Houston
- "Houston" redirects here. For other uses, see Houston (disambiguation).
Houston, Texas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname: Space City | |
 Location in the state of Texas | |
| Counties | Harris County Fort Bend County Montgomery County |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Bill White |
| Population (2004) | |
| • City | 2,012,626 |
| • Metro | 5,280,752 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Website | www.houstontx.gov |
Houston is the largest city in the state of Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States. The city is also large in geographic area; it covers more than 600 square miles (1,558.4 km²) and is the county seat of Harris County—the third most populous in the country. As of the 2004 U.S. Census estimate, Houston had a total population of 2.01 million. The city is at the heart of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, which is the largest cultural and economic center of the Gulf Coast region and is the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. with a population of 5.3 million in 10 counties.
Houston is known for its energy (particularly oil) and aeronautics industries and for its ship channel. The area is also the world's leading center for building oilfield equipment. The Port of Houston is the sixth-largest port in the world and is the busiest port of the U.S. in foreign tonnage and second in overall tonnage. Second only to New York City in Fortune 500 headquarters, Houston is the seat of the internationally-renowned Texas Medical Center, which contains the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions.
Houston is ranked as one of 11 U.S. world-class cities by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network. The city is vibrant for its visual and performing arts. The Houston Theater District is ranked second in the country for the number of theatre seats in a concentrated downtown area per capita and has world-class visual and performing arts organizations. The city is also close to beaches on Galveston Island as well as one of the United States' largest concentrations of pleasure boats and tourist attractions.
History
Houston's founding
In the early mid-1800s, two brothers who were New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, sought a location where they could begin building "a great center of government and commerce." In August 1836, they purchased 6,642 acres (27 km²) of land from T. F. L. Parrot, John Austin's widow, for $9,428. The Allen brothers named their town after Sam Houston and eventually persuaded the Texas Legislature to designate the site as the temporary capital of the new Republic of Texas.
Houston started out as a hamlet. Gail and Thomas H. Borden surveyed and mapped the town in typical grid fashion, with wide streets running parallel and perpendicular to the area's system of bayous. The city was granted incorporation on June 5, 1837, and James S. Holman became the first mayor. That same year, Houston also became the county seat of Harrisburg County, which was renamed Harris County in 1839. Houston was then made temporary capital of the Republic of Texas. On January 14, 1839, the capital was moved to Austin, then known as Waterloo.
Early settlers
Early settlers used lumber to build frame houses, ditches for drainage, and pigs to clean the streets. Lawlessness, epidemics and financial problems prompted the people of the community to attempt to improve their living conditions, including establishing a Chamber of Commerce. Spurred by that desire, state Senator Robert Wilson introduced a bill in the Congress of the Republic on November 26, 1838, to charter the Houston Chamber of Commerce. Because many of the first settlers were from the South, they endorsed the slavery-plantation system. Slaves lived scattered through the neighborhoods, though there were few free blacks in the city. During this period, yellow fever struck periodically—in 1839 the disease devastated the fledgling city, killing about 12 percent of its population.
In 1840, the city was divided into four wards, each with different community functions. The wards are no longer political divisions today, though their names are still used to refer to geographic areas. The Allen brothers began to promote Houston as a place to live at the same time the Republic of Texas started promoting colonization of Texas.
By 1860 Houston began to emerge as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton. Railroad spurs from the Texas inland converged in Houston, where they met rail lines to the ports of Galveston and Beaumont. During the Civil War, Houston served as a headquarters for General John Bankhead Magruder, which he used as his organizing point for the Battle of Galveston. Houston saloon keeper Dick Dowling became the city's first famous personality after his victory at the battle of Sabine Pass in 1863.
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. After several privately-financed dredging projects in the 1860's and 1870's, the United States government took over the Houston Ship Channel project in 1881.
Early 20th century
In 1900, Houston's population was about 45,000, making it the 85th largest city in the United States. Oil discovery at Spindletop in Beaumont in 1901 prompted a new industry to be developed in Texas. The oil trade would transform Houston from a smaller town into a large city. In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt had approved a one-million dollar fund for the Ship Channel. By 1910, the population of Houston was larger than that of Galveston. President Woodrow Wilson opened the port in 1914, 74 years after the digging started. Service started with the Satilla, a ship that ran from Houston to New York City. By 1914, the Houston Ship Channel was dredged to give Houston a deep-water port, replacing Galveston's port which was destroyed in the Great Hurricane of 1900.
By the end of the 1930s, Houston was encountering growth pains, as the city had inadequate air service and that it was no longer a frontier town. Houston became the largest city in Texas in terms of population in 1939. Also, educational facilities for minority groups, including the Wiley College opened in this time period.
When World War II started, tonnage levels fell and five shipping lines ended service. April 1940 saw streetcar service replaced by buses. World War II sparked the reopening of Ellington Field. The M. D. Anderson Foundation formed the Texas Medical Center in 1945. Aircraft and shipbuilding became large industries in Texas as a result of the war. Tonnage rose after the end of the war in 1946. The banking industry also rose to prominence in the late 1940s. When air conditioning came to the city, it was called the "World's Most Air Conditioned City." The economy of Houston reverted back to a healthy, port driven economy. In 1948, several unincorporated areas were annexed into the city limits, and Houston proper began to spread across the prairie.
The medical center became operational in the 1950s. The Gulf Freeway and the International Terminal at Houston International Airport (originally, Houston Municipal Airport; now, William P. Hobby Airport) were signs of increasing wealth in the area. A problem city had back in the 1950s was the fact that it needed a new water supply. Houstonians first relied on ground water, but that caused land subsidence and later had proposals in the Texas Congress to use the Trinity River.
