Houston Maritime Center & Museum

Houston Maritime Center & Museum:
Our Museum, Our Story

For more than a century, Houston has been defined by ships, cargo, and the people who keep them moving. Now, that story has a permanent home worthy of its scale - OUR maritime museum.

Born from the vision of naval architect and merchant mariner Jim Manzolillo in 2000, the museum started as a labor of love in a small building on Dorrington Street.

It carried the weight of centuries of maritime history - ship models, navigational tools, artifacts, and stories that traced the path from the earliest voyages to the energy superport Houston is today.

But the dream was always bigger.

In 2025, that dream came to life with a new home along the historic Buffalo Bayou, in the East River Houston development where at Port Houston is building their new offices.

This is no longer just a collection of artifacts. It is a living hub for the Houston shipping community:
• A place to see the evolution of the Ship
Channel - from Buffalo Bayou to the world
stage.
• Interactive decks where children can take
the helm, navigate the globe, and imagine
careers that will define Houston’s next
century of trade.
• A theater and learning center where
industry, students, and families meet to
learn, discuss, and plan for the future.

This is more than a museum. It is our story - our past, our present, and our future - captured in one space. For the pilots, tug captains, agents, dock workers, engineers, executives, and families whose lives are bound to the Houston Ship Channel, it stands as OUR maritime museum.

Because the world still needs to see what Houston already knows:
▶the story of this port is the story of progress◀

⸻ 📸⸻

Moran has long been a supporter of the HMCM and were pleased to visit it with some industry friends from Shell, Cenovus Energy, Parkland Corporation (Sunoco LP / Energy Transfer), Houston Mooring Co., Inc., Danner's Incorporated, Chevron, International Registries, Inc., GCC Supply & Trading, Aramco Trading Americas (ATA) and Bay-Houston Towing

Kudos to Steffany Brady for the amazing design of the new space - it’s amazing!