Allen's Landing, on the bank of Buffalo Bayou ahead of you, is officially recognized as the birthplace of Houston. This stretch of the southern bank of Buffalo Bayou, at its confluence with White Oak Bayou, was advertised as the head of navigation and served as the city’s first wharf. In August 1836, just months after the Republic of Texas won its independence from Mexico, two New York real estate developers, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of coastal prairie and settled the town of Houston on the banks of Buffalo Bayou.
The landing sits between the Main Street and Fannin Street viaducts, south of the University of Houston–Downtown Commerce Street Building, and it occupies a natural turning basin where a dock was quickly opened. The steamer Laura became the first ship to anchor here on January 26, 1837, marking the beginning of Houston’s life as a river port. Stand here and feel how the city rose from this meeting of waterways and commerce; listen for the echo of that first anchor and imagine the river traffic that shaped the town.
Picture the steamer Laura anchoring right here on January 26, 1837, launching Houston's life as a river port.