Decades of growth
Shipbuilding during World War II spurred Houston's growth, as well as 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. December 1961 saw Hurricane Carla, which was a very destructive hurricane that hit the city of Houston. The Astrodome, an indoor domed sports stadium, the first of its kind in the world opened in 1965 as the Harris County Domed Stadium and was nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder of the World."
The late 1970s saw a population boom due to the Arab Oil Embargo. People from the Rust Belt states would massively move into Texas. Houston benefited from high oil prices in the 1970s, but its reliance on petroleum as the base of its industry led to its downfall when oil prices collapsed in the 1980s. Since then, Houston has made efforts to diversify its economy, focusing on aerospace and biotechnology, and reducing its dependence on petroleum.
In 1981, Kathryn J. Whitmire became the city's first female mayor and held that position for 10 years. August 18, 1983 saw Hurricane Alicia, a Category 3 storm, which caused the most expensive damages in American history hitting Galveston and Houston. The massive population boom calmed down when oil prices fell in 1986 due to the embargo being lifted. The space industry also took a blow that year with the explosion of the Challenger in Florida. The first nine months of 1987 saw the death of eleven banks. The 1980s was a decade of recession for the Houston economy, although the cultural areas expanded.
The year 1990 saw the Mickey Leland International Airlines building of Houston Intercontinental Airport open. The 12-gate terminal was named after Mickey Leland. In that same year, the G8 Summit was held in Houston. The largest master-planned community in Harris County—Kingwood—was annexed in 1996, after much opposition. Lee P. Brown, Houston's first African American mayor, was elected in 1997.
The new millennium
In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped feet of rain on the city, causing billions of dollars in damages and taking 43 lives. To date, the flooding caused by Allison was the worst in the city's history. Many neighborhoods and communities have changed since the storm; older houses in some affected neighborhoods have been torn down and replaced with larger houses with larger foundations.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Houston provided shelter to more than 25,000 refugees from New Orleans, Louisiana in various facilities around the city, including the infrequently-used Reliant Astrodome stadium. This unprecedented situation has lasted several months, and involves Houston area public school systems, which is providing education for child refugees. According to CNN, around 230,000 people from the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner metropolitan area are now living in the Houston area, whether in shelters or elsewhere. Hurricane Katrina refugees have swelled the city proper's population past 2.5 million. It is unclear how that variable will fluctuate in the coming months. Some have speculated that, because of a variety of social and economic factors, the enormous population shift could—at least in part—be permanent.
Approximately 2.5 million (out of 5.2 million) Greater Houston area residents evacuated when Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast one month after Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Rita left little damage to the Houston metropolitan area. Dead stop traffic and gas shortages were rampant during the evacuation. This event marked the largest evacuation in the history of the United States.
The city's baseball team, the Houston Astros, advanced to the World Series for the first time in the team's history on October 19, 2005, when the team won game six of the National League Championship series against their traditional rival the St. Louis Cardinals, but the Astros subsequently lost the World Series to the Chicago White Sox, who swept the series four to zero.
The city received a new Major League Soccer team on December 15, 2005 when the San Jose Earthquakes decided to relocate the franchise to Houston. Under the relocation agreement the Earthquake name, mascot and logo will remain in San Jose reserved for a future expansion team. The Houston team, renamed "Houston Dynamo," will play at Robertson Stadium at the start of the 2006 season.
Geography and climate
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1,558.4 km² (601.7 mi²). 1,500.7 km² (579.4 mi²) of it is land and 57.7 km² (22.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 3.7 percent water.
Houston has four major bayous passing through the city: Buffalo Bayou, which runs into downtown; Brays Bayou, which runs along the Texas Medical Center; White Oak Bayou, which runs through the Heights and near the northwest area; and Sims Bayou, which runs through the south of Houston and downtown Houston, merging into the ship channel. The ship channel goes past Galveston and into the Gulf of Mexico.
Much of Houston is very flat, making flooding a recurring problem for its residents. The city stands about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level; the Houston Heights area has the highest elevation in the city. The city once relied on groundwater for its water needs, but land subsidence forced the city to turn to ground-level water sources such as Lake Houston.
A 2005 study by the environmental organization SustainLane of 25 major U.S. cities ranked Houston last in its sustainability index, in part because Houston's topography worsens environmental problems such as severe air pollution and poor water quality. The study found that Houston was "statistically in a class by itself," with a score nearly four times worse than leading cities Portland and San Francisco.[1] Nevertheless, the organization's report on the readiness of the 50 largest U.S. cities for an oil crisis in which gasoline prices would rise to between $3 and $8 a gallon ranked Houston 25th, ahead of Dallas (37th) and Fort Worth (48th). The report found that about 6% of Houston residents use public transit to commute to work.[2]
Geology
Underpinning Houston's land surface are unconsolidated clays, clay shales, and poorly-cemented sands extending to depths of several miles. The region's geology developed from stream deposits from the erosion of the Rocky Mountains. These sediments consist of a series of sands and clays deposited on decaying organic matter that, over time, was transformed into oil and natural gas. Beneath these tiers is a water-deposited layer of halite, a rock salt. The porous layers were compressed over time and forced upward. As it pushed upward, the salt dragged surrounding sediments into dome shapes, often trapping oil and gas that seeped from the surrounding porous sands.
The Houston region is generally earthquake-free. While the city of Houston contains 86 mapped and historically active surface faults with an aggregate length of 149 miles, the clay below the surface precludes the buildup of friction that produces ground shaking in earthquakes. These faults generally move at a smooth rate in what is termed "fault creep."
