Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco

Houston History

Houston was founded in 1836 by two brothers from New York, John and Augustus Allen. They named the new town after their friend Sam Houston, president of the young Republic of Texas, and boasted it would become the next New Orleans. Serving twice as the capital of the Republic of Texas, Houston flourished for a while because of cattle and cotton. After Texas became a U.S. state in 1845, the city languished until the arrival of the railroads in the late 1880s. Then two very different events conspired to change its course: The great 1900 hurricane destroyed its neighbor Galveston, a thriving island port and major banking center on the Gulf of Mexico. A year later, the discovery of oil at Spindletop, 100 mi/160 km to the east of Houston, brought a wave of entrepreneurs to Houston in search of quick riches. With its new prosperity, the city widened Buffalo Bayou, creating the Ship Channel, and Houston replaced Galveston as a leading port. World War II transformed Houston into a major center for shipbuilding and steel manufacturing, in addition to oil refining. It became the headquarters of several U.S. oil companies in the 1970s when oil prices rose to historic heights (known locally as the oil boom) and the industry flourished. But the local economy suffered when oil prices collