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Houston History, Texas

The goal was to start a city which would work as the hub of commercial and political activities for Texas and if you watch the city of Houston today then you will understand that the founders (Augustus Allen and John Allen) of this city have actually succeeded in their goals. Above mentioned two young real state businessmen had bought around 27 kilometer square of flat land for around $10000. Name of the then President for Texas Sam Houston was used as the name for this infant city.

It was August 1836 when the foundation for this city was laid and by June 1837 the newly formed city of Houston was boasting of having its own Mayor. The nearby region of Buffalo Bayou was used as the location where the port for the city of Houston was to be created. Economy of Houston started to jump up once the port was functional and the new city was heading towards being what its creators had wanted it to become.

It was by the year of 1860 that Houston was becoming famous in this country for its cotton business. Houston slowly became the meeting point for most of the newly launched railway lines and newly built roads. It was during the Civil War in America when Houston was used as the central hub to organize various plans. After the war more and more investors entered the city and slowly the city of Houston was expanding fast enough to become an important city for America. By the year 1890 Houston had successfully become the meeting point for all railway lines of Texas.

By year 1900 the effort to improve the living quality of Houston were accelerated and by the year 1902 a million dollar project to improve the Shipping Channel of Houston was launched. This again helped to improve the economy of this city. It was by the year 1910 when the population of the city had doubled to around 80000 in a gap of 10 years. Amongst this population one third were the African Americans who were slowly developing to be the strong business class for the city. Houston became the most populous city for Texas by the year 1930.

Houston was badly hit due to the World War II and its economy slowed down but after the World War II the city again reverted to port based business and its economy was again booming with passion.


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  • windykatyMuseum of Contemporary Arts
    travel tip by windykaty posted more then 30 days ago
    I have only been to Houston once and this place was my favorite. The building is made of silvery aluminum or similar, but it can easily be spotted out. Besides it is kitty-cornered with the Fine Arts Museum.  If you didn’t get...
  • stefMenil Collection
    travel tip by stef posted more then 30 days ago
    Menil Collection is a fantastic art collection of two Houston Native philanthropist, the Menil brothers. There are different exhibitions, some temporary, others permanent and everything is free all the time. The home of the museum is...
  • evike14Museum of Natural Science in Houston
    travel tip by evike14 posted more then 30 days ago
    It is perfect if you are with kids, but you must go anyway. One of the best museums I have ever seen. They have a lot of cool exhibitions, no wonder there are so many people all the time. Some of the greatest are the Dinosaur world,...
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