The six wards of Houston

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When the city of Houston was founded in 1836 and incorporated in 1837, its founders—John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen—divided it into political geographic districts called "wards." The ward system, a precursor to today's City Council districts, was a common political tool of the early 19th century, and is still used in some American cities.

In 1839, Houston's civic leaders divided the city into four wards. The Fifth Ward was added in 1866 to accommodate the city's growth, and by the Sixth Ward in the following decade. The idea was not to have an equal number of residents in each but rather to draw lines along natural boundaries: Buffalo Bayou, Main Street, and Congress Street.

Today, the wards are a civic phenomenon, loosely defined by geography and with no direct bearing on city government.

Contents

[edit] First Ward

[edit] Second Ward

[edit] Third Ward

[edit] Fourth Ward

[edit] Fifth Ward

[edit] Sixth Ward

[edit] External links

A map of the boundaries of the boundaries of the wards from a Houston Chronicle feature article on the wards can be found here: http://images.chron.com/content/news/photos/06/02/08/wards.pdf

[edit] References

[edit] External links