Main Street/Market Square Historic District - Houston, Texas - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

It was at the wharves of Allen’s Landing that Houston began in 1836. Within a year the city had begun sprawling southward from the wharves, across the open prairie. Wood-frame commercial structures, not looking much different than houses, were built along Main Street and around Market Square. Eventually these were replaced with more solid brick buildings, some of which still stand toady. By the early 20th century, the first skyscrapers were built, culminating in 1929 with the 430-foot Gulf Building.

Inside the district is Houston’s oldest structure still at it’s original location, Kennedy Bakery; the Magnolia Brewery and Houston Ice & Brewing Co., whose buildings are half-fallen into the bayou; the remaining buildings of the city’s 1920s financial district; sites of both the original Capitol of Texas (the Rice Hotel) and the White House of Texas (the Scanlan Building); the center of Houston's early cotton market, the 1884 Cotton Exchange Building; the Gulf Building, the tallest building in Houston for 34 years; fountains; neon; doorways; and murals. Just outside of the district is the beautiful arcade of the Texas Company Building; a Beaux-Arts U.S. Customhouse; the traditional Harris County Courthouse of 1910; and the second oldest Episcopalian parish in Texas, Christ Church.

The best time to visit the district is when parking is free and the streets are lively -- after 6pm Monday-Saturday and all day Sunday. For a 3-mile walk through Houston’s history, start at Allen’s Landing Park on Commerce Street. From the Allen's Landing Waymark, just follow the links and the coordinates on each page.