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Area centred on museums in Houston, Texas

The Houston Museum District is an association of 19 museums, galleries, cultural centers and community organizations located in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting art, science, history and culture. The Houston Museum District currently includes 19 museums that recorded a collective attendance of over 8.7 million visitors a year. All of the museums offer free times or days and 11 of the museums are free all the time. Thursdays the Museum District gets particularly crowded because of museum free days. On Thursdays, The Houston Museum of Natural Science is free after 2 p. m., The Children's Museum of Houston is free after 5 p. m., The Health Museum is free from 2–7, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is free all day. Houston's Museum District is walkable and bikeable. Sidewalks are wide and well maintained, and attractions and restaurants are situated near each other. The district is bordered roughly by Texas State Highway 288, Hermann Park, U. S. Route 59, and the Texas Medical Center. The Museum District Civic Association compared the area to Georgetown in Washington, D. C., and to the French Quarter of New Orleans. may be found on their official website.

1977: Concept formulated, area associations involved. January 1986: Montrose Project incorporated. July 1986: Montrose Project becomes the Museum District Development Association of Houston. March 1987: MDDAH gains 501(c)3 status. May 1988: “Raiders of the Lost Art” event held to raise funds and awareness of the District. September 1989: The Museum District receives a Clean Houston Honorable Mention in the Proud Partners Awards for its Museum District Improvement program. September 1989: Business leaders, museum directors and members gathered to sign a coalition agreement supporting a City of Houston Resolution creating an official Museum District. October 18, 1989: The area along Montrose Boulevard, from Allen Parkway to Hermann Park was designated by the City of Houston City Council and Mayor Kathryn Whitmire as the official Museum District of Houston. 1990: The Cultural Arts Council of Houston, now known as Houston Arts Alliance published The Cultural Guide to Houston, a guide book of Houston which included maps of each cultural center in the city, including a map of the Museum District. December 1991: MDDAH helped host the 5th Annual Christmas and Hanukkah in Neartown, with a tree lighting, caroling and a Children's Parade and Festival. May 1992: “Savor the Flavors” benefit held for the Museum District, highlighting 23 local restaurants. 1994: The organized abandonment/dissolution of the 501(c)3 Museum District Development Association of Houston. Records were handed off to the South Main Center Association for further collaboration and development within the community. November 1996: Shepherded by the South Main Center Association, now South Main Alliance, the organizations of the Museum District joined to publish a brochure, promoting the Museum District, which included new member museums. January 1997: Eleven institutions reincorporated the Houston Museum District Association as a 501(c)3 corporation. Five new museums joined in 2002 and two more in 2007.

Originally, funding was completely based on private sources—association member dues and members’ donations. Later, with growing awareness of the MDDAH and their work, funding came from numerous other sources. Today, total operating budgets for the member museums exceed $80 million, funded almost completely from revenues and private donations. Museum District funding includes approximately $1.5 million in Hotel Occupancy Tax funds from the City of Houston and the Houston Arts Alliance; contributions from all participating museums; foundation support from The Houston Endowment, Inc.; The John P. McGovern Foundation; The Wortham Foundation, Inc.; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; Susan Vaughan Foundation, Inc.; and corporate support from KHOU TV Channel 11, KUHT TV (PBS), the Houston Chronicle, Texas Monthly, Exxon, and Cadillac. Several apartment and/or condo communities are already in the area and new ones are currently being built and developed. One benefit of living at The Circle at Hermann Park, The Mosaic, The Parklane, The Plaza, The Warwick, or new residential communities being built is that residents enjoy easy walking distance to the Houston Zoo, The Children's Museum of Houston, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Miller Outdoor Theater, Hermann Park, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and more. In 2003 Keiji Asakura of SLA Studio Land presented the Museum District Walk Project, a project to expand walkability in the area. In 2015 a walkability study came from SWA Group. By 2018 residential condominiums became a popular form of residence in the community.

Parking in the Houston Museum District can be tricky if you visit on Thursdays, weekends, HISD Spring/Summer/Winter vacation days, or evenings when Miller Outdoor Theater is hosting a popular show. A parking lot adjacent to the McGovern Centennial Gardens on Hermann Drive was added in 2014. You may park there for free. Parking in the lot across from the Law Building at MFAH is also free. You may also park at the zoo or in the lot near the Rice University Light Rail Station for free (there is a 3 hour time limit). You may pay to park along Hermann Drive or on side streets, in the HMNS garage, or in various garages. You may also park along the MetroRail Line and take the light rail train to Rice University or The Museum District stops.

The Houston Public Library Clayton Library, Center for Genealogical Research is located in the Museum District. The genealogical collection, originally housed in the Julia Ideson Building in Downtown Houston, moved to the William Clayton Home, a Georgian style house built in 1917, in the Museum District in 1968. A site for a new building, adjacent to the Clayton Home, was purchased in 1986. The new building, which was built in 1988, was designed to complement the Clayton Home. The city implemented a $6.8 million renovation project for the Clayton Home and the guest house and carriage house on the property in the 2000s. The city planned to renovate the property so it would meet LEED standards. The city installed an elevator in the guest house so the building could be used as an administrative office. The carriage house received an addition so it could function as a 100 person conference room. The Clayton site can accommodate one plenary session and four breakout meetings, which would be required for a national genealogical conference. The Houston Business Journal awarded the renovation as the best historic renovation for its 2009 Landmark Awards. There is also a branch of the Houston Public Library in the Children's Museum of Houston.

First Presbyterian Church is located in the Museum District. St. Mathew's Lutheran Church and St. Paul's United Methodist Church are located in the Museum District.