Houston Yacht Club

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, you wouldn't think a landlocked bayou city deep in southeast Texas would birth one of the great sailing traditions in the American South, but Houston has a way of surprising you. Pull up a chair by the fire and let me tell you about the Houston Yacht Club.

A group of prominent citizens organized the whole thing in 1897. They weren't meeting on the water, mind you. They were gathered in the Binz Building, right there in downtown Houston, probably with their boots dry and their ambitions anything but.

Their first Commodore was a man named Dan E. Kennedy, and under Kennedy's watch the club took shape and found its footing. Then came 1904, and Kennedy died.

That'll test the spirit of any organization. The boatmen reorganized, as determined men tend to do, and this time they called themselves the Houston Yacht and Power Boat Club. The State of Texas handed them a charter in 1905.

One year later, financial difficulties forced another reorganization, and the Houston Launch Club was born in 1906. Three names in under a decade. These folks were nothing if not persistent.

Architect R. D. Steele designed them a proper clubhouse, and it was completed on Buffalo Bayou in 1910.

Something real to anchor to, at last. But the story wasn't done reshaping itself. By 1927, the members moved again, this time into a new Spanish mission clubhouse designed by architect Wyatt Hedrick, and when they crossed that threshold they carried the Houston Yacht Club name right along with them.

That name had survived death, debt, and three different identities. It deserved to stay. Now, from the early nineteen hundreds onward, the club began hosting regattas, and those regattas grew, local, then regional, then national, then world championships.

Members raced at every level of competition you can name, including the Olympics. And through all of it, the club was never just about the sport. They supported community activities.

They were active in the development of the ship channel. When war came, members offered their own crafts for service and helped patrol the ship channel, the bay, and the Gulf. And when natural disasters rolled in off the coast, as they do in this part of Texas, the clubhouse opened its doors as a refuge for area residents.

Started in a building downtown. Ended up a landmark, a shelter, and a piece of Houston history all at once. That's a long way to sail from the Binz Building.

What the marker says

The Houston Yacht Club was organized in 1897 by a group of prominent citizens. Members met in the Binz Building in downtown Houston and were led by the first Commodore, Dan E. Kennedy. After Kennedy's death in 1904, the boatmen reorganized as the Houston Yacht and Power Boat Club, receiving a charter from the State of Texas in 1905. Financial difficulties forced the group to reorganize, and the Houston Launch Club was formed in 1906. A clubhouse designed by architect R. D. Steele, was completed on Buffalo Bayou in 1910. The members moved to a new Spanish mission clubhouse designed by architect Wyatt Hedrick in 1927, and retained the Houston Yacht Club name. The club began hosting regattas in the early 1900s and has hosted local, regional, national and world championships. Members have raced in all levels of competition, including the Olympics. Although primarily a private boating club, the organization has supported community activities and was active in the development of the ship channel. During time of war, members have offered their crafts for service, and have helped patrol the ship channel, bay and Gulf. The clubhouse has served as a refuge for area residents during natural disasters. (1997)