Dowling Street
Professional Building at 2206 Dowling Street, Houston
One of Houston’s most notable black neighborhoods, Dowling Street is always worth a visit for its historical importance. It is the hub of the Third Ward. Many blocks of sturdy brick houses recall days when the area was home to a solid base of middle-class and working-class homeowners.
It was also the prosperous business center of the Third Ward.
Many historic sites remain. Emancipation Park is located on this street. The El Dorado Building on Dowling and Elgin used to jump to the sounds of big bands in the first half of the 20th Century. It was a regular venue on the Chitlin Circuit. In the 1950s and 1960s, when the city was a hotbed of Civil Rights activity, this area was the locus of activity.
Emancipation mural in Emancipation Park, Houston; (c) Soul Of America
Eldrewey Stearns, George Washington, Jr., Hamah King, and others plotted a civil rights strategy that successfully desegregated most of the city. Their base of operations was 2106 Dowling Street. Wesley Chapel AME Church at 2209 Dowling Street was designed by one of the country’s first African American architects, William Sidney Pittman.
Today, the street is dowdy but is home to several black churches, small businesses, and a youth boxing center. Given its proximity to downtown, anticipate more gentrification/redevelopment on this historic street. From downtown, Dowling Street begins just south of I-45 Freeway and extends to Wheeler Street.