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Houston (pronounced /ˈhjuːstən/) is the
fourth-largest city in the United States of America and
the largest city within the state of Texas. As of the 2006
U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.14
million within an area of 600 square miles (1,600 km²).
Houston is the seat of Harris County and an economic center
of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan
area—the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S.
with a population of around 5.6 million.
Houston was founded on August 30,
1836 by brothers Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby
Allen on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou. The city
was incorporated on June 5, 1837 and named after then-President
of the Republic of Texas—former General Sam Houston—who had commanded
at the Battle of San Jacinto, which took place 25 miles
(40 km) east of where the city was established. The burgeoning
port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery
in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city's population.
In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of
the Texas Medical Center—the world's largest concentration
of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA's
Johnson Space Center, where Mission Control Center is located.
Houston's economy has a broad industrial
base in the energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, and technology;
only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters.
Commercially, Houston is ranked as a world city, and
the area is a leading center for building oilfield equipment.
The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States
in international waterborne tonnage handled and second
in total cargo tonnage handled.[5] The city has a multicultural
population with a large and growing international community.
It is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits—attracting
more than 7 million visitors a year to the Houston Museum
District. Houston has an active visual and performing
arts scene in the Theater District and is one of five
U.S. cities that offer year-round resident companies
in all major performing arts.[6]
History
In August 1836, John Kirby Allen
and Augustus Chapman Allen, two real estate entrepreneurs
from New York City, purchased 6,642 acres (27 km²)
of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding
a city.[7] The Allen brothers decided to name the city
after Sam Houston, the popular general of the Texans
at the Battle of San Jacinto,[7] who was elected President
in September 1836.
Houston was granted incorporation on June 5, 1837, with
James S. Holman becoming its first mayor.[8] In the same
year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County
(now Harris County) and the temporary capital of the Republic
of Texas.[9] In 1840, the community established a chamber
of commerce in part to promote shipping and waterborne
business at the newly created port on Buffalo Bayou.[10]
Houston, circa 1873By 1860, Houston had emerged as a commercial
and railroad hub for the export of cotton.[9] Railroad
spurs from the Texas inland converged in Houston, where
they met rail lines to the ports of Galveston and Beaumont.
During the American Civil War, Houston served as a headquarters
for General John Bankhead Magruder, who used the city
as an organization point for the Battle of Galveston.[11]
After the Civil War, Houston businessmen initiated efforts
to widen the city's extensive system of bayous so the
city could accept more commerce between downtown and
the nearby port of Galveston. By 1890 Houston was the
railroad center of Texas.
In 1900, after Galveston was struck by a devastating hurricane,
efforts to make Houston into a viable deepwater port were
accelerated.[12] The following year, oil discovered at
the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont prompted the development
of the Texas petroleum industry.[13] In 1902, President
Theodore Roosevelt approved a $1 million improvement project
for the Houston Ship Channel. By 1910 the city's population
had reached 78,800, almost doubling from a decade before.
An integral part of the city were African Americans, who
numbered 23,929 or nearly one-third of the residents.[14]
They were developing a strong professional class based
then in the Fourth Ward.
President Woodrow Wilson opened the deepwater Port of
Houston in 1914, seven years after digging began. By 1930,
Houston had become Texas's most populous city and Harris
the most populous county.[15]
Houston Ship ChannelWhen World War II started, tonnage
levels at the port decreased and shipping activities
were suspended; however, the war did provide economic
benefits for the city. Petrochemical refineries and manufacturing
plants were constructed along the ship channel because
of the demand for petroleum and synthetic rubber products
during the war.[16] Ellington Field, initially built
during World War I, was revitalized as an advanced training
center for bombardiers and navigators.[17] The M. D.
Anderson Foundation formed the Texas Medical Center in
1945. After the war, Houston's economy reverted to being
primarily port-driven. In 1948, several unincorporated
areas were annexed into the city limits, which more than
doubled the city's size, and Houston proper began to
spread across the region.[8][18]
In 1950, the availability of air conditioning provided
impetus for many companies to relocate to Houston resulting
in an economic boom and producing a key shift in the city's
economy toward the energy sector.[19][20]
The space shuttle, atop its Boeing 747 SCA, flying over
Johnson Space CenterThe increased production of the local
shipbuilding industry during World War II spurred Houston's
growth,[21] as did the establishment in 1961 of NASA's "Manned
Spacecraft Center" (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson
Space Center in 1973), which created the city's aerospace
industry. The Astrodome, nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder
of the World,"[22] opened in 1965 as the world's
first indoor domed sports stadium.
During the late 1970s, Houston experienced a population
boom as people from Rust Belt states moved to Texas in
large numbers.[23] The new residents came for the numerous
employment opportunities in the petroleum industry, created
as a result of the Arab Oil Embargo.
The population boom ended abruptly in the mid-1980s, as
oil prices fell precipitously. The space industry also
suffered in 1986 after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded
shortly after launch. The late 1980s saw a recession affect
the city's economy.
Since the 1990s, as a result of the recession, Houston
has made efforts to diversify its economy by focusing on
aerospace and biotechnology and by reducing its dependence
on the petroleum industry. In 1997, Houstonians elected
Lee P. Brown as the city's first African American mayor.[24]
Hurricane Rita evacuationIn June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison
dumped up to 37 inches (940 mm) of rain on parts of Houston,
causing the worst flooding in the city's history; the
storm cost billions of dollars in damage and killed 20
people in Texas.[25] Many neighborhoods and communities
have changed since the storm. By December of that same
year, Houston-based energy company Enron collapsed into
the second-largest ever U.S. bankruptcy during an investigation
surrounding fabricated partnerships that were allegedly
used to hide debt and inflate profits.
In August 2005, Houston became a shelter to more than
150,000 people from New Orleans who evacuated from Hurricane
Katrina.[26] One month later, approximately 2.5 million
Houston area residents evacuated when Hurricane Rita approached
the Gulf Coast, leaving little damage to the Houston area.
This event marked the largest urban evacuation in the history
of the United States.[27][28
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