Climate
Houston's climate is classified as being humid subtropical. The city is located in the gulf coastal plains biome, and its vegetation is classified as temperate grassland. Much of Houston was built on forested land, marshes, swamp, or prairie, all of which can still be seen in surrounding areas. Average yearly precipitation levels is approximately 48 inches (910 to 1220 mm). Prevailing winds are from the south and southeast during most of the year, bringing heat from the deserts of Mexico and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.
In the summer, daily high temperatures are in the 95 °F to 102 °F (35 °C to 39 °C) range throughout much of July and August, with the average high peaking at 94 °F at the end of July.[3] The air tends to feel still and the humidity (often 90 to 100 percent relative humidity, while average afternoon relative humidity is between 57 and 60 percent in the summer) results in a heat index higher than the actual temperature. To cope with the heat, people use air conditioning in nearly every car and building in the city. Summer thunderstorms sometimes bring tornadoes to the area. Afternoon rains are not uncommon, and most days Houston meteorologists predict at least some chance of rain. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Houston was 109 °F (43 °C) on September 4, 2000.[4]
Winters in Houston are cool and temperate. Many days the temperatures are between the 45 °F and 55 °F (7 °C and 16 °C). The coldest period is usually in January, when north winds bring winter rains. Snow is almost unheard of, and typically does not accumulate when it is seen. The last snowstorm to hit Houston was on December 24, 2004; only a few inches accumulated and it was all melted by the next afternoon. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Houston was 5 °F (−15 °C) on January 23, 1940.
Government and politics
Founded in 1836 and incorporated in 1837, Houston is one of the fastest growing major cities in the United States and the largest without zoning laws. The city is the county seat of Harris County. A portion of southwest Houston extends into Fort Bend County and a small portion in the northeast extends into Montgomery County.
The city of Houston has a strong Mayor-council government. The City's elected officials, serving concurrent two year terms, are: the Mayor, the City Controller and the 14 members of City Council. The City Charter provides the constitutional framework within which city government operates. The City's Code of Ordinances contains the laws of the City.
Under the strong Mayor-Council government, the Mayor serves as the Executive Officer of the City. As the City's chief administrator and official representative, the Mayor is responsible for the general management of the City and for seeing that all laws and ordinances are enforced.
The current mayor is Bill White, who is serving his second term. In Houston, a mayor can be elected consecutively for three terms. City Council members, who also have a three-term limit, are elected from nine districts in the city, along with five at-large positions. At-large council members represent the entire city. The current city council lineup was based on a U.S. Justice Department mandate which took effect in 1979. Houston is a home rule city and all municipal elections in the state of Texas are nonpartisan.
Many local lawmakers have been impacted by the city's term limits. Several former city officials—Anthony Hall, Rodney Ellis, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Sylvia Garcia, Martha Wong, Chris Bell, and Annise Parker—had to run for another elected position once their term expired.
Former mayor Lee P. Brown denounced the term limits, saying they prevented incumbents from gaining enough experience in city government. A proposal to double the current two-year term of office has been debated—as of 2005, several candidates for the city council have brought up the issue of whether term limits should be amended or eliminated.
Some elected officials from the Greater Houston area within the Texas Legislature—primarily Garnet Coleman and Sylvester Turner—have also spoken against term limits.
According to the 2005 Houston Area Survey, 67 percent of non-Hispanic whites in the city are declared or favor Republicans while 88 percent of non-Hispanic blacks in the city are declared or favor Democrats. 58 percent Hispanics (of any race) in the city are declared or favor Democrats. Overall about half of Houston is considered socially conservative; 54 percent of Houston residents oppose abortion and 49 percent believe "homosexuality is morally wrong."[5]
Economy
Houston's energy industry is a world powerhouse (particularly oil), but biomedical research, aeronautics, and the ship channel are also large parts of the city's industrial base. The Houston metropolitan area comprises the largest petrochemical manufacturing area in the world, including for synthetic rubber, insecticides, and fertilizers. The area is also the world's leading center for building oilfield equipment. Much of Houston's success as a petrochemical complex is due to its man-made ship channel, the Port of Houston, which is the busiest ports in the United States and second in the world to the Port of South Louisiana in overall tonnage.[6] Because of these economic trades, many residents have moved to Houston from other U.S. states, as well as hundreds of countries worldwide. Unlike most places, where high gas prices are seen as harmful to the economy, they are generally seen as beneficial for Houston as many are employed in the energy industry.
Historically, Houston has had several growth spurts (and some devastating economic recessions) related to the oil industry. The discovery of oil near Houston in 1901 led to its first growth spurt — by the 1920s, Houston had grown to almost 140,000 people. The city's burgeoning aerospace industry heralded its second growth spurt, which solidified with the 1973 oil crisis. Demand on Texas oil increased, and many people from the northeast moved to Houston to profit from the trade. When the embargo was lifted, the growth mostly stopped. However, Pasadena still has its refineries, and the Port of Houston is among the busiest in the world.
Houston is second to New York City in Fortune 500 headquarters. It has attempted to build a banking industry, but the companies originally started in Houston have since merged with other companies nationwide. Banking is still vital to the region, however, most of the banks are headquartered in other cities. Real estate is also a large presence in the Houston area.
