Houston Cotton Exchange Building

There are undoubtedly places in the world where a building erected in 1884 would qualify as “new construction”, but that place ain’t Houston. In Houston, it seems we have a phobia about anything built before Gen X. We are overrun by a locust swarm of developers ready to rip out and rebuild and, as a result, we lose a lot of our history along the way. Fortunately, we still have a precious few buildings like the Cotton Exchange to give us a little road marker of where we came from and, thankfully, a precious few people willing to nurture such buildings and keep them in usable condition.

That is, at least until some developer twirls his mustache, throws aside his cape, and draws a big red X on the place. Until then, we can enjoy it.

No other organization has done more to build Houston’s commerce and industry, stabilize its economy, develop its port, or furnish its civic leadership than the Houston Cotton Exchange. Cotton forced the building of transportation and handling facilities, and played a major part in the success of banks and other businesses and industries. Cotton money built Houston. Every phase of its life has been guided by the members of the Cotton Exchange.

-Houston Chronicle

The Cotton Exchange Building was built in 1884 to help regulate the booming Houston cotton trade. (By 1900, Houston had the second largest cotton market in the country.) It was originally only three stories tall, but a fourth story was added in 1907. The Exchange occupied the expanded building until 1924.