A little more than 50 years ago, the Tennessee Building was constructed in the heart of downtown Houston, TX, to serve as the headquarters for the Tennessee Gas Transmission Co., which at that time, delivered natural gas by pipeline to defense plants in Appalachia during World War II. Three years after it was constructed, the building was renamed to the Tenneco Building when it was purchased by Tenneco Inc., a global manufacturing company. The building was known as the Tenneco building for more than 30 years, with the company’s letters outlining the top of the 32-story skyscraper on each of its four sides, until it was renamed the El Paso Energy Building after it was purchased by the El Paso Corp. in 1996.

In 2012, the building was again renamed when Kinder Morgan Inc., the largest midstream and third largest energy company in North America, purchased it with its $21 billion acquisition of the El Paso Corp. Today, the building is known as the Kinder Morgan Building. The majority of the building is occupied by Kinder Morgan, while EP Energy — originally El Paso Corp.’s exploration and production arm before it was purchased by a private equity group — currently leases the top 10 floors.