Demographics
Census 2000
| City of Houston Population by year [7] [8] | |
| 1850 | 2,396 |
| 1860 | 4,845 |
| 1870 | 9,332 |
| 1880 | 16,513 |
| 1890 | 27,557 |
| 1900 | 44,633 |
| 1910 | 78,800 |
| 1920 | 138,276 |
| 1930 | 292,352 |
| 1940 | 384,514 |
| 1950 | 596,163 |
| 1960 | 938,219 |
| 1970 | 1,232,802 |
| 1980 | 1,595,138 |
| 1990 | 1,630,553 |
| 2000 | 1,953,631 |
| 2004 | 2,012,626 |
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 1,953,631 people, 717,945 households, and 457,330 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,301.8/km² (3,371.7/mi²). There were 782,009 housing units at an average density of 521.1/km² (1,349.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 49.27 percent White, 25.31 percent Black or African American, 0.44 percent Native American, 5.31 percent Asian, 0.06 percent Pacific Islander, 16.46 percent from other races, and 3.15 percent from two or more races. 37.41 percent of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 717,945 households out of which 33.1 percent had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.2 percent were married couples living together, 15.3 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.3 percent were non-families. 29.6 percent of all households were made up of individuals and 6.2 percent had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.39.
In the city, the population was spread out with 27.5 percent under the age of 18, 11.2 percent from 18 to 24, 33.8 percent from 25 to 44, 19.1 percent from 45 to 64, and 8.4 percent who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $36,616, and the median income for a family was $40,443. Males had a median income of $32,084 versus $27,371 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,101. 19.2 percent of the population and 16.0 percent of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 26.1 percent of those under the age of 18 and 14.3 percent of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Crime
Houston recorded 336 murders in 2005, in comparison to 272 in 2004. Murders in Houston peaked at 702 back in 1981. Despite the rise in homicides of 23.5 percent, overall crime in the city dropped by 2 percent in 2005 compared to 2004. Most of the homicides that occurred in the last quarter of 2005 occurred in the city's apartment complexes—primarily in the southwest and north-central areas of Houston.[9]
Houston is currently going through a spike in crime due in part to an influx of refugees from New Orleans into the city following Hurricane Katrina. Since September 1, 2005, when an estimated 200,000 Louisianans resettled in Houston after the hurricane, refugees are believed to have been involved in 26 slayings, or nearly 17 percent of all homicides. The cases, according to Houston police, involved 34 refugees—19 of them victims and 15 of them suspects. Houston's murder rate increased 70 percent in November and December of 2005 compared to 2004's levels. At least 35 percent of the city's December 2005 increase in homicides—five of 14 over last year’s level—directly stemmed from the presence of Katrina refugees.[10]
Police say that southwest Houston, long recognized as a problem area, is facing another manifestation of the Louisiana exodus—Katrina crime. In late January, investigators in the Houston Police Department's Gang Murder Squad announced the arrests of eight of 11 suspects believed linked to nine homicides in the city's southwest side and two others in nearby Pasadena, which is southeast of Houston.[11] The slayings occurred since November 2005 and all the suspects are displaced New Orleanians who landed in Houston after the hurricane.
In the first 19 days of 2006, a new Neighborhood Enforcement Team Taskforce had responded to calls involving complaints by 110 Katrina refugees. Of the suspects apprehended, 229 were Katrina refugees.[12]
Houston ranked the ninth-most dangerous city with a population of over half a million in the nation by Morgan Quitno. According to Morgan Quitno, Houston is safer than that of Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia, Nashville, Memphis, Baltimore, Columbus, and the District of Columbia.[13]
- Additional crime statistics of Houston can be viewed here.
People and culture
Officially, Houston is nicknamed the "Space City" as it is home to NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, where Mission Control Center is located. Because of this, "Houston" was the first word spoken on the moon. Many locals, however, prefer to call it the "Bayou City." Other nicknames include "H-Town," "Clutch City," and "Magnolia City."
Because the Greater Houston area and the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex are the major economic centers of Texas, the two areas enjoy a friendly rivalry. Houstonians often consider themselves more "down to earth" than their neighbors to the north, and some Houstonians complain that Dallas seems to get more attention nationally, even though Houston has a larger population. This rivalry often leads to comparison of the assets of one city to the assets of the other. For example, Dallas has more restaurants per person than even New York City while Houstonians eat out more often than residents of any other city in the United States.
Houston has the lowest cost of living and the lowest median housing costs among 27 major U.S. metropolitan areas with populations of more than 1.7 million.
The Houston Theater District is located in the heart of downtown Houston and is home to nine of Houston's performing arts organizations, six performance halls, as well as the 130,000 square-foot Bayou Place entertainment complex and several public plazas and parks. Houston is one of only five cities in the United States with permanent professional resident companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines—opera, ballet, music, and theatre.
Of the many popular events held in the city by far the largest is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo that is held over twenty days from late February through early March. The event begins with trailrides that originate from several points throughout the state, which convene at Reliant Park for a barbeque cook-off. The HLSR events include rodeo events, concert performances, carnival rides as well as livestock contests and auctions.
Several Houston-based restaurants—most notably Ninfa Laurenzo's Mama Ninfa's Mexican restaurant chain, Johnny Carrabba's Carrabba's, and Kim Su Tran La's Kim Sơn Vietnamese restaurant chain—have become well known in Texas and throughout the country. Houston is also home to Landry's Restaurants, Inc. which owns and operates hundreds of restaurants throughout the United States under 28 different concepts. The design for the first Compaq computer was sketched on a napkin at House of Pies—a well-known diner in the Upper Kirby district.
