Ever notice that the most prominent image on the official City of Houston seal is the locomotive? When the seal was designed in 1840, Houston served as a regional railroad hub. It seems only fitting, then, that UHD’s Marilyn Davies College of Business (MDCOB) is near the site of one of Houston’s earliest economic drivers: the railroads.

MDCOB, built in 2007, stands where a former warehouse and tenement homes of rail workers once stood. In 2017, the college received a historic $10 million endowment from native Houstonian Marilyn Davies, CEO of Seismic Bailey LLC, to support the college's growing programs. In recognition of the gift, the college is now the Marilyn Davies College of Business.

With the expansion of the Southern Pacific/Hardy Railyards in the 1880s-1890s, the Near Northside neighborhood developed. The Railyards were immense—spanning from Vine Street (just east of our site) to Hardy Street. The development of the railyards also directly corresponded to the growth of Fifth Ward. By the turn of the 20th century, the Southern Pacific Railroad shops were said to be the largest in the Southwest, employing 5,000 workers and contributing to the growth of the Fifth Ward.

With the decrease of railroad traffic and increase in suburban development after World War II, the Northside neighborhood began to change. The area underwent alteration from the construction of the Elysian Viaduct—a major roadway into downtown, which required the use of eminent domain to construct. Afterwards, the railyards themselves were demolished (sometime after 2007), giving rise to the transformation of Hardy Yards into a 50-acre mixed-use development.

More change is in the air for Houston and the UHD campus with the North Houston Highway Improvement Project, which will provide a better physical and aesthetic connection of MDCOB with the rest of the campus.

Photo credit: Electronic version published by the Houston Public Library. Photograph taken from the Elysian street overpass of Hardy street crossing through the Hardy Yards railroad tracks. Railroad cars in foreground; skyline of Houston in distance. Originally published by the Houston Post.