Houston's Deep-Water Port
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
AS EARLY AS THE 1820s, SHIPS BEGAN USING BUFFALO BAYOU TO CONNECT HARRISBURG, NOW PART OF HOUSTON, TO GALVESTON BAY AND THE GULF OF MEXICO. AS MORE PEOPLE CAME TO HOUSTON, TRAFFIC AND COMMERCE ALONG THE BAYOU GREW AND THE NEED FOR A DEEPER WATERWAY BECAME APPARENT. AFTER CHARLES STEWART, U.S. CONGRESSMAN FROM HOUSTON, BROUGHT ATTENTION TO THE NEED FOR WORK ALONG THE BAYOU IN THE 1880s, U.S. REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPH C. HUTCHESON CHAMPIONED A BILL ALLOWING FOR THE COMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS TO SURVEY THE WATERWAY. CONGRESSMAN THOMAS BALL LED THE DELEGATION ON THE SURVEY TOUR AND THEY AGREED THAT HOUSTON WAS DESTINED TO BE A SEAPORT. THE DESTRUCTION OF GALVESTON’S PORT DURING THE GREAT STORM OF 1900 CREATED INCREASED PRESSURE FOR A LARGER AND SAFER INLAND DEEP-WATER PORT. DURING THE EARLY 1900s, THOMAS BALL TRIED TO CONVINCE CONGRESS TO SUPPORT FULLY A DEEP-WATER PORT FOR HOUSTON. BUSINESS AND CIVIC LEADERS JOINED FORCES IN 1909, ALLOWING BALL TO PROPOSE THE “HOUSTON PLAN,” IN WHICH LOCAL CONSTITUENTS OFFERED TO PAY HALF THE COST OF THE DEEP-WATER DREDGING. CONGRESS ACCEPTED THE OFFER AND THIS COST-SHARING AGREEMENT SET A PRECEDENT FOR FUNDING OF FUTURE FEDERAL PROJECTS. WORK BEGAN IN 1912 AND THE 52-MILE-LONG DEEP-WATER CHANNEL OFFICIALLY OPENED ON NOVEMBER 10, 1914. BY 1919, HOUSTON WAS THE SECOND-LARGEST SPOT COTTON EXPORT PORT IN THE U.S., WITH EXPORTS GROWING EXPONENTIALLY EACH YEAR DURING THE 1920s. BUSINESS ALONG THE PORT GREW, BRINGING NEW INDUSTRIES SUCH AS PAPER MILLS, MOTOR FUEL REFINERIES AND THE FIRST CONTAINER TERMINAL ALONG THE TEXAS GULF COAST. HOUSTON’S DEEP-WATER PORT TRANSFORMED A FLEDGLING COMMUNITY INTO AN INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED CENTER OF COMMERCE.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Ships had used shallow Buffalo Bayou to link Harrisburg to Galveston Bay since the 1820s, but as Houston grew, so did the need for a deeper channel. After decades of lobbying by local congressmen and civic leaders, and pressure sharpened by the destruction of Galveston's port in the Great Storm of 1900, Houston's backers proposed the landmark "Houston Plan" in 1909, offering to pay half the cost of dredging. Congress accepted, setting a precedent for federal cost-sharing, and the 52-mile deep-water channel opened in 1914. Within a few years Houston was among the nation's leading cotton ports, and refineries, paper mills, and container terminals soon lined its banks.
Why it matters
The Houston Ship Channel turned an inland town into one of the world's great ports and helped make the city a global center of commerce and petrochemicals. The cost-sharing "Houston Plan" it produced became a model for financing federal infrastructure across the country.
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Related people
- · Charles Stewart
- · Joseph C. Hutcheson
- · Thomas Ball
Related events
- · Great Storm of 1900
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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