A cosmopolitan city
Houston is a diverse and international city, in part because of its many academic institutions and strong biomedical, energy, manufacturing, and aerospace industries. A port city, Houston also has large populations of immigrants from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, Pakistan, and Vietnam. This influx of immigrants is partially responsible for Houston having a population younger than the national average.
Houston has two Chinatowns, as well as the third largest Vietnamese American population in the United States. Recent redevelopment of Midtown from run-down to upscale has increased property values and property taxes, but has also forced some Vietnamese Americans into other areas of the city. The older Downtown Chinatown is also disappearing.
About 90 languages are frequently spoken in the area. Some neighborhoods with high populations of Vietnamese and Chinese residents have Chinese and Vietnamese street signs in addition to English ones. Houston has the second highest South African population in the United States, after Miami, Florida. The city is also noted for its large Nigerian population, counting about 100,000 native Nigerians as residents[14].
The Hispanic population in Houston is increasing as more and more people from countries of Latin America try to find work in Houston — Houston has the third largest Hispanic population in the United States.
Houston has the largest concentration of gay and lesbian (or LGBT) population in Texas—one of the largest in the country. The annual gay pride parade—one of the largest events in Houston—is held in June commemorating the struggle for gay liberation, gay rights, gay pride, and the Stonewall riots of the late 1960s in New York City. The event is held along Westheimer Road in the Montrose area. This area is also home to many gay establishments, such as restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and coffeehouses.
Aided by the popularity of the late hip-hop artist DJ Screw, Houston is known among youth, primarily in the South, as having its own distinctive style of hip-hop commonly known as screw music (referred to locally as simply "screw.") Many young Houstonians of all ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds in touch with local hip-hop culture may remember the advent of this form of Southern rap which began to take place around 1993, helping the city earn an appropriate nickname given by artists and fans: 'Screwston'.
Cultural institutions
Known for the vibrancy of its visual and performing arts, Houston's Theater District is ranked second in the country (behind New York City) in the amount of theatre seats in a concentrated downtown area with 12,948 seats for live performances and 1,480 movie seats. Houston has world-class visual and performing arts organizations, along with a dose of homegrown folk art such as Art Cars[15]. Houston is also one of only five cities in the United States with permanent professional resident companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines (the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Ballet, and The Alley Theatre)[16]. Houston widely recognized as the nation's third most important city for contemporary visual arts. The city is a prime stop for touring companies from Broadway; concerts and shows, from The Rolling Stones to Cirque du Soleil; and exhibitions for a variety of interests, ranging from the nation's largest quilting show to auto, boat and home shows.
Adjacent to the Texas Medical Center is the Museum District, which is home to most of the city's major museums such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Cullen Sculpture Garden, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Holocaust Museum Houston, the Children's Museum of Houston, Lawndale Art Center, the Houston Zoo, the John P. McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science, and The Menil Collection. Approximately 4 million people visit institutions in the Museum District every year.
Houston is also home to several multicultural arts organizations including: MECA (Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts), Kuumba House Dance Theatre, and Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say.
Local attractions
Space Center Houston is the official visitors’ center of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Space Center Houston includes many interactive exhibits — including moon rocks and a shuttle simulator—in addition to special presentations that tell the story of NASA's manned space flight program. It also features Texas’ largest IMAX theatre.
The Theater District, a 17-block area in the heart of downtown Houston, is home to Bayou Place Entertainment Complex, restaurants, movies, plazas and parks. Bayou Place Entertainment Complex is a large multilevel building that is home to full service restaurants, bars, live music, billiards, multiple theatres and art house films. The Houston Verizon Wireless Theatre stages a variety of live concerts and the Angelika Theatre presents the latest in art, foreign and independent films.
Houston is home to many parks including Hermann Park, which is also home to the Houston Zoo and the Houston Museum of Natural Science. What was once the Houston Civic Center was replaced by the George R. Brown Convention Center, one of the nation's largest; and the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, home of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. Sam Houston Coliseum and Music Hall have been replaced by the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.
Other tourist attractions include the Galleria, Houston's largest shopping mall located in the Uptown District, Old Market Square, Sam Houston Historical Park, which contains restored homes (built between 1824 and 1868) and reconstructed buildings. The San Jacinto battlefield is in the nearby city of Deer Park. The Port of Houston offers free, 90-minute cruises (except on Mondays and during September). Less than an hour from the Gulf of Mexico, Houston is close to sunny beaches, one of the nation's largest concentrations of pleasure boats, and tourist attractions such as the Kemah Boardwalk and Galveston Island.
Architecture
Downtown
In the 1960s, Downtown Houston comprised of a modest collection of mid-rise office structures, but has since grown into one of the largest skylines in the United States. In 1960, the central business district had 10 million square feet (1,000,000 m²) of office space, increasing to about 16 million square feet (1,600,000 m²) in 1970. Downtown Houston was on the threshold of a boom in 1970 with 8.7 million square feet (870,000 m²) of office space planned or under construction and huge projects being launched by real estate developers. The largest proposed development was the 32 block Houston Center. Only a small part of the original proposal was ultimately constructed. Other large projects included the Cullen Center, Allen Center, and towers for Shell Oil Company. The surge of skyscrapers mirrored the skyscraper booms in other cities, such as Los Angeles and Dallas. Houston experienced another downtown construction spurt in the 1970s with the energy industry boom.
