About
After Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas on June 19th 1865 (what is now Juneteenth), former enslaved people started migrating to Texas cities like Houston.
Many from the surrounding Brazos River plantations found their way to what is now the Fourth Ward or Freedmen’s Town. They settled down in the area making houses and churches, paving many roads with bricks.
Certain streets like Andrews Street or parts of Wilson Street are still full of the original bricks from the 1860s, having survived the onslaughts of segregation through the 1900s, and waves of developers trying to remove them.
Freedmen’s town became a nationally recognized historic site in 1985.
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Know Before You Go
Street parking is available in the area, and the roads are open to vehicular traffic. The roads are typically quiet and residential.
Published
April 17, 2026