Houston Direct Navigation Company

Houston Direct Navigation Company operated ships on Buffalo Bayou between 1866 and 1927. It had had two antecedent companies with similar subscriber lists and management: the Houston and Galveston Navigation Company, and the Houston Navigation Company.

Houston Direct Navigation Company
TypeCorporation
IndustryTransportation
FateDefunct
PredecessorHouston Navigation Company
FoundedOctober 9, 1866
FounderThomas M. Bagby, Charles S. Longcope, Joseph Robert Morris, William Marsh Rice, Alexander Sessums, John H. Sterrett, and others.[1]
Defunct1927
Headquarters
Houston, Texas
,
United States
Area served
Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay
Key people
John H. Sterrett, founder and agent; John Shearn, President
ServicesIntermodal freight , passenger service

Houston and Galveston Navigation Company

In 1851, William Marsh Rice founded the Houston and Galveston Navigation Company with his own capital of $5,000 and the capital of twenty-five other investors.[2] These included Paul Bremond, Cornelius Ennis, William J. Hutchins, and John H. Sterrett.[3]

Houston Navigation Company

One of the company's antecedents was the Houston Navigation Company, formed in 1854 by many of the same principals as the Houston and Galveston Navigation Company.[4]

After the Civil War

The Houston Direct Navigation Company transported freight and passengers from Houston to railheads along Buffalo Bayou. Houston Direct Navigation Company was founded on October 9, 1866 by William Marsh Rice, Thomas M. Bagby, John H. Sterrett, and several others.[1][5] Businesses receiving and shipping goods from Houston were paying high fees for moving freight through Galveston, Texas. The company offered cheaper transportation, which bypassed Galveston and its Galveston Wharf Company.[6]

At first, the company's main business in the late-1860s consisted of lightering around Galveston and interlining freight through the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railroad; however, it expanded service, running five passenger steamers by 1870.[7] The company continued to expand its fleet, even as passenger demand diminished. Three steamers operated for freight-only in 1873, along with 22 barges with three tugs, the only two steamers transported passengers.[8]

References
  1. McComb, David G. (1981). Houston: A History. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 33.
  2. Hall, Andrew W. (2012). The Galveston–Houston Packet: Steamboats on Buffalo Bayou. Charleston, SC: History Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-60949-591-6.
  3. Sibley, Marilyn McAdams (1968). The Port of Houston: A History. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 69.
  4. Hall (2012), p. 56.
  5. Sibley, Marilyn McAdams (1968). The Port of Houston: A History. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 87.
  6. Reed, S.G. (May 31, 2017). "Houston Direct Navigation Company". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  7. Hall (2012), 88–89.
  8. Hall (2012), 92.


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