The first major skyscraper to be constructed in Houston was the 50-floor, 714-foot-tall (218 m) One Shell Plaza in 1971. A succession of skyscrapers were built throughout the 1970s, culminating with Houston's tallest skyscraper, the 75-floor, 1,002-foot-tall (305 m) J.P. Morgan Chase Tower (formerly the Texas Commerce Tower), which was completed in 1982. In 2002, it was the tallest structure in Texas, ninth-tallest building in the United States and the 23rd tallest skyscraper in the world. In 1983, the 71-floor, 970-foot-tall (296 m) Wells Fargo Bank Plaza was completed, which became the second-tallest building in Houston and Texas, and 11th tallest in the country. Skyscraper construction in downtown Houston came to an end in the mid-1980s with the collapse of Houston's energy industry and the resulting severe economic recession. When the 53-floor Texaco Heritage Plaza was completed in 1987, it appeared that no more skyscrapers would be constructed for a while. However, in 2002, the Houston-based Enron Corporation began construction of a 40-floor skyscraper which was about to be completed in 2001, the year the company collapsed in one of the most dramatic corporate failures in the history of the United States. Other smaller office structures were built in the 2000-2003 period. As of December 2001, downtown Houston had about 40 million square feet (4,000,000 m²) of office space, including 28 million square feet (2,800,000 m²) of class A office space.
Many downtown buildings are linked by a system of tunnels and skywalks.
Uptown
The Uptown Houston district boomed along with Houston during the 1970s and early 1980s. A collection of mid-rise office buildings appeared along the Interstate 610 west (or simply "West Loop"). It became one of the most impressive instances of the edge city. The highest achievement of Uptown Houston was the construction of the 899-foot-tall (274 m), Philip Johnson designed landmark Williams Tower (known as the Transco Tower until 1999). At the time, it was believed to the be the world's tallest skyscraper outside of a central business district. The Williams Tower was the product of a unique era in Houston: energy companies were loaded with assets and sought impressive, monumental structures to broadcast their power.
The Uptown Houston district is also home to other buildings designed by noted architects such as I. M. Pei and César Pelli among others also designed by Philip Johnson. Large-scale office construction in Uptown Houston, however, came to an end with the collapse of energy prices and the meltdown of Houston's economy in the mid-to-late 1980s. Uptown Houston had 23.8 million square feet (2,210,000 m²) of office space in 2001, whereas Downtown Houston had about 40 million square feet (4,000,000 m²). In the late 1990s, there was a mini-boom of mid-rise residential tower construction, typically about 30 stories tall. Uptown Houston has accumulated a large concentration of high-rise residential structures for such a low-density city.
Districts and communities
When Houston was established in 1837, the city's founders divided it into political geographic districts called "wards." The ward designation is the progenitor of the current-day Houston City Council districts — there are nine in all.
Locations in Houston are generally classified as either being inside or outside Interstate 610, known as the "610 Loop" or "The Loop". Inside the loop generally encompasses the central business district, and has come to define an urban lifestyle and state of mind. The appellation “inner looper” carries with it the expectation of someone who appreciates cosmopolitan-style city life.
The outlying areas of Houston, the airports and the city's suburbs and enclaves are outside the loop. Another ring road, Texas Beltway 8 (also known simply as the "Beltway"), encircles the city another 5 miles (8 km) farther out. Another ring road, Texas Highway 99 (also known as the Grand Parkway), is under construction.
Houston, being the largest city in the United States without zoning laws, has grown in an unusual manner. Rather than a single “downtown” as the center of the city's employment, five additional business districts have grown throughout the inner-city. If these business districts were combined, they would form the third largest downtown in the United States. The city also has the third largest skyline in the country (after New York City and Chicago), but because it is spread over a few miles, pictures of the city show, for the most part, the main downtown area.
Healthcare and medical research
Houston is the seat of the internationally-renowned Texas Medical Center, which contains the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions.
There are 42 member institutions in the Texas Medical Center—all are not-for-profit, and are dedicated to the highest standards of patient and preventive care, research, education, and local, national, and international community well-being. These institutions include 13 renowned hospitals and two specialty institutions, two medical schools, four nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, pharmacy, and virtually all health-related careers. It is where one of the first, and still the largest, air emergency service was created—a very successful inter-institutional transplant program was developed—and more heart surgeries are performed than anywhere else in the world.
Some of the academic and research health institutions are Baylor College of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. The M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is widely considered one of the world’s most productive and highly-regarded academic institutions devoted to cancer patient care, research, education and prevention.
Following the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans in late August of 2005, Tulane University Medical School temporarily relocated to Baylor College of Medicine for the 2005–2006 school year.
Transportation
Highways
In Houston urban sprawl and hot, humid summers have made automobiles the favored means of transportation. Houston also has excessive ozone levels and is ranked among the most ozone-polluted cities in the United States.
Houston freeways are heavily traveled and often under construction to meet the demands of continuing growth. Interstate 45 south has been in a continuous state of construction, in one portion or another, almost since the first segment was built in 1952. Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) planners have sought ways to reduce rush hour congestion, primarily through High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane for vans and carpools. Timed freeway entrances, which regulate the addition of cars to the freeway, are also common. Houston has an extensive network of freeway cameras linked to a transit control center to monitor and study traffic.
One characteristic of Houston's freeways (and Texas freeways in general) are its frontage roads (which locals call "feeders"). Alongside most freeways are two to four lanes in each direction parallel to the freeway permitting easy access to individual city streets. Frontage roads provide access to the freeway from businesses alongside, such as gas stations and retail stores. New landscaping projects and a longstanding ban on new billboards are ways Houston has tried to control the potential side effects of convenience.
