'Good news': Houston Freedmen's Town now a protected Heritage District

Freedmen’s Town in Houston’s Fourth Ward is officially a Heritage District and protected as a piece of Houston history after the city council vote on June 16.

Founded in 1865, Freedmen’s Town was once home to 95% of Houston’s black residents and there were hundreds of black-owned businesses there, but it’s a community that many may never have heard of.  

“Today @HoustonTX City Council will take an important vote to protect the history in public rights of way in #DistC’s Freedmen’s Town. This vote is important for the preservation of this historic neighborhood the very week we’re celebrating #Juneteenth," councilor Abbie Kamin wrote in a June 16 tweet before the meeting.

The designation as a Heritage District means that the neighborhood, which was once a community inhabited by those who were freed from slavery, will now be protected as a landmark. 

“I can think of no better community to designate as Houston’s first Heritage District than Freedmen’s Town, and no better day than Juneteenth to share the good news,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a KHOU report.

Because the community is now designated a Heritage District, the protection and restoration of signage and markers, sidewalks and brick-paved streets is now possible. That also means that public art, vegetation and trees in the public right-of-way are also protected.

In Houston, the Freedmen’s Town Conservancy has advocated for preserving the community, boosting heritage tourism and re-education, and increasing community engagement in the neighborhood.

And, for Zion Escobar, the executive director for the Freedmen’s Town Conservancy, the designation is a win.

"This is step one in a 20-step process on our way to many great things, including the Emancipation National Historic Trail, and hopefully, in the future, a world heritage site should we have the honor to be nominated," Escobar said.

The neighborhood recently held a block party to celebrate Juneteenth.