Houston’s Origins Started At Allen’s Landing

Houston is the fourth most populous city in the United States with an estimated 2017 population of 2,312,717 just behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and is the largest in the southern U.S. and Texas. From all positive indications, Houston is expected to become the third most populous U.S. city during the second quarter of 2020’s decade. An adage says the journey of a mile begins with a step. The city of Houston today was once a pile of lush greenery dotting the carton brown soil against quiet flatlands, and held by waters seething with potential. It took the courage of brothers, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen to uncover the wealth of uncharted, untapped and unperturbed City of Houston. They set sail and their ship plodded as it left the harbor to the promise land. The Allen brothers arrived at the junction of what is now Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, where they anchored and commenced a huge expedition of the land to ascertain its viability. It was a good land which was conveniently located adjacent to water. The exact location is just south of where the University of Houston-Downtown Commerce street building sits today. Their success meant that fate had hurried to meet them at the bayou’s berth, where the brothers acquired 6,642 acres of land in 1862, making it official, Houston’s origins started at Allen’s Landing.