The Heritage Society collects and preserves historic buildings, artifacts, objects from everyday life, and memorabilia related to the history of Harris County. The Society owns twelve structures and 25,000 historical objects that enable the museum to recreate life in Houston at the turn of the century.
The Society's historical houses are as follows:
Kellum-Noble House (1847) the oldest brick house in Houston.
Nichols-Rice-Cherry House (ca.1850s) a Greek revival house which was owned by William Marsh Rice, the founder of Rice University.
Staiti House (1905) features the latest amenities of its time, including electricity.
St. John Church (1891) was built by German farmers. The Jack Yates Homestead (1870) was built by a freed slave who was an educator and minister to Houston s Antioch Baptist Church.
San Felipe Cottage, a simple six-room structure typical of Texas cottages in the 1870s.
Pillot House (1868), a mid-Victorian structure, is believed to be the first house in Houston with an attached kitchen.
The Old Place (ca. 1823) a cabin thought to be the oldest remaining structure of any kind in Harris County.
The 25,000 objects in the collection date from the founding of Houston in the 1830s to the present. Areas of the collection include fire fighting equipment, china (+2,200 pieces), toys (+3,500), Texas-made furniture, decorative arts, textiles, historical objects, costumes, tools, and equipment.