Driving tour of President Bush homes in Odessa and Midland

Two of the three Odessa homes have been razed (1319 East 7^th- now the location of State National Bank, and 1523 East 7^th- now a vacant lot).  Their third West Texas residence (916 East 17^th St.) now stands as a modest representation of 1940s postwar construction, adjacent to The Presidential Museum at 4919 East University.  The Presidential Museum purchased the house in the fall of 2001 and has moved the 17^th Street house to neighbor the Museum on UTPB property.    

About the same time that the Odessa Bush House was purchased, negotiations were begun by the Geraldine T. Box Foundation to gift the 1405 West Golf Course Road house to the Museum.  This house is to be opened as an education center.     

Please note that some of the homes on this tour are currently occupied.  Always ask permission before taking photographs or entering the property.

ODessa

 DRIVING TOUR – Start at the Presidential Museum, where you can see the Odessa Bush House – the home of two Presidents and a First Lady.

All three Odessa homes have been removed from their lots; however, this tour will direct you through the neighborhoods in which the Bush family lived in 1948-49.

Leaving 4919 East University, drive west on University Blvd.  Turn left (south) onto Dixie (7^th traffic light), then right at 17^th Street.  The third of the Odessa Bush family residences was on the left - at 916 East 17^th. 

To continue to the 7^th Street home sites, turn left at the end of the block (onto Center Street), south to 16^th, east to Dixie, and south to 7^th Street.  Turn left onto 7^th Street.  Both houses    were located are on the left (north).   The 1^st site you reach is 1319 East 7^th St.  Their 2^nd home site on 7^th Street is at 1523 East 7^th St.

Midland

To get to the Bush homes in Midland, drive east on I-20.    The CAF American Airpower Heritage Museum is near the Midland International Airport (Exit 126).  There you will be able to view an exhibit honoring President George H.W. Bush. 

§   Continue driving east on I-20
§   Exit 136 to (then through) downtown Midland
§   Turn right at Scharbauer Drive, then left on N. Lamesa Road
§   Turn left on Maple Ave. (405 E. Maple)
§   Continue on Maple – turn left at Edwards
§   Turn right on Scharbauer Drive to “A” Street
§   Turn left onto “A” Street
§   Right to Harvard Avenue (910 Harvard Ave) 
§   Continue to “D” Street
§   Turn right onto “D” to Golf Course
§   Turn left at Golf Course Road (1405 W. Golf Course Rd)
§   Continue on Golf Course Rd to “H”
§   Turn left (north) at “H” until Harvard
§   Turn right onto Harvard.(2006-A Harvard, apartment in back)
§   Continue on Harvard to “N”
§   Drive one block north on “N”
§   Turn left onto Bedford (2008-A Bedford)
§   Turn right at “L”
Continue to Cuthbert – turn
§   Turn right on “K”
§   Turn left at Kansas
§   Turn right on Broadway
§   Turn right on Louisiana to Sam Houston Elementary School
§   Continue west on Louisiana until Garfield
§   Turn right on Garfield – just past Princeton Ave is San Jacinto Jr. High School - continue on Garfield to Golf Course Road
§   Turn left off Golf Course Road at Murray
§   Turn right at Murray and Sentinel (2703 Sentinel).
§   Continue on Sentinel and turn left at Ward.  As you pass Cowden Park, note the baseball backstop behind the Bush’s Sentinel residence.
§   Turn left at Cuthbert
§   Turn right onto Garfield.  Continue on Garfield to W. Michigan
§   Turn left on Michigan
§   Turn right at “G” 
§   Then right again onto Ohio
§   The 1412 W. Ohio Street house is the one President George W. Bush refers to as his “childhood home”.

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History

In 1948, George H.W. and Barbara Bush, with their young son “Georgie”,  George Walker (born July 6, 1946), moved from New Haven, Connecticut, to Odessa, Texas. 

 George H.W. entered the booming oil field as a trainee at IDECO (Independent Derrick and Equipment Company).  Here he painted, maintained equipment inventory, and swept floors.  The young family lived in three Odessa homes before moving to California in April 1949.  Later that same year, they returned to West Texas and resided in Midland for the next ten years. 

The family first occupied a house at 405 E. Maple located along “Easter Egg Row” (named for the pastel colors used on this line of post-war houses).  They moved in 1952 to 1412 West Ohio where they lived until 1956.  This is the home President-elect Bush referred to as his “childhood home” during his stop in Midland en route to his 2001 Presidential Inauguration. 

The Bushes moved, again, in 1957 to 2703 Sentinel Drive and lived there for one year.  When George W. was 12 years old, his father relocated his oil company headquarters and his family to Houston.  

In 1968, George W. Bush became a Yale graduate.  In June 1975, he earned his Business degree from Harvard.  Bush moved to Midland and became involved in the oil business, as his father had done more than twenty-five years earlier.  After residing in two apartments from 1975 to 1977, George became the first owner of a patio home at 1405 West Golf Course Road.

1977 proved to offer several consequential life-changing junctures for the junior Bush. He first entered the political arena in July by announcing he was running for the soon-to-be vacant seat in the 19^th U.S. Congressional District.   

In November of 1977, George W. Bush and Laura Welch were married in the chapel of the First United Methodist Church, 305 N. Baird, in Midland.  Bush was unsuccessful in his 1978 campaign against Kent Hance for the Congressional seat.

 George’s introductory work as an oilfield landman was the basis for his decision to begin to trade mineral and royalty rights and form his own company, Arbusto (Spanish for Bush) Energy, in 1978.  Eventually, the company expanded its operations to become Bush Exploration.  After several difficult years of trying to conceive, in 1981 Laura gave birth to twin girls, Barbara and Jenna, named after their grandmothers. 

George merged with Spectrum 7 in 1982 and would later buy the Texas Rangers baseball team with his new partners.

Before the family moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to be closer to his baseball team, the Bushes resided at 910 Harvard, from 1985 to 1986.