By Mike Louviere
Orange leader
In 1905, the Texas Legislature created the Office of Public Roads to begin standardizing the highways and roads of Texas. They began issuing material specifications, test methods, building codes, and bridge specifications for all road construction and maintenance in the state. In 1915 it was renamed the Bureau of Public Roads.
Under the Federal Road Act of 1916, the Texas Highway Department (THD) was established in 1917. It became a centralized system of funding and building standards.
The THD shifted control of the locations and provided money for the construction of country roads and hiking trails in the national forests. The state was given the power to design and monitor improvements.
In 1921, the Federal-Aid Highway Act changed control of road and bridge projects and maintenance from county and local governments to the THD.
As the responsibility for building and maintaining roads and highways in Texas grew, so did the number of travelers on the roads and highways. One of the projects discussed by the THD was the creation of an office to provide information about Texas to travelers on Texas highways and to provide rest stops at the entrances to Texas on major highways.
The first Texas information station was built in Orange when travelers from Louisiana entered the state on Highway 90. The station was a small log cabin on Green Avenue (Highway 90), about three blocks from the Sabine River, the state line between Texas and Louisiana.
The building was constructed from cypress logs and contained one room that spanned the width of the building, with two smaller rooms in the back half of the building. The building was only about 24 feet by 24 feet, but sufficient for the needs of the time. The building’s first employees were cadets from Texas A&M College. One of the small rooms at the back served as a bedroom for the staff.
The station’s staff handed out road maps and provided information about attractions and things to do in Texas. There was drinking water, but no toilets on site.
After the route of Highway 90 through Orange changed with the construction of MacArthur Drive, which connected to Green Avenue, the blockhouse station was relocated to a location among the pine trees on the north side of MacArthur Drive about a quarter of a mile west of Adam’s Bayou .
When the new freeway was built that bypassed Orange and eventually became Interstate-10, a new modern information station was built on the north side of the freeway right in Texas on the Sabine River.
The old log cabin was cleared and sold. It would end its public use as a liquor store. When it was no longer in use, it was taken over by the City of Orange and relocated to a location on Simmons Drive. Several possible uses of the log cabin were discussed. None came to fruition and the small log cabin was left to decay until it finally had to be demolished.
The new train station on the new motorway was used more and more as the number of travelers on the new motorway increased.
The amount of information available grew, there were toilets, drinking water and vending machines. The place was a nice resting place.
From just one Texas Highway Information Station in 1936, there are now 12 Texas Travel Information Centers located at the main Texas entrances. The centers are located in Amarillo, Anthony, Austin, Denison, Gainesville, Harlingen, Laredo, Orange, Texarkana, Waskom, Wichita Falls and the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center in Langtry.
The centers are open 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the exception of the Austin center, which is located in the state capital and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The centers should “create a positive impression of the Lone Star State. The centers are staffed with professional travel advisors to help visitors plan routes and provide information on sights and road conditions. “
Services available at the centers include Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) travel literature, including the Texas State Parks Travel Guide, the Texas Official Travel Map, Texas Public Campground literature, and the Texas Event Calendar.
Additional literature includes maps, brochures, brochures, and brochures of local and statewide destinations, attractions, special events, accommodations, and restaurants.
The center in Orange has a “Welcome to Texas” photo area, two women’s and men’s toilets open around the clock, changing stations, drinking water, a family-supported toilet, group picnic, access for the disabled, information displays, vehicle permits, TxTag, picnic tables, professional travel consultants, security surveillance, separate truck and car parking spaces, vending machines, video theater, hiking trail, weather information and wireless internet access.
The picnic tables are set and there is a boardwalk with interpretive exhibits of the Blue Elbow Swamp and an observation deck with an overview of the wetland and cypress forest.
Texas Information Centers are part of the Travel Information Division, which promotes travel to and within the state of Texas.
The division sells and produces travel literature and operates the 12 information centers, the Drive Texas program and Texas Highways Magazine. The division also manages the Don’t Mess with Texas, Adopt-A-Highway, and Drive Texas programs and works with Keep Texas Beautiful.
The Orange Information Center has the same opening hours as the other centers. The centers are closed on Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas and New Years.
You can reach the Orange Travel Center at 409-883-9416.
The phone number for travel information, travel planning and information about the condition of the motorway is 800-452-9292, reachable at 8:00 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily. Automated road condition information is available around the clock.
