The University of Houston-Downtown sits exactly where Houston began, at the meeting of Buffalo and White Oak bayous. Its home base is a massive 1930 Art Deco trade mart that went bust in the Depression and found new life as a college in the late 1960s. This short bayou-side walk pairs that building with the landing where the city's first steamboat tied up in 1837, a Civil War prison site, a coffee warehouse turned bayou hub, and a century-old sewage pump house the university restored.
The University of Houston-Downtown sits exactly where Houston began, at the meeting of Buffalo and White Oak bayous. This short bayou-side walk turns a college campus into a lesson in how the city was born, went bust and reinvented itself.
The anchor is the One Main Building, a massive 1930 Art Deco trade mart built as the Merchants and Manufacturers Building. Giesecke & Harris designed it with cast-concrete ornament, and it was Houston's biggest building when it opened, only to be flattened by the Depression. South Texas Junior College bought it in 1968. The University of Houston took over in 1974 and founded what became UHD, and today the building is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Right beside campus is Allen's Landing. Here New York brothers Augustus C. and John K. Allen promoted their new town in 1836, and on January 26, 1837, the steamer Laura tied up at the bend, making it the city's original port. The walk also shows how old industrial buildings along the water have found second lives. Among them is the 1902 Willow Street Pump Station, part of Houston's first sewage-treatment system, which the university rehabilitated in 2003 as an event space and which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
It's a quick, surprising walk through the very beginnings of Texas's largest city.
It is a self-guided walking tour: 5 stops, about 0.5 miles, ~30 min. Go at your own pace; the app keeps your place.
Where does it start?
In Houston, Texas. The exact starting point, the full stop list and turn-by-turn directions are in the TexasRoam app.
How do I take this tour?
Download TexasRoam for iPhone or iPad from the App Store. The tour is included with TexasRoam+. It is not available on the web map.
When is the best time to go?
Walk in daylight; the bayou-level trails at Allen's Landing can close after heavy rain, so check conditions if storms have passed through, and visit the Sunset Coffee Building during its posted rental hours if you want to get on the water.
Take the “UH-Downtown Campus Tour”
Texas Roam guides you turn by turn through Houston with maps, audio narration and check-ins as you go — plus all 5 stops on this tour and every guided tour, hiking trail and historical marker across Texas. Get it on the App Store.
Guided tours & hiking trails are available only in the TexasRoam app for iPhone & iPad — not on the web map. Free to download; unlock with TexasRoam+.
