page_title: First Ward, Houston
section_title: Education
hierarchical_section_title: First Ward, Houston / Education
caption_attribution_description: English: The Merchants and Manufacturers Building at 1 Main St., Houston (Texas, USA) is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, United States Department of the Interior.
context_page_description: The First Ward of Houston, which is located inside the 610 Loop, is one of the city's historic wards. It was originally the center of the business district for the city, and was strategically located at the intersection of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, near an area now known as Allen's Landing. It was one of the original four wards in Houston when it was created in 1840. It was defined as all area within the city limits of Houston north of Congress Street and west of Main Street.
  In 1866 First Ward land to the north and east of White Oak Bayou and Little White Oak Bayou was split off to create part of the Fifth Ward. Just prior to the abolition of the ward system in 1915 the Woodland Heights neighborhood was constructed in what was then the northwest corner of the ward, just north of White Oak Bayou.
  In 1987, Kim Cobb of the Houston Chronicle said "It's hard to find any vestige of the old First Ward, since it's covered by downtown office buildings." In 2006, the last remaining houses of a former residential neighborhood were vacated and bulldozed, replaced by the 23-acre Sawyer Heights Village, a shopping center that includes a Target.
context_section_description: The First Ward is within the Houston Independent School District; the part of the First Ward not within Downtown is zoned to Crockett Elementary School, Hogg Middle School, and Reagan High School.
  Hawthorne Elementary School used to serve the First Ward; it opened in 1893, replacing Houston Avenue School (which was later known as the First Ward School), and closed in 1959. Richard Brock Elementary School opened on the former Hawthorne site in 1967. In 2006 it was converted to the Crockett Early Childhood Center. Crockett took the attendance territory formerly held by Brock.
  The University of Houston–Downtown (UHD) is a four-year state university, located within the historic First Ward.  Founded in 1974, it is one of four separate and distinct institutions in the University of Houston System. UHD has an enrollment of 12,900 students—making it the 13th largest public university in Texas and the second-largest university in the Houston area.
caption: University of Houston–Downtown
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