson and Andrew Lee. The road passed through property later owned by Essie Williams and intersected the current road near the old home of Sam Conner.
  
• The Old Ryan Chapel Road
  
  One of th eearliest roads was the Old Ryan Chapel Road which ran from the front of the church to Burke. It is not clear where the road lay, but it is possible that a driveway that lay just north of BIll Massey's home across from the Church and extended east to Wes Harris' farm was part of the road.
  
• Johnston Lane
  
  One important lane was Johnston Lane with ran past the home of Dr. Johnston, the town dentist. The lane crossed the current Ryan Chapel Road jst south of Burke and is now a dead end street to the west and a former driveway to the old Ashworth house on the east. The lane originally extended past the Ashworth house and crossed the railroad tracks near the home of Earnest McCarty. Presumably, it conected with the county road 251 leading tothe south end of the Angelina County. In the other direction, the lane extended southwest generally parallel to the current Ryan Chapel Road and passed the farm of Robert Weisinger. The Lane is now a driveway extending from FM 2497 to several houses on the old Weisinger property. On the other side of FM 2497 the Land ran past the Will Ritchie farm and crossed Cedar Creek, eventually leading to Delaney Crossing.
  
• South Bradley Prairie Road
  
  The road that went to the Fairchild property did not follow its current route. Instead it went across what later became Treadwell property and entered Burke on the south end at the current road. That is apparently how the Fairchilds traveled to Ryan Chapel.
  
• Beulah Road
  
  At one time Burke was a trading center for Beulah, and the route that Beulah residents traveled was the road that ran by C. B. Fairchild's farm just south of the airport. It is likely that the road at one time extended across what became the airport property and intersected the road that enters Burke at the Burke Methodist Church.
  

Current Streets and Roads

• U. S. Highway 59 (Houston-Lufkin Highway)
• County Road 59 (Old Texas 35, Old Diboll Highway)
• County Road 59A (Tree in the Middle Road)
  
  This short road connects FM 2108 and the Old Diboll Highway on the north side of Burke. This road is known for its tree in the middle of the road. Before either U. S. 59 or Texas 35 were built, this was a part of the Old Houston Highway.
• County Road 59C (Conner Road)
  
  This is one of the middle of the three "ladder roads" that connect the Old Diboll Highway and U. S. 59. This road continues east of U. S. 59 until it intersects County Road 251 at the southwest entrance to the Angelina County Airport.
• County Road 59D
• County Road 62 (School Street)
• County Road 63 (Ryan's Chapel Road)
  
  This was originally the Delaney Crossing Road. It began in Burke and ran past the home of Hillary Thigpen and the old Havard gin and then past the homes of Felix Weeks, Weisingers, and John Willard Largent north of Ryan Chapel.
  
  The Iron Bridge Road was just past the Willard Largent place. One way went to an iron bridge across the Neches River and the other way to Delaney Crossing.
• County Road 63a (Railroad Street)
• County Road 251
  
  This road begins at FM 2108, passes through the western part of the Angelina County Airport, and continues southerly and then westerly until it intersects U. S. Highway 59 on the southern part of the city.

© 2006-24 Burke History Project
M. Lee Murrah, Editor
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