Houston Maritime Center

Houston Maritime Museum, dba as Houston Maritime Center, was founded by james "jim" l. manzolillo whose incredible experiences and extensive personal collection of Maritime artifacts and ship models set anchor to his dream. As a world war ii merchant marine veteran, naval architect, mechanical engineer, ship builder, and lecturer for cunard cruise lines, jim's vision was realized when the Houston Maritime Museum opened in may 2000. Over two decades the collection has grown extensively to cover the world of Maritime history and culture from the early phoenicians to world war ii to the modern energy industry. Museum highlights include a large aerial map and interactive exhibit of the Houston ship channel detailing its many facilities and landmarks, the Texas navy theater with seating for 15 persons, an exhibit on the history of buffalo bayou and commanding models of ships that traverse the world moving millions of tons of goods in and out of the port of Houston annually.

Houston Maritime Center hosts several major annual events that connect industry and the community. Each event ranges in size from 40 to 250+ attendees/participants including monthly family days, presentations, panel discussions, networking, and Museum tours. Each year we serve to create awareness, engage, and educate the public about how significant the Houston ship channel and Maritime industry are to Houston's evolution and how both have fostered growth, opportunity, and prosperity for the entire state of Texas and beyond.

Throughout the year Houston Maritime Center offers a series of lectures on three distinct maritime-related topics: history, industry and environmental. Subject matter experts, industry veterans, and for some presentations joint panelists delve into these matters exploring local, regional, national, and international areas of interest. Started in 2004, our history lecture series is the Museum's longest-running educational program. Past lecture topics include lessons learned from the exxon valdez, the history of brown shipbuilding, offshore wind, the jones act, sea monsters on renaissance maps, oyster conservation, and Texas shipwrecks among many others. For 2022, lectures and presentations included a "port 101" presentation in conjunction with the greater Houston port bureau, warfare on the dockyards by author william prom, decarbonization in the Maritime industry, supply chain disruption, blue sky Maritime, and more.

Houston Maritime Center conducts guided tours for student groups ranging in age from primary school through university from Houston and all its surrounding metro areas. These students come from public and private schools and include a large constituency of home school groups throughout Texas. Both guided tours and general admissions from the public at large engage hmc visitors of all ages from special interest groups, Maritime professionals and retirees, active military personnel and veterans, to tourists and those passionate about all things Maritime from around the world. Many tours include stem (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) /steam (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) principles. Special tours are also offered for a myriad of topics including the Houston ship channel and Houston's place in the global Maritime world, the role of government in Maritime development, Maritime navigation, nathaniel bowditch, careers in the Maritime sector, and life aboard ships. Hmc also hosts free monthly family day events engaging the local community and families in maritime-themed crafts, experiences, and educational activities. Guided tours, offered in english and spanish, are expertly led by our docent team who work/worked as naval architects, ship captains, engineers, and merchant marines; many have also served in the u.s. military. These rich experiences offer all visitors the ability to learn not only about history, migration, ships, navigation, communication, and more, but to hear from firsthand experiences and better understand the Maritime industry and its impact. In hmc also provides educational programs, volunteer and mentorship opportunities, monthly networking events, and invitations to special presentations.