Houston has a hub-and-spoke freeway structure with multiple loops. The innermost is Interstate 610, forming approximately a 10 mile diameter loop around downtown. The roughly square "Loop-610" is quartered into "North Loop," "South Loop," "West Loop," and "East Loop." The roads of Texas Beltway 8 and their freeway core, the Sam Houston Tollway, are the next loop, at a diameter of roughly 25 miles. Most of this freeway requires payment of $1.25 toll every five or ten miles ($2.00 toll when crossing the Houston Ship Channel). A controversial proposed highway project, Texas Highway 99 (The Grand Parkway), would form a third loop outside of Houston. Currently, the completed portion of Texas Highway 99 runs from just north of Interstate 10, west of Houston, to U.S. Highway 59 in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, and was completed in 1994. The next portion to be constructed is from the current terminus at U.S. Highway 59 to Texas State Highway 288 in Brazoria County.
Mass transit
The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, or METRO, provides public transportation in the form of buses, trolleys and lift vans. Uptown, METRO provides free service on the Uptown Shuttle.
METRO began running light rail service (METRORail) on January 1, 2004. Currently the track is rather short — it runs about 8 miles (13 km) from Downtown Houston to the Texas Medical Center and Reliant Park. METRO's various forms of public transportation still do not connect many of the suburbs to the greater city, causing Houstonians to rely on the automobile as a primary source of transportation. Prior to the opening of METRORail, Houston was the largest city in the United States devoid of a rail transit system by a very large margin.
Following a successful referendum held locally in 2004, METRO is currently in the beginning design phases of a ten year expansion plan to add five more sections to connect to the current rail system. An 8.3-mile (13.4 km) expansion has been approved to run the service from Uptown (the Galleria area) through Texas Southern University, ending at the University of Houston campus.
Airports
Houston is served by two commercial airports—the largest of which is the George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). The airport is the ninth-busiest in the United States for total passengers, and 19th busiest worldwide. Houston is the headquarters of Continental Airlines, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is Continental Airline's largest hub, with over 750 daily departures (over 250 operated by Continental Airlines). Because of Houston's proximity to American Airlines' hub in Dallas-Fort Worth, that airline also maintains a large presence at IAH. A long list of domestic cities within North America, as well as international destinations are served directly from this airport. IAH currently ranks second in the United States among U.S. airports with scheduled non-stop domestic and international service (221 destinations), trailing only Atlanta Hartsfield with 250 destinations.
The second commercial airport in Houston is the William P. Hobby Airport (named Houston International Airport until 1967). The airport has a lot of low-fare carrier operations, as opposed to Bush Intercontinental Airport's hub operation with Continental Airlines, and is the only airport in the city served by Southwest Airlines. Business travelers on shorter routes to Houston from within the United States tend to prefer Hobby over Bush Intercontinental.
The third-largest airport and former US Air Force base, Ellington Field, is primarily used for government and private aircraft. At one point, Continental Express operated flights across the city to Bush Intercontinental to allow residents of southeast Houston and Galveston County to easily take flights out of Bush Intercontinental. Passenger flights, however, ended on September 7, 2004.
Education
Colleges and universities
Houston is home to the prestigious Rice University, a private institution boasting one of the largest financial endowments of any university in the world and ranked the 17th best university overall in the nation by U.S. News & World Report [17]. The small undergraduate student body is among the nation's most select and has one of the highest percentages of National Merit Scholarship winners. Rice maintains a variety of research facilities and laboratories. Rice is also associated with the Houston Area Research Center, a consortium supported by Rice, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, and the University of Houston.
Houston is served by the University of Houston System, the largest urban state system of higher education in the Gulf Coast. The system has four universities, all but one of which are in Houston, and two multi-institution teaching centers. Their flagship institution is the University of Houston, which was founded in 1927 and is the only doctoral degree granting extensive research institution in Houston. It is the third-largest University in the State of Texas with an enrollment of more than 35,000. The University of Houston is also home to more than 40 research centers and institutes. Among the most prestigious of the University of Houston's colleges is the University of Houston Law Center (law school). The University of Houston Law Center's Health Law and Policy Institute is ranked number one in the nation while its intellectual property law program is ranked fifth, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Texas Southern University is a historically black university located in the historic Third Ward community, is heralded as a pioneer, and distinguishes itself as one of the leading producers of African American scholars that obtain collegiate, professional, and graduate degrees in the state, as well as the nation.
Houston also is home to the University of Saint Thomas, a Catholic liberal arts college following the Basilian tradition, founded by the Basilian fathers of Canada, and located in the Montrose area. Another religious college serving Houston is Houston Baptist University. South Texas College of Law, located in the heart of downtown Houston, boasts one of the nation's finest programs for trial advocacy.
Much of Houston is served by the Houston Community College System, which is one of the largest community college systems in the United States. HCCS serves the HISD portion of Houston and other areas. Parts of northern Houston are served by North Harris Montgomery Community College District. Parts of eastern and southeastern Houston are served by San Jacinto College. Many of Houston's suburbs also have their own community college systems.
Public schools and libraries
There are many school districts serving the city of Houston, the largest of which, the Houston Independent School District, serves a large majority of the area within the city limits. A portion of west Houston falls under the Spring Branch and Alief independent school districts. Aldine and North Forest independent school districts take up a part of northeast Houston. Parts of Pasadena, Clear Creek, Crosby, Cypress-Fairbanks, Fort Bend, Galena Park, Huffman, Humble, Katy, New Caney, Sheldon, and Spring independent school districts also take students from the city limits of Houston.
Other agencies such as KIPP operate public alternative schools in the Houston area.
