{"nrhp_refnum":"04000547","name":"Willow Street Pump Station","other_names":["City Street Cleaning and Sewage Pumping Station"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"811 N. San Jacinto","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.767626361000055,"lon":-95.35739287499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-05-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small public-works district of two buildings and three structures at 811 North San Jacinto in Houston, Texas, along White Oak Bayou, built from 1902 to 1930 as the city's first sewage pump station and a trash incinerator.","why_significant":"The complex is argued to be significant under Criterion A for its role in Houston's community planning and development. It was the city's first sewage pumping station, designed by engineer Alexander Potter, and its completion satisfied federal requirements tied to funding for the ship channel and Houston's growth as an inland port.","narrative":"Along White Oak Bayou just north of downtown Houston, this small complex once handled the city's sewage and trash. It includes a 1902 Romanesque Revival storage building, a pump house built into the bayou bank, a steep concrete staircase, an incinerator built in 1914 and the early 1920s, and a 1930 grit chamber that screened debris from bayou water. Engineer Alexander Potter designed the pump station, completed in March 1902 as Houston's first sewage lift station. Sewage was pumped through cast iron pipes to filter beds about a mile and a half downstream. The facility mattered beyond sanitation: the federal government tied money for ship channel improvements to the city treating its sewage, and that funding helped Houston become a major inland port. The buildings were rehabilitated in 2003, with glass and steel additions joining the storage building and incinerator. Three of the original pumps remain in place as an exhibit, and the site is now used for education.","period_of_significance":"1902-1930","architect_builder":"Alexander Potter (engineer)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian - Romanesque Revival","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Rehabilitated in 2003 with additions connecting the storage building and incinerator; the pumps no longer function and are retained as an exhibit. Current function is listed as education (college).","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.591525-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/72/9724/40972472/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/04000547.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000547/747f94263c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000547/747f94263c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willow_Street_Pump_Station_(lower_level)_Houston.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ed Uthman, Houston, Texas, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willow_Street_Pump_Station_(lower_level)_Houston.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972472","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110002214"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/willow-street-pump-station-04000547/"}