Neighborhood: Greater Hobby Area
Address: 8325 Travelair Street, Houston, TX 77061
Website: 1940airterminal.org
This museum, located at William P Hobby Airport, occupies the original terminal used for passenger flights in Houston. The art deco style building, built in 1940 with Public Works Administration funds, served as Houston's only commercial air terminal until 1954.
Exhibits explore Houston's aviation history, with artifacts including model aircraft, uniforms, advertisements and other memorabilia. There are also several historic aircraft on display, and occasional special exhibitions on aspects of aviation through the years.
Neighborhood: Midtown
Address: 3816 Caroline Street, Houston, TX 77004
Website: buffalosoldiersmuseum.org
The Buffalo Soldiers National Museum chronicles the history of the Buffalo Soldiers – six all-Black Army units who were the first professional Black soldiers in a peacetime army – and their role in the history of the American West and in America’s wars and overseas actions from the 19th century to the present day.
Neighborhood: Museum Park
Address: 1500 Binz Street, Houston, TX 77004
Website: cmhouston.org
The Children’s Museum Houston, aimed at children from birth up to 12 years of age, offers a wide variety of hands-on exhibits and activities on topics ranging from scientific and mathematical principles, engineering and medicine to art, ecology and international cultures.
Neighborhood: Galveston
Address: 100 Seawolf Parkway, Galveston, TX 77554
Website: galvestonnavalmuseum.com
This museum in Galveston’s Seawolf Park is home to two historic naval vessels, submarine USS Cavalla and destroyer escort ship USS Stewart, both of which can be toured for insights into how the crew lived and worked aboard them.
Neighborhood: Galveston
Address: 2602 Santa Fe Place, Galveston, TX 77550
Website: galvestonrrmuseum.org
Located in a former station and railyard of the Santa Fe Railroad, this museum is home to a variety of exhibits on the history of the railroad. Exhibits include several dozen retired pieces of rolling stock from locomotives to freight cars, a large collection of historic dining car china, model railroads, and other historical artifacts.
Neighborhood: Museum Park
Address: 5401 Caroline Street, Houston, TX 77004
Website: hmh.org
Houston’s Holocaust Museum was established in 1996 with the aim of educating visitors about the history of the Holocaust and past and present prejudices and the importance of personal action in the face of injustice.
Exhibits explore the experiences of Holocaust survivors during and after WWII through personal diaries, recorded testimony and other artifacts, and the history of other genocides across the world. It also hosts several permanent and temporary art exhibitions.
Neighborhood: Second Ward
Address: 2311 Canal Street, Houston, TX 77003
Website: houstonmaritime.org
The Houston Maritime Museum, which grew out of one man's private collection of maritime models, outlines the history of seafaring from the age of exploration to the present day energy industry.
The museum’s main attraction is its large collection of detailed model ships covering several centuries of maritime history from all over the world. Various artifacts further explore the history of seafaring, including navigational instruments, ships in bottles, maps, art and photographs. Docents are often present to give guided tours of the museum.
Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 1200 Travis Street, Houston, TX 77002
Website: houstontx.gov/police/museum/
This small museum, located inside of the Houston Police Department Headquarters, features displays on the history of the police force in Houston, old photographs, historic vehicles (including a helicopter suspended from the ceiling), badges and other memorabilia.
Neighborhood: western Houston
Address: Hangar B-5, West Houston Airport, 18000 Groschke Road, Houston, TX 77084
Website: houstonwing.org
This aviation museum specializes in the aircraft and aviation history of World War II, with several vintage WWII era aircraft and exhibits on military and civilian life during the war.
Neighborhood: South Belt/Ellington
Address: 11551 Aerospace Avenue, Houston, TX 77034
Website: lonestarflight.org
The Lone Star Flight Museum, formerly located in Galveston but now situated at Houston’s Ellington International Airport, is a museum of aviation centered around a large collection of historic military aircraft (including a rotating selection of loaned aircraft) plus displays on the history of aviation in Texas.
Other exhibits examine space exploration, aviation art and the role of women pilots in the American Airforce. Flight simulators and rides in the historic planes are also available.
Neighborhood: North Houston
Address: 415 Barren Springs Drive, Houston, TX 77090
Website: nmfh.org
One of Houston’s more unusual museums, the National Musem of Funeral History is one of the largest museums in the world devoted to the topic of deathcare, with more a wide variety of permanent exhibits exploring topics from the history of creation and embalming, the funerals of public figures, funerary rituals in America and abroad, historical and international coffins and caskets, historical hearses and more.
Neighborhood: Pleasantville Area
Address: 8611 Wallisville Road, Houston, TX 77029
Website: nusafm.org
This small museum represents the military history of Texas and the wars in which Texans have fought through a collection of historical military artifacts and memorabilia.
The bulk of the collection consists of dozens of restored tanks, armoured vehicles and other military vehicles and aircraft, with an additional display of uniforms, weaponry, photographs and other items.
Neighborhood: Galveston
Address: 2002 Wharf Road, Galveston, TX 77550
Website: oceanstaroec.com
This unique museum, located within the retired Gulf of Mexico drilling rig Ocean Star, explores the history of the offshore drilling industry. Exhibits, arranged over three floors of the rig, include videos, displays of industrial equipment, models of the different types of rigs, and information on aspects of the oil and gas extraction industry from safety to extraction processes to life aboard a rig.
Neighborhood: Clear Lake
Address: 1601 NASA Parkway, Houston, TX 77058
Website: spacecenter.org
One of Houston’s top attractions, Space Center Houston is the official visitor center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, with a wide variety of exhibits, facility tours, behind-the-scenes tours, and other space-exploration-themed experiences.
Exhibits include retired rockets, exploration vehicles and other spacecraft, a collection of spacesuits, a replica aircraft-mounted shuttle that you can go inside of, documentary films, and displays on past and future space travel.
Neighborhood: Museum Park
Address: 1515 Hermann Drive, Houston, TX 77004
Website: thehealthmuseum.org
This science museum, more fully known as the John P McGovern Museum of Health and Medical Science, offers a variety of interactive and other permanent and rotating exhibits exploring the healthy and operation of the human body, including topics such as the impact of the environment on human health, diseases and medicine. The museum also operates various special events, including lectures, hands-on activities, and other after-hours events.
Neighborhood: Downtown
Address: 1100 Bagby Street, Houston, TX 77002
Website: heritagesociety.org
The Heritage Society oversees a collection of historic buildings, together with a museum gallery showing permanent and rotating exhibits on the history and culture of Houston and its vicinity.
Tours are offered visiting a selection of the ten historic properties at Sam Houston Park, which represent the lifestyles of Houstonians from the early 19th century from a simple wood cabin to the substantial homes of the city’s wealthiest citizens. Specialized tours focusing on Black and women’s history are also available.
Neighborhood: Hermann Park
Address: 5555 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030
Website: hmns.org
One of Houston’s flagship museums, the Houston Museum of Natural Science boasts a wide range of excellent permanent and visiting exhibits on wildlife, paleontology, geology and ancient cultures.
Highlights include a large collection of dinosaur skeletons, including dozens of giant species such as Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops and an extensive collection of mineral specimens. The museum is also home to the Burke Baker Planetarium, the Cockrell Butterfly Center, with an interactive, three-story rainforest exhibits filled with hundreds of live butterflies and the Wortham Giant Screen Theater, showing a variety of educational films.