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Setting in South-Central Houston
Texas Medical Center is a neighborhood in south-central Houston, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Its main cluster occupies a triangular area shaped by Brays Bayou, Rice University, and Hermann Park.
The neighborhood covers 2.1 square miles. The broader Medical Center / Astrodome area covers 4.93 square miles and is home to more than 20,000 people, many of them medical workers.
A Dense Medical District
More than 60 medical institutions are members of the Texas Medical Center Corporation, a non-profit umbrella organization. The district is also known as the “Medical Mini-City” and has a high concentration of clinical care, biomedical science, and translational research facilities.
The Texas Medical Center includes hospitals, specialty institutions, academic and research institutions, medical schools, nursing schools, public health organizations, pharmacy schools, and a dental school. Its institutions are non-profit, and some member institutions are located outside Houston.
Origins and Growth
Texas Medical Center was established in 1945, partly through funds endowed to the M.D. Anderson Foundation by businessman Monroe Dunaway Anderson. Earlier support connected the University of Texas with plans for a cancer research hospital in Houston.
Other early projects included Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, Houston Methodist Hospital, and the Texas Medical Center Library.
Landmarks and Notable Features
The district houses Texas Children’s Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center. The TMC Library offers access to current digital books and journals, while its historical collections include rare medical books dating back to the 1500s and medical history manuscripts.
Development has extended south of Brays Bayou toward NRG Park, and plans have been developed for an innovation campus south of the river. Helix Park opened as part of the Texas Medical Center complex with six parks arranged around a double-helix and a campus collaboration building.
Getting Around
The METRORail Red Line serves the Texas Medical Center along Fannin Street, linking the district with Downtown Houston and NRG Park. Rail stops in the area include Memorial Hermann Hospital/Houston Zoo, Dryden/TMC, and the Texas Medical Center Transit Center, which also connects with local bus routes.
What it is like
Texas Medical Center is in Houston’s Medical Center area, with its original campus north of Holcombe and east of Fannin and near Hermann Park.
Homes and housing
Medical Center Area includes the original campus of the Texas Medical Center, Hermann Park, from which it was carved, and a fringe of private development. The Texas Medical Center expanded far beyond the original site north of Holcombe and east of Fannin, replacing early Main Street restaurants and shopping centers with high-rise hotels, outpatient clinics and professional buildings.
History and landmarks
The campus has grown to over 1,345 acres and 55 million square feet. Named institutions and buildings include the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Texas Children’s Hospital, TMC Helix Park’s TMC3 Collaborative Building and six parks, and Baylor’s Roy and Lillie Cullen Building at One Baylor Plaza.
Sources: Texas Medical Center (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA); houstontx.gov; tmc.edu