Houston Cotton Exchange Building

In 1860, over 100k bales of cotton were exported out of Houston docks, a number that only increased by the multiples after the Civil War. By early 1880, Houston was long overdue for its own hub for regulating and exchanging cotton.

In response to this growth, Houston’s Cotton Exchange Building was built in 1884 and designed by German-American architect, Eugene Heiner¹.

If you were to look at the Cotton Exchange Building today, it is quite similar to the photo above, except that it now has an additional floor. The top floor, which was not in the original plans, was added to the building in 1897 to accommodate for growth.

1. Architect Eugene Heiner is also the namesake for Heiner Street in Freedmen’s Town/Fourth Ward. ↩︎