The Neighborhood
Houston’s Historic Third Ward
The artists who founded Project Row Houses never intended to create a museum or a monument. Their understanding of social sculpture as collective creative action means that the PRH site exists only to the extent it is in constant communion with the people, places, and organizations of Third Ward.
Third Ward was one of Houston’s original neighborhoods, established on the southeast edge of downtown at the city’s founding in 1836 even before Texas became a state in 1845. Third Ward grew into one of Houston’s most dynamic Black neighborhoods, growing in tandem with the Fifth Ward on the north side of downtown.
For almost a hundred years after the Civil War, legal segregation meant that Third Ward residents had to build the community they wanted to live in, and the area thrived. Music and culture proliferated, as did Black-owned businesses. Third Ward’s high school was named for Jack Yates, a Baptist minister who helped organize some of the most historic congregations and civic establishments of the day. George Floyd, whose brutal murder at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020 fundamentally altered the way we talk about racism in America, graduated from Yates.
Artists and musicians are the neighborhood’s best-known residents. From bluesman Lightning Hopkins and Albert Collins, jazz legends Conrad Johnson and Arnett Cobb, to contemporary artists like Solange Knowles and her sister, Beyoncé, Third Ward has placed some of the brightest stars on the stage and in the sky.
We encourage you to learn more about the neighborhood when you visit the PRH site and offer a few suggestions to start your journey to building your own connection to our community. Keep in mind, these are just the starting point.
PARKS
CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
Blue Triangle Community Center
University Museum at Texas Southern University
BUSINESSES
Help Materialize
Sustainable Opportunities
In Marginalized Communities.