This highway is also known as the Cesar Chavez Memorial Highway outside the city limits of Robstown, Banquete, Agua Dulce, Alice, and Corpus Christi in Nueces and Jim Hogg counties.

SH 44 was originally proposed on April 24, 1919 as a connector route between Waco and Giddings.

On July 15, 1938, the section from Hallettsville to Victoria (already under construction as a lateral road) was added, closing the gap.

[7] A spur, SH 44A, was designated on July 20, 1920 along part of the intercounty highway from Taylor to Milano.

TxDOT has officially designated the SH 44 corridor from Freer to Corpus Christi as part of the I-69 system in Texas.

4523 or 44 to 69 Act of 2014, that was submitted by House Representative Blake Farenthold to Congress to approve turning SH 44 into an Interstate Highway from Freer (where it will intersect I-69W) and Corpus Christi (about 73 miles (117 km)) in order to have a network of interstate highways connecting Laredo (the largest inland port on the United States–Mexican border) with Corpus Christi (a major seaport and manufacturing center).

On July 31, 2003 the road was rerouted on a new route to US 77 and the original section was returned to local jurisdiction.