It's not much to look at and it is not one of the more scenic places on the bayou, but the land fronting the bayou at this particular spot (see photo) is the site known in the 19th century as the Arsenal Block. Located at the bend in Buffalo Bayou about a half mile east of the foot of Main Street, the Houston Arsenal, or Armory, was established by the Texas Army on this block, designated as City of Houston Block 108, in 1837.

The Armory originally consisted of a blacksmith shop, but in May, 1838, Joseph Daniels built a sturdy log structure for the special purposes of the arsenal on Lots 1, 2 and 3 of the block. By October, 1838, there was a significant expansion of the facilities as workshops, artillery shops and magazines were built on the site.

Situated on the south bank of Buffalo Bayou at the north end of Crawford Street, the Arsenal Block was bisected by a large gully. The Bird's Eye Map of 1873 depicts the size and location of the ravine that had its mouth in the center of the bend in the bayou. This gully was a significant landmark in the early days of Houston. 

Some time after the Battle of San Jacinto, William Hodge settled on the north side of the gully and built his home there. Hodge subsequently purchased the 10 acre tract from the Allen brothers on April 13, 1837. The description of the bounds of the tract in the deed makes a specific reference to the gully: "Beginning at two white oaks on the bank of the Bayou near the mouth of the first ravine above said Hodge's..." The boundary followed the bank of the bayou north to the modern day McKee Street bridge. From there, the boundary went due south along the modern McKee Street to a point due east of the origin at the gully.

On the same day that Hodge purchased his land, Jonathan B. Frost purchased the adjoining 15 acres of land which later became known as Frost Town. Frost, too, had a house on his land at the time of purchase, and it is a matter of some conjecture as to when the Frost household, which numbered about a dozen persons, settled on the place. Frost brought his household to Texas in March, 1836, and he may have settled them in this vicinity before he joined the Texas Army prior to the Battle of San Jacinto.

This seems to give some credence to the reports that a settlement existed near this bend in the bayou prior to the founding of the City of Houston in August, 1836. Some accounts say that the Allen brothers lived in this community and had a warehouse, which they leased from William Austin, on the banks near what would later become the Arsenal Block. And, this is, perhaps, where Major George Erath saw the warehouse at "Allen's Landing" on his trip up Buffalo Bayou in May, 1836.

Although Erath seems to have been quite familiar with the Allen warehouse and its location, in late December, 1836, Francis R. Lubbock had considerable difficulty finding the landing at the town of Houston. The banks were so overgrown and the road to the bayou so indistinct that Lubbock's steamboat shot past the "landing" for Houston and had to back down the bayou to dock there. How could this description be the same place that Erath found so easily?



Although the Armory was soon moved from this location, the block was still known as the Arsenal Block as late as the 1860's. A deed of November, 1859, referred to the property owned by Martin Floeck as the "land adjoining the Arsenal Block." The gully, as mentioned above, was prominent on maps as late as 1873, but, by 1891, the landscape had changed. The gully on the Arsenal Block and the upstream sandbar are gone. The deepening and channelization of the bayou to make the docks at the foot of Main Street more accessible to shipping seem to have resulted in the formation of the bayou much like we see it today. The gully has been filled in and reclaimed, and the bank is rip-rapped to prevent natural erosion. The Elysian Viaduct dominates both the skyline and the land on Block 108 that once was the Houston Arsenal.