Houston Cotton Exchange and Board of Trade

The Houston Cotton Exchange building features a three-story red brick facade with distinct arched windows and a heavy stone entrance. Built in eighteen eighty-four, it served as the nerve center for the city's cotton trade when Houston was the primary shipping port for the crop. Traders once shouted prices on the second floor, linking local farmers to global markets in Liverpool and Bremen. The telegraph wires humming inside this structure dictated the wealth of the region for decades until the industry shifted.