Portal:Houston
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Houston is the largest city in the state of Texas and fourth-largest in the United States. As of the 2005 U.S. Census estimate, Houston had a population of more than 2 million. The city covers more than 600 square miles (1,600 km²). Houston is the county seat of Harris County and part of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. with a population of 5.3 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 General Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in Houston's population. In the 20th century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions, and NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
Houston is known for its broad industrial base in the energy, aeronautics, and technology industries. Only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters than Houston. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. Houston is home to Rice University, one of the United States's leading teaching and research universities and the University of Houston, Texas's third-largest public research university with more than 36,000 students from 130 countries.
Houston is a multicultural city with a large and growing international community. The Houston Museum District is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits, attracting more than 7 million visitors a year. Houston has an active visual and performing arts scene and is one of only five U.S. cities that offer year-round resident companies in all major performing arts.
The Stewart Building on Kempner Street in Galveston, Texas. The building was originally named the Kauffmann and Runge Building, designed by Eugene T. Heiner and built 1881-82.
Tropical Storm Allison was a tropical storm that devastated southeast Texas in June of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. The first storm of the season, Allison lasted unusually long for a June storm, remaining tropical or subtropical for 15 days. The storm developed from a tropical wave in the northern Gulf of Mexico on June 4, and struck the northern Texas coast shortly thereafter. It drifted northward through the state, then turned back to the south and re-entered the Gulf of Mexico. The storm continued to the east-northeast, making landfall on Louisiana and then moving across the southeast United States and Mid-Atlantic. The storm dropped heavy rainfall along its path, peaking at over 40 inches (1000 mm) in Texas. The worst of the flooding occurred in Houston, where most of Allison's damage occurred. There, 30,000 became homeless after the flooding destroyed 2,744 homes. Downtown Houston was inundated with flooding, causing severe damage to hospitals and businesses. 23 people died in Texas. Throughout its entire path, Allison caused $6.05 billion (2006 USD) in damage and 41 deaths. Aside from Texas, the places worst hit were Louisiana and southeastern Pennsylvania.
- ... construction of the 610 Loop began in 1950? The loop was completed in 1976 with the interchange that connects Loop 610 to Interstate 10 east of Houston.
- ... Howard Hughes died en route to the The Methodist Hospital on April 5, 1976 on an airplane that departed Mexico?
- ... Kathryn J. Whitmire former Mayor of the city of Houston, Texas, from 1982 to 1991, is now living in Hawaii where she is in the real estate business?
- ... the Houston Comets have won more championships than any other team in the WNBA?
- ... Lakewood Church is the largest and fastest growing church in the United States with more than 40,000 attendees during its services?
Billy F. Gibbons (born December 16, 1949), nicknamed the Reverend Willie G, is best known as the guitarist for that "Little Ol' band from Texas", ZZ Top. He is also the lead vocalist and composer for many of the band's classic songs. A Houston native, Gibbons is known for playing a classic 1959 Gibson Les Paul guitar he calls Miss Pearly Gates. Many guitarists have copied his rich guitar tones. The 1973 rock and roll classic "La Grange" is a fine example of Gibbons' tone and technique. He is known to play his guitar using a quarter or a peso as a pick, lending a distinctive sound to his playing. Gibbons obtained the nickname, "the Reverend" as a result of becoming ordained by the Universal Life Church in order to legally preside over a friend's wedding.
William Marsh Rice University, commonly called Rice University and opened in 1912 as The William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Letters, Science and Art, is a private, comprehensive research university located in Houston, Texas near the Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is particularly noted for its elite undergraduate division, as well as its strength in the applied sciences. The university has been a pioneer in the fields of nanotechnology, artificial heart research, structural chemical analysis, and space science.
At the undergraduate level, Rice placed at 17th in the 2006 U.S. News & World Report rankings of doctoral granting institutions. Further, in the Princeton Review's 2007 rankings, Rice was ranked third for “Best Overall Academic Experience for Undergraduates” as well as among the top 20 schools where students “Never Stop Studying.” Hence the expression: "Rice students never leave the hedges," referring to the plantings that both surround the campus and line the academic quad. The same publication also placed it as first in the nation for “Best Quality of Life” and “Lots of Race / Class Interaction.”
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- The number of murders last year in Houston hit a 12-year high and increased by 13.5 percent over 2005, figures the mayor attributes in part to the arrival of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.
- Houston-based Continental Airlines announced that preliminary merger discussions with United Airlines are in progress. Any deal between the two airlines would create one of the largest airlines in the industry.
- After finishing with a 1–1 draw following extra time, the Dynamo become the champions of the MLS cup by defeating the New England Revolution 4–3 in penalty kicks.
- One of the world's most famous fossils—the 3.2 million-year-old Lucy skeleton unearthed in Ethiopia in 1974—will go on display abroad for the first time in the United States. A team from the Houston Museum of Natural Science spent four years negotiating the U.S. tour, which will start in Houston next September.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them."
- Barbara Bush, commenting on the Hurricane Katrina refugees in the Houston Astrodome on Marketplace, March 6, 2005
Primary Category: Houston
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City of Houston |
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