Allen's Landing is the officially recognized birthplace of the city ofHouston,Texas,United States, the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States. Located inDowntown Houston between the Main Street and Fannin Street viaducts, the landing encompasses the southern bank ofBuffalo Bayou, the city's principal river, at its confluence withWhite Oak Bayou, a major tributary. Allen's Landing is located south of theUniversity of Houston–Downtown Commerce Street Building.

In August 1836, just months after theRepublic of Texas won its independence fromMexico, two New York real estate developers,John Kirby Allen andAugustus Chapman Allen, purchased 6,642 acres (26.88 km²)of coastal prairie and settled the town of Houston on the banks of Buffalo Bayou.^[1] The present-day landing area was advertised as thehead of navigation of the bayou^[1] and served as the city's firstwharf.

Allen's Landing is at theconfluence ofWhite Oak Bayou andBuffalo Bayou and serves as a naturalturning basin. Adock was quickly opened on the site, and thesteamerLaura was the first ship to anchor at the landing on January 26, 1837.^[1] The landing was officially named aport in 1841—the originalPort of Houston.^[2] In 1910, theUnited States government approved funding for the dredging of a ship channel from theGulf of Mexico to the present turning basin four miles (6 km) to the east of Allen's Landing.^[1]

In the late 1960s, Allen's Landing was home to the city's premierepsychedelicnightclub, Love Street Light Circus Feel Good Machine ("Love Street"), where bands with names likeBubble Puppy, Neurotic Sheep andAmerican Blues performed mind-expanding music accented withstrobe lights and pastel projections.^[3] The historic Sunset Coffee Building on Commerce at Main Street, which housed the nightclub on its third floor, is still standing. Love Street's last show was on July 7, 1980.

Once the focal point ofdowntown Houston, a small historical park was dedicated at the site in 1967. TheSouthern Pacific Railroad donated 4,000 square feet (370 m²) of land to the park project, which was to be developed and maintained by the HoustonChamber of Commerce, the City of Houston, and theHarris County Navigation District.^[1] In addition, a marker was placed at the park to indicate where, in 1837, townspeople erected aliberty pole to commemorateSam Houston's victory overSanta Anna at theBattle of San Jacinto the previous year.

For a brief period in the 1990s, Allen's Landing was once again the docking site for theLaura, a sightseeing boat that was a namesake of the 19th century vessel.

The nameAllen’s Landing is a 20th-century creation not found in any historical document. According to a 2008Houston Chronicle article, the name was the invention of theHouston Chamber of Commerce. Charlie Lansden, longtime director of the chamber's Community Betterment Division, made this claim to Janet Wagner, a local historian.^[4] The name appears in a mural of Houston commissioned by the Houston Club in 1955 and painted by artistDavid Adickes.^{[citation needed]}

After years of neglect and deterioration, Allen’s Landing, as part of Houston's Waterfront District, has undergone major revitalization and rejuvenation, much like the rest of historic downtown Houston. The first phase of the Allen's Landing revitalization project was completed in 2001.^[5] Special features of the park, located at 1001 Commerce Street, now include: a concrete-pavedwharf, designed to replicate the original port; a trail/walkway; apromenade; and aterrace overlookingBuffalo Bayou.

The campus of theUniversity of Houston–Downtown (UHD) straddles Allen's Landing. The university's One Main Building, which is housed in the formerMerchants and Manufacturers Building (renovated in the 1980s), is just across the bayou at One Main Street,^[6] and UHD's 95,000-square-foot (8,800 m²) Commerce Street Building, which was completed in May 2005, sits adjacent to the park at Main Street and Commerce.

Since 2001, in a celebration of Houston'sAsian American community, the Texas Dragon Boat Association has held an annual springfestival at Allen's Landing, where teams of paddlers race dragon boats throughout the day and enjoy colorful entertainment, as well as someAsian cultural andcuisine.^[7] In addition, the landing is a popular ingress/egress spot forcanoe andkayak enthusiasts traveling up and down Buffalo Bayou.

In 2006, Houston Endowment, Inc., a philanthropic foundation dedicated to improving life for the people of the greater Houston area, approved a $600,000 grant to be used by the Buffalo Bayou Partnership toward restoring and converting the 1930s Sunset Coffee Building into usable space and further improving Allen's Landing Park.^[8]

• Buffalo Bayou Partnership
• Historic Houston, a chronology of Houston from 1836 to the present
• "Allen's Landing." inHouston: Past and Present in Contrast.Houston Chronicle.

29°45′55.6″N95°21′30.5″W / 29.765444°N 95.358472°W /29.765444; -95.358472