Washington Avenue is a road in Houston, Texas, United States. It is named for Washington County, as it is part of the original route from Houston to Brenham, the seat of Washington County.
Ralph Bivins stated in a newspaper article published by the Chicago Tribune that decades before 1995 the area along Washington Avenue was a "major corridor of commerce" as people used the road to travel between Downtown Houston, the Sixth Ward, and the Houston Heights. Bivins described Washington Avenue in 1995 as a "decrepit" road with used car lots, "boarded-up" buildings, and second-hand stores.[1]
Around 2009 the area around the road gentrified and gained a "Yuppie" population.[2] The area became a popular entertainment area due to its location near Downtown Houston and the Houston Heights, a community within Houston that forbids the sale of alcohol within its boundaries. By May 2009 the Washington Avenue area gained expensive town houses and condominiums, restaurants, and bars.[3]
U.S. Highway 90 was routed along Washington Avenue prior to the opening of the Katy Freeway.