It was built in 1959 by the Southern Pacific Railroad to replace the nearby Grand Central Station.

That station operated from September 1, 1934 until the property was sold to the U.S. Government in 1959 to become the site of the Houston main post office.

A third station used by the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad was at the top of the Main Street viaduct, next to the campus of the University of Houston–Downtown (UHD).

It was no longer an active passenger station by the end of 1958;[3] it never served Amtrak and was demolished, save for a section of platform under the Main Street viaduct.

In the 2000s, the station was proposed to be replaced by the Houston Intermodal Transit Center, just north of downtown, on the Union Pacific main line.