Houston is served by the Houston Public Library—it has 36 branches throughout the city, plus the Central Library, located Downtown. The portion of Houston within Fort Bend County is served by the Fort Bend County Libraries, in addition to Houston Public Library. The Harris County Public Library has 26 branches, primarily serving areas outside the city limits of Houston.
Private schools
The Houston area is home to more than 300 private schools and several are well-known. Many of the schools are accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by Texas Private School Accreditation Commission (TEPSAC).
Among the 50 Houston Area Independent Schools are Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, Saint Agnes Academy, St. Thomas High School, Incarnate Word Academy, St. John's School, Saint Catherine's Montessori, Awty International School, The Emery/Weiner School, St. Thomas' Episcopal School, and The Kinkaid School.
In nearby city of Bellaire is the Episcopal High School.
Houston-area Catholic schools are operated by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
Professional sports
Houston is home to the MLB Houston Astros, NFL Houston Texans, NBA Houston Rockets, WNBA Houston Comets, and AHL Houston Aeros, all of whom are playing in new state-of-the-art stadiums. Minute Maid Park (home of the Astros) and Toyota Center (home of the Rockets, Comets and Aeros) are located Downtown, contributing to an urban renaissance that has transformed Houston's center into a day-and-night destination. Rice Stadium, at Rice University, was the home to Super Bowl VIII, and Super Bowl XXXVIII was played at the Reliant Stadium in February 2004. Other sports facilities in Houston are Hofheinz Pavilion, Reliant Astrodome, and Robertson Stadium.
Beginning in 2006, the Champ Car auto racing series will return to Houston for a yearly race, held on the streets of the Reliant Park complex. The city had previously been home to a Champ Car round from 1998 to 2001. On April 1, 2001, Houston hosted WWE's WrestleMania X-Seven at the Reliant Astrodome.
The city hosts the annual NCAA football's Houston Bowl in December. Houston was also host of the NCAA football 2005 Big 12 Conference title game. Additionally, Houston's Minute Maid Park hosted the MLB All-Star game in 2004 and Toyota Center hosted the NBA All-Star game in 2006.
The city received a new Major League Soccer team on December 15, 2005 when the San Jose Earthquakes decided to relocate the franchise to Houston. Under the relocation agreement the Earthquake name, mascot and logo will remain in San Jose reserved for a future expansion team. The Houston team, renamed "Houston Dynamo," will play at Robertson Stadium at the start of the 2006 season.
Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander is currently working to bring a National Hockey League (NHL) franchise to Houston. The team is expected to be acquired by the purchase and relocation of an existing team rather than through league expansion, most likely the Pittsburgh Penguins—which is interested in relocating to Houston.
Media and entertainment
Houston is served by The Houston Chronicle, its only major daily newspaper with wide distribution. Houston also is home to several TV stations and radio stations that serve the metro area.
KTRK TV's Marvin Zindler is a well-known figure in Houston, recognizable as much for his voice as for his trademark blue eyeglasses. His week-long exposé on the Chicken Ranch brothel later became the basis for the Broadway musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and his health reports on local restaurants have made the phrase "slime in the ice machine" immediately recognizable to any local.
KHOU-TV's investigative team, "The 11 News Defenders," began an investigation into the failure of Firestone Wilderness AT tires on several vehicles (most notably on the popular Ford Explorer). The expose ended up becoming a national story with wide-reaching implications for both Ford and Firestone. These reports garnered the station and the lead reporter, Anna Werner international attention and several awards including the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award and George Foster Peabody Award. Among the many respected journalists that have worked for KHOU, the best known are former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather, Linda Ellerbee, and Jessica Savitch.
Univision Affiliate KXLN-TV is among the highest rated Spanish-language television stations in the United States. Its "En Su Defensa" (in your defense) segments have garnered regional acclaim, and En Su Defensa month was proclaimed by Mayor Bill White in 2004.
Trivia
- If the city of Houston were a state, it would rank 36th in population—its 2.01 million residents in 2004 would place it behind Nevada and ahead of New Mexico.[18]
- With 5.2 million inhabitants in mid-2004, the 10-county Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area is the nation's seventh most populous metro area. Were it to become a state, it would rank 21st, ahead of Minnesota and behind Wisconsin. Its population exceeds that of North and South Dakota, Alaska, Delaware, Vermont, Wyoming, and the District of Columbia combined.
- Houston has the first domed stadium in the United States.
- Source: Woods & Poole, 2005 MSA Profile
Sister cities
Houston has 16 sister cities designated by Sister Cities International. Parentheses denote the year in which sister city relationships were established.
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Sources
- Houston, Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
- http://www.flagspot.net, http://fotw.vexillum.com/flags/us-tx-hu.html - Source of flag image. Image made by Tony DeFalco
- Nothing but pictures of Houston Link provided by the author of the pictures - Nikola Gruev
- Johnston, Marguerite (1991). Houston, The Unknown City, 1836-1946. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0-89096-476-9.
- Miller, Ray (1984). Ray Miller's Houston. Gulf Publishing Company. ISBN 0-88415-081-X.
- Slotboom, Oscar F. "Erik" (2003). Houston Freeways. Oscar F. Slotboom. ISBN 0-9741605-3-9.
External links
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Resources from Wikiversity
- City of Houston homepage
- Downtown Houston Alliance
- Uptown Houston
- Midtown Houston
- Detailed History of Houston
- Houston Area Parks
- Calendar of Local Cultural Arts Events
- Many Houston Links and pictures
- Nothing but pictures of Houston
- Wikitravel article about Houston
- Houston Freeways
- Houston Airport System
- Houston Real Estate Statistics
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For a complete listing, see list of cities and towns in Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land MSA | |
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