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A decade after city officials identified the need for a center dedicated to the Hispanic and Latino community, the Hispanic History Research Center is finally moving forward, with early plans calling for its completion in 2026. 

A 25,000-square-foot industrial site on the Turkey Bend property along Navigation is currently being retrofitted to house the research center, which will serve to archive historical collections, such as photographs, documents and film, that detail the rich history of Houston’s Hispanic and Latino community. 

In December, the city signed a memorandum of understanding with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership agreeing to purchase the property at 5803 Navigation Blvd. and pay for some improvements totaling about $10 million, but only once those improvements are completed. 

The agreement drew praise and concerns from community members and the sole Latino councilmember at the time, Robert Gallegos.

“I’m excited about this item on the agenda,” Gallegos said prior to the December vote. “I reached out over three years ago asking to be included in this process, being the only Latino in city council and I was told that it was premature.”

The property is part of the Buffalo Bayou East expansion, which is slated to mimic the parks and trails built along Memorial Park west of downtown, with about 15 to 20 projects planned over the next decade across the Greater East End and Fifth Ward. 

The investment is coming out of a $19.5 million budget to build a Hispanic History Research Center, the first of its kind for a city that’s home to more than 2.3 million Latino or Hispanic residents, according to U.S. Census data. 

“There’s a significant inequity here. Latinos are 45 percent of the population,” said David Contreras, historian and archivist for LULAC – the League of United Latin American Citizens – who has advocated for the project for over a decade. 

The agreement calls for the city to receive a finished unit, or building, with an open interior to be retrofitted as needed, said John Middleton, Houston Public Library’s assistant director of spaces.

“If things go as planned, and plans are very tentative, we’ll see this facility completed in early 2026,” Middleton said.

The Hispanic History Research Center made its first appearance in the city of Houston’s 2020-2024 capital improvement plan with an allocation of about $1.5 million. The next year, for the 2021-2025 capital improvement plan, this budget item grew to $19.5 million. 

This project was originally considered as part of the 2017 bond issue that aimed to allocate about $123 million for Houston Public Library projects. 

But years passed since plans for the center were disclosed, and in lieu of a public announcement of the project’s status, community leaders became concerned that it was not being prioritized. 

Gallegos and Contreras were among those who voiced frustration over what they said was a lack of transparency on the project. Their persistent requests for information and meetings with HPL officials went unanswered, they said. 

Things have changed at City Hall since that December decision, which was one of Gallegos’ last as councilman. Council member Karla Cisneros’ term also came to an end shortly after this approval. She represented District H on the East Side where the project is set to be housed.

November’s election gave way to three Latino newcomers, Mario Castillo, who represents District H, Joaquin Martinez representing District I, and Julian Ramirez serving as an at-large member. 

The three councilmen made it their mission to work together to see projects that impact the Latino community move forward.

“We are walking lock step together,” Martinez said. “We are here for something bigger than our individual districts or individual positions. This is a very unique space that we are in where we have a voice, a stronger use, and we’re going to use that.” 

Drafting the future

The Houston Public Library system discovered a need for a center dedicated to the Latino or Hispanic community about 10 years ago after analyzing current and future projects. But it wasn’t until 2024 that the funds allocated to the project became available through the 2017 bond funds slated for the library system, Middleton said.

“There’s a five-year plan that gets adjusted every year, and if it’s not in this year’s plan, then it’s just a placeholder,” Middleton said. “Everything can change – politics, hurricanes – anything can change the plan.” 

Houston Public Library’s Hispanic archives are part of the Houston History Research Center and currently housed in the Julia Ideson Building downtown. Over 100 historical collections recounting the community’s contribution to the city have been digitized by the Library.

“These archival records, coupled with first-hand accounts captured via oral history offer a rich account of the Hispanic experience in Houston,” the library’s Hispanic Digital Collections site states.

But without a central location, the city’s capabilities to grow the archives was questionable. Community leaders have long advocated for a center and more resources dedicated to the Hispanic and Latino community. 

Gallegos was once told there were three locations being considered, but wasn’t given details, he said, adding there was frustration in the community for the lack of input sought by the city. 

The process of choosing an adequate location is more difficult than the public realizes, Middleton said. Finding the location was key to getting the money that was originally allocated, so the search began long before they had the money in hand. 

“This one was unique because we are used to looking for a library location, not a research location,” Middleton said. “We’ve never – I don’t think ever – looked for a research center location.”

The search started with buildings already owned by the city, Middleton said, then moved on to properties they could purchase. About a dozen possibilities were considered, but none of them seemed to fit their needs or budget.  

“Too small, too large, not the right location, they cost too much,” he said. 

Archives don’t operate like libraries. They’re meant to receive and preserve historic collections of documents donated by the public or organizations to categorize, manage and make these accessible to the public. 

Preservation of valuable documents can be expensive and require special facilities, but in some cases, digital libraries allow for these records to be returned to the donor after getting digitized. 

In 2022, the city entered a 10-year, tri-party agreement with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership for this expansion east of downtown, which was modeled after the agreement created for the Memorial Park project. The Kinder Foundation also donated $100 million for the east expansion. It was around that time that the site became a serious option for this project, Middleton recalls. 

“The design process won’t be as long as if we are designing a new building because the building already exists,” he said. “I really want people to understand that we’re not building a neighborhood library … it’s a different product than people are used to.” 

The vision

Ian Rosenberg, senior vice president of capital projects and planning for the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, walked across the empty warehouse and extended his arms as he envisioned the many possibilities that this space can offer. 

Colorful and intricate taggings embellish the brick walls inside of the empty warehouse, as construction workers continue the cleanup process.

“This whole, huge, open space …is also very rare in old buildings,” Rosenberg said. “So having this kind of free space gives them ultimate flexibility. We are not shoehorning them in by our design.”

The Hispanic Center will open up to a breezeway that will connect the outside of the structure to trails that will connect U.S. 59 to the Port of Houston Turning Basin. The trails will also give way to green areas and event spaces that will be directly adjacent to the Turkey Bend site. 

A stage will be located in the middle of the breezeway with a tunnel underneath that takes pedestrians under the building and onto the trails. 

All these design elements can lead to more visibility for the center and the potential to hold events in the future, Rosenberg and Middleton said. 

“That’s one of the things that is just so amazing,” Rosenberg said. “They wanted the archives in this community, but the community is more than people. It is business, it’s industry, it’s history. So when they get to this building, it is just as much part of Hispanic history because the building is part of the community.”

As for the councilman representing this area, the vision also includes more voices involved and improved transparency in the process. Castillo, Martinez and Ramirez met with Buffalo Bayou and HPL officials about a week ago to see the site in person and be updated on the approved agreement. 

“This is an exciting opportunity for District H,” Castillo said a day before the meeting. “When you look at the site itself, it’s a site that has a lot of potential … but it’s obviously near a lot of industrial locations, and you’ve got to really have a vision to see what it could be, and not what it is now.”

The Kinder Foundation and the Houston Endowment, which both donated funds to the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, are financial supporters of the Houston Landing. They had no influence on decisions related to the reporting and publishing of this article. The Landing’s ethics policy and list of financial supporters are available online. 

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