| A shipwrecked Spanish soldier, Alvar Nunez Cabeza | | | | a Confederate port and military headquarters but |
| de Vaca, was the first European to visit the Houston | | | | suffered no war damage. Afterward, in 1865, it was |
| area. He lived and traded among native Karankawa | | | | occupied by Union troops. |
| Indians from 1528 to 1534. It was not until 1823, | | | | The first free public schools were set up in 1876. |
| however, in the first years of Angelo American | | | | Electric street lighting was introduced in the 1880's. |
| migration to Texas, that a trading post was built at | | | | The first electric streetcars began operating in 1891. |
| the junction of Buffalo Bayou and Bray's bayous by | | | | During these years yellow-fever epidemics periodically |
| John R. Harris, a New Yorker. The townsite laid out | | | | swept the area. |
| there in 1826 was named Harrisburg. It eventually | | | | Houston began to emerge as a modern metropolis |
| was to become part of modern Houston. | | | | after the discovery of the Spindletop oil field near |
| Harrisburg thrived as a lumber milling and shipping | | | | Beaumont in 1901. As a result of successive waves |
| town. For a few weeks early in 1836 it was the | | | | of oil discoveries at nearby Humble in 1904 and then |
| capital of the newly proclaimed Republic of Texas. In | | | | elsewhere in eastern Texas, there was a massive |
| April 1836, shortly before the Texan victory at the | | | | growth of industry in Houston. Industrialization, |
| nearby battle of San Jacinto, the town was burned | | | | especially in fields related to petroleum refining and |
| and occupied by Mexican troops. | | | | the production of petrochemicals, was most rapid |
| Two real estate speculators, the brothers John K. | | | | during World Wars I and II. |
| and Augustus C. Allen, then founded a new town | | | | The Port of Houston, first organized in 1841, also |
| several miles up Buffalo Bayou, at the mouth of | | | | grew rapidly. Periodic straightening, widening, and |
| White Oak Bayou. They shrewdly named it after the | | | | deepening of Buffalo bayou culminated in the opening |
| Texan war hero Gen. Sam Houston. While Harrisburg | | | | of the first Houston Ship Channel in 1876. Devastation |
| lay temporarily in ruins, an energetic publicity | | | | in the Port of Galveston by hurricane floods of 1900 |
| campaign brought hundreds of settlers to Houston. | | | | resulted in the diversion of considerable shipping to |
| The city was incorporated on June 5, 1837. James | | | | Houston. This led to further dredging of the channel |
| Holman was the first mayor. From 1837 until 1839, | | | | to 18 feet by 1908. However, the Port of Houston |
| and again in 1842, it was the capital of the Republic | | | | was not able to receive deep draft ocean vessels |
| of Texas. | | | | until the Turning Basin and a 25 foot deep channel to |
| As Houston became a leading outlet for the cotton, | | | | the Gulf were opened to traffic in 1915. |
| lumber, and sugar produced in the surrounding region, | | | | Meanwhile, Houston's population was booming. For |
| regular steamboat service to the Gulf was begun on | | | | many decades the city had grown quite slowly, with |
| Buffalo Bayou. By the 1850's the city had become an | | | | a sevenfold increase to 292,352 inhabitants, Houston |
| important railroad center. In 1866 it annexed | | | | had become the largest city in Texas. By 1950 it was |
| Harrisburg. During the Civil War Houston prospered as | | | | the largest in the entire South. |