History

Houston was founded in 1836 by two New York real-estate men, John K. and Augustus C. Allen. They purchased a townsite at the head of navigable water on Buffalo Bayou and named the future city for the hero of Texas independence. Houston was incorporated a year later and made the first capital of the Republic of Texas. It was the capital until 1839 and again from 1842 to 1845.

The city administration, under Mayor John Andres, officially established the “Port of Houston” in 1841. In 1853 the port had become important enough for the Texas Legislature to appropriate $4,000 for improvement of the channel. In the same year the first railway in Texas operated out of Houston. Discovery of oil at Spindletop, near Beaumont, in 1901, and at Humble in Harris County in 1904, hastened the growth of Houston. In 1914 the Houston Ship Channel was made large enough for oceangoing vessels. This marked the beginning of a period of great activity and prosperity.

During World War II Houston was a center of war industries. Major proportions of the nation's sulfur and other inorganic chemicals, of synthetic rubber, and of petroleum products came from Houston.

The Manned Spacecraft Center (later renamed Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center) was established near Houston and the Astrodome was opened in 1965. Vast building programs greatly increased city and suburban office space, and construction of a massive downtown redevelopment project was undertaken in the early 1970's. During the 1970's, Houston increased its land area significantly through annexation and established itself as the commercial and population center of the Southwest.

As a major center of oil refining and petrochemical production, Houston was particularly hard hit by drastic declines in world oil prices during the 1980's. The economy recovered in the 1990's.