This is H-Town
- Malinda Selever
- Oct 23, 2020
- 3 min read
Houston began as a struggling trading post would in time become the fourth largest city in the nation and a capital of industry.
1836 -On April 21, General Sam Houston’s army wins Texas’ independence
1841 -The Houston Police Department is formed.
1842 -Texas’ oldest newspaper, The Galveston County Daily News, is first published.
1853 -Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad begins operations.
1861 -Houston and Harris County vote to secede from the Union.
1870 -Texas readmitted to the Union.
1877 -Houston’s first free public school is established.
1891 -Houston is first Texas city with electric streetcars.
1897 -Automobile first appears in Houston as an advertising gimmick.
1899 -First Houston city park opens. (Now Sam Houston Park)
1900s
A devastating hurricane in Galveston and the discovery of oil at Spindletop set in motion a reversal of fortunes for Houston and Galveston as economic momentum moves from the island community to its inland sister.
1900
A Category 4 hurricane — deadliest in U.S. history — strikes Galveston, claiming more than 6,000 lives and causing property damage exceeding $30 million ($902 million in 2019 dollars).
1901
Oil discovered at Spindletop, and later discoveries at Humble in 1905 and Goose Creek in 1906, put Houston in the center of new oil and oilfield equipment development.
1908 -Houston city council sets speed limit of 8 mph.
1912 -Rice Institute (now Rice University) begins classes.
1913 -Houston Symphony is established.
1914 -The 25-foot-deep Houston Ship Channel is completed and formally dedicated.
1914 -George Hermann donates 285 acres to the city for a public park near Rice Institute.
1924 -Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the first fine arts museum in Texas, opens.
1927
Houston Colored Junior College, forerunner of Texas Southern University, established.
1927
Houston Junior College (now the University of Houston) is established.
1932 -First Houston Fat Stock Show & Rodeo (now Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo)
1947
Houston College for Negroes acquired by Texas Legislature; established as Texas State University for Negroes (now Texas Southern University).
1947 -Alley Theatre established.
1955 -Houston Grand Opera Association and Houston Ballet founded.
1955 -Houston metro area population reaches 1,000,000.
1962 -NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center moves to Houston.
1965 -First event held in the Astrodome.
1969 -Houston Intercontinental Airport begins operations.
1969 -“Houston” is the first word spoken from the lunar surface.
1970 -The Galleria opens.
1971 -Shell Oil Co. relocates corporate headquarters to Houston.
1973 -Arab oil embargo quadruples oil prices in 90 days, fueling Houston’s 1973-1981 economic boom.
1982 -Employment peaks at 1,583,400 in March before onset of recession.
1987 -Trough of recession in January; net recession loss of 221,900 jobs.
1987 -Wortham Center, home to Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera, opens.
1987 -The George R. Brown Convention Center opens on 11 blocks on the east end of downtown.
1990 -Houston economic recovery complete; April job count above March 1982 level.
2000 -Census finds Houston MSA has no racial or ethnic majority.
2000 -Minute Maid Park, home of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros, opens.
2001 -Tropical Storm Allison inundates Houston June 5-9
2002 -NRG Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Houston Texans, opens.
2003 -Toyota Center, home of the NBA Rockets and two-time Champion Houston Aeros Hockey Team.
2004 -Houston’s first modern light rail line, 7.5-miles long, begins operations.
2008 -Hurricane Ike makes landfall Sept. 13 at Galveston as a Category 2 storm, claiming at least 70 lives and causing some $27 billion in property damage
2013 -A $60-billion boom in chemical plant construction begins along the Gulf Coast. Construction boom helps to offset job losses in energy over the next two years.
2017 -Houston hosts NFL Super Bowl LI.
2017 -Hurricane Harvey inundates Houston with five days of rain.
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