History of Houston Texas
Houston, Texas has a rich and diverse history dating back to the early 19th century. The city was founded in 1836 by brothers Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, who saw the potential for a great new city at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou. They purchased 6,642 acres of land and established the town which they named after Sam Houston, a famous Texan general and politician who would later become president of the Republic of Texas.
In the early years, Houston grew slowly as a commercial center supporting the regional cotton, sugar and lumber industries. Transportation was a challenge in the bayou region but the 1850s brought railroads connecting Houston to the Texas interior. This spurred more growth and Houston incorporated as a city in 1837 with just over 7,000 residents.
The discovery of oil at nearby Spindletop in 1901 was a watershed moment, launching the Texas oil boom. Houston’s location near the oilfields made it a natural hub for the petroleum industry. Oil companies located their headquarters in Houston and refineries were built along the ship channel leading to the Port of Houston. This new wealth helped the city recover after the devastating 1900 Galveston hurricane and Houston began to eclipse its neighbor to the south as the region’s main commercial center.
In the early 20th century, Houston boomed thanks to oil and World War I also sparked shipbuilding along the Houston Ship Channel. The midcentury brought even more growth and diversification for Houston’s economy. NASA’s Johnson Space Center opened in 1961 and major technology, energy and healthcare organizations were founded and relocated to the city. Houston’s population surpassed one million by the 1960s.
Unfortunately, prosperity was interrupted by tragedy in the 1980s when Houston’s economy crashed along with the rest of the state after oil prices collapsed. The city reinvented itself again, diversifying its economy by supporting sectors like biotechnology, aeronautics and computer technology.
The 21st century has seen Houston emerge as one of the country’s most diverse metropolitan areas, buoyed by the energy, shipping, healthcare, biotech and aerospace industries. The city withstood major challenges like Hurricane Harvey in 2017 to continue growing as a global city with a distinctly Texan, entrepreneurial spirit. With a metropolitan area population exceeding 7 million, Houston is poised to keep building on its status as an economic capital of the South in the years to come.
