Allen's Landing is the birthplace of the city of Houston—the largest city in the U.S. state of Texas. In August 1836, just months after the Republic of Texas won its independence from Mexico, two brothers (and real estate developers) from New York—John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen—purchased 6,642 acres (27 km²) in the area and settled there on the banks of Buffalo Bayou. A modern-day campus of the University of Houston–Downtown sits atop Allen's Landing.