Portal:Houston

The Houston Portal

Houston (pronounced /'hjuːstən/) is the largest city in the state of Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States of America. 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 more than 5.5 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. 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. The city has a multicultural population with a large and growing international community. As a world city, 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.

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An image of the Greater Houston area taken on NASA's Landsat 7 satellite with Galveston Bay and Galveston Island visible towards the bottom of the picture.

Selected article

The Free State of Galveston (sometimes the "Republic of Galveston Island") was a whimsical name given to the island city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas during the first half of the 20th century. Today the term is sometimes used to describe the culture and history of that era. This free-wheeling period was at its peak during the Prohibition and Depression eras, but lasted well past even the end of World War II.

During the Roaring 20s Galveston Island emerged as a nationally-known resort town attracting celebrities from around the nation. Gambling, illegal liquor and other vice-oriented businesses were a major part of tourism. The "Free State" moniker embodied a belief held by many locals that Galveston was beyond what they perceived were repressive mores and laws of Texas and the United States. Two of the most important figures of the era were the organized crime bosses Sam and Rosario Maceo who ran the major casinos and clubs on the island and were heavily involved in the government and the tourism industry in general. The success of vice on the island, despite being illegal, was enabled by lax attitudes in the society and the government, both on the island and in the county.

Much of this period represented a high point in Galveston's economy. It is sometimes referred to as the "Open Era" or the "Wide-Open Era" because the business owners and the community made little effort to hide vice activities. By the 1950s this era had ended.

Selected biography

Ima Hogg (July 10, 1882 – August 19, 1975), known as "The First Lady of Texas", was an American philanthropist, patron and collector of the arts, and one of the most respected women in Texas during the 20th century. Hogg was an avid art collector, and owned works by Picasso, Klee, and Matisse, among others. Hogg donated hundreds of pieces of artwork to Houston's Museum of Fine Arts and served on a committee to plan the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. An enthusiastic collector of early American antiques, she also served on a committee tasked with locating historical furniture for the White House. She restored and refurbished several properties, including the Varner plantation and Bayou Bend, which she later donated to Texas arts and historical institutions who maintain the facilities and their collections today. Hogg received numerous awards and honors, including the Louise E. du Pont Crowninshield Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Santa Rita Award from the University of Texas System, and an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Southwestern University.

Hogg was the daughter of Sarah Ann "Sallie" Stinson and James Stephen "Big Jim" Hogg, later Attorney General of Texas and Governor of the state. Ima Hogg's first name was taken from The Fate of Marvin, an epic poem written by her uncle Thomas Hogg. She endeavored to downplay her unusual name by signing her first name illegibly and having her stationery printed with "I. Hogg" or "Miss Hogg". Although it was rumored that Hogg had a sister named "Ura Hogg", she had only brothers. Hogg's father left public office in 1895, and soon after, her mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis. When Sarah died later that year, Jim Hogg's widowed elder sister moved to Austin to care for the Hogg children. Between 1899 and 1901, Hogg attended the University of Texas at Austin; she then moved to New York City to study piano and music theory for two years. After her father's death in 1906, she traveled to Europe and spent two years studying music under Xaver Scharwenka in Vienna. When she returned to Texas, she established and managed the Houston Symphony Orchestra and served as president of the Symphony Society.

The discovery of oil on her family's plantation made Hogg very wealthy, and she used this income to benefit the people of Texas. In 1929, she founded the Houston Child Guidance Center, which provides counseling for disturbed children and their families. Through her brother's will, she established the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at the University of Texas at Austin in 1940. Hogg successfully ran for a seat on the Houston School Board in 1943, where she worked to remove gender and race as criteria for determining pay and established art education programs for black students. Hogg never married, and died in 1975. The Ima Hogg Foundation was the major beneficiary of her will, and carries on her philanthropic work today. Several annual awards have been established in her name, honoring her efforts to preserve cultural heritage in Texas.

Music, arts and culture

The 1940 Air Terminal Museum is a museum located in Houston, Texas, United States at William P. Hobby Airport. Collections are housed in the original art deco building which served as the first terminal for passenger flight in Houston. The museum currently exhibits several collections focusing on Houston's commercial aviation history and is operated by the Houston Aeronautical Heritage Society (HAHS), a recognized Texas 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. The museum is housed in the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal, an airport terminal that was constructed in 1940. The terminal building is an example of classic art deco airport architecture from the 1940s. The terminal served Houston during the years when air travelers dressed in formal clothing and embarked for destinations aboard roaring prop liners like the Douglas DC-3 and the Lockheed Constellation. Designed by architect Joseph Finger (who also designed Houston's City Hall), the terminal was built to meet Houston's growing role as a center for air commerce in the 1930s.

Did you know...

• ...that the Houston Volunteers signed up to replace those lost aboard USS Houston after its sinking in 1942 by the Japanese Navy?

• ...the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at Johnson Space Center is where the first astronauts returning from the moon were quarantined and where samples of lunar soil and moon rock are stored?

• ...many buildings in downtown are linked by a system of tunnels and skywalks. The tunnel system also includes shops, restaurants, and convenience stores?

• ...in 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped up to 39 inches of rain on parts of the city, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing 43 people. To date, the flooding caused by Allison was the worst in the city's history?

• ...University of Houston is ranked second among national universities for Campus Ethnic Diversity in U.S. News & World Report 2007 America's Best Colleges?

• ... 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?

• ... Lakewood Church is the largest and fastest growing church in the United States with more than 40,000 attendees during its services?

Houston categories

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Featured articles

• Houston, Texas
• Tropical Storm Allison
• Nicknames of Houston
• Ima Hogg
• List of tallest buildings in Houston
• Yao Ming
• Millennium '73

Good articles

• History of the Galveston Bay Area
• History of Galveston, Texas
• Free State of Galveston
• Galveston, Texas
• Bellaire, Texas
• Gulfton, Houston
• Vengeance: Night of Champions
• Enron scandal
• Ellington Field
• Architecture of Houston
• University of Houston
• USS Texas (BB-35)
• George H. W. Bush
• Shamrock Hotel
• Toyota Center (Houston)
• LeToya Luckett
• Hakeem Olajuwon
• Mercury Hayes
• Beyonce Knowles
• Solange Knowles
• Ron Paul
• Destiny's Child
• River Oaks, Houston
• Houston Rockets
• Bacliff, Texas

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You are invited to participate in WikiProject University of Houston, a WikiProject intended to improve contributions relating to the University of Houston.

Houston news

• Houston Red Light Camera Report undermines Texas Department of Transportation camera study. The study finds accidents doubled at the city's red light camera intersections undermining the conclusions of a statewide report. [1]
• California musician is fighting in federal court for the right to dig for treasure he believes is buried along the Texas Gulf Coast with the help of satellite imagery of Google Earth and a metal detector.[2]
• Texas Lottery ticket revenues plummeted by $45.1 million since last fiscal year, a sales plunge that state officials attribute to Hurricane Ike and the recession. The hurricane season wiped out lucrative sales across Houston and Galveston, a region that accounts for one-fourth of state lottery retailers.[3]
• Houston company plans to help light up the Big Apple with a project to build high-voltage transmission lines under the Hudson River. Cavallo Energy will begin raising $600 million for the 700-megawatt project in the next few weeks with the help of Credit Suisse. [4]

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