A quiet afternoon at Allen’s Landing, along the Buffalo Bayou River in Houston Texas in 1905. The landing was named by the Allen Brothers who purchased the land in 1832, also naming the fledgling town Houston City (quickly shortened to Houston). The landing stretched between Main Street, straight ahead, and Fannin Street, at the confluence of the White Oak Bayou which forms a natural turning basin. Allen’s Landing is the official birthplace of the city of Houston, and the view shown here predates the building of the ship channel, and the current Main Street Viaduct built in 1910. The dome of the City Hall and Town Market building is visible in the distance.
Houston was an inland protected river port accepting agricultural products, particularly by rail, and shipping them to Galveston by barge or steamboat for export from the state. Galveston 50 miles away, was the primary regional port until the hurricane in 1900 dramatically demonstrated its vulnerability to storms; killing more than 6,000 with 3,600 homes lost. In 1902 Congress allocated funds for the Houston Ship Channel, completed in 1914, with a dredged depth of 25 ft. allowing Houston to fully engage in Gulf trade. Galveston would no longer compete successfully with Houston again.
The towing vessel “Ima Hogg” (great name), a wooden steam powered tug owned by Suderman & Dolson and named after the daughter of the Governor of Texas, is towing a barge filled with cotton bales bound for Galveston for export. The Ima Hogg unfortunately sank in December 1911 after a collision with the steamer “Alexandria” in route to Texas City. No lives were lost, the crew of 7 narrowly escaped by jumping into the water.
A quiet afternoon at Allen’s Landing, along the Buffalo Bayou River in Houston Texas in 1905. The landing was named by the Allen Brothers who purchased the land in 1832, also naming the fledgling town Houston City (quickly shortened to Houston). The landing stretched between Main Street, straight ahead, and Fannin Street, at the confluence of the White Oak Bayou which forms a natural turning basin. Allen’s Landing is the official birthplace of the city of Houston, and the view shown here predates the building of the ship channel, and the current Main Street Viaduct built in 1910. The dome of the City Hall and Town Market building is visible in the distance.
Houston was an inland protected river port accepting agricultural products, particularly by rail, and shipping them to Galveston by barge or steamboat for export from the state. Galveston 50 miles away, was the primary regional port until the hurricane in 1900 dramatically demonstrated its vulnerability to storms; killing more than 6,000 with 3,600 homes lost. In 1902 Congress allocated funds for the Houston Ship Channel, completed in 1914, with a dredged depth of 25 ft. allowing Houston to fully engage in Gulf trade. Galveston would no longer compete successfully with Houston again.
The towing vessel “Ima Hogg” (great name), a wooden steam powered tug owned by Suderman & Dolson and named after the daughter of the Governor of Texas, is towing a barge filled with cotton bales bound for Galveston for export. The Ima Hogg unfortunately sank in December 1911 after a collision with the steamer “Alexandria” in route to Texas City. No lives were lost, the crew of 7 narrowly escaped by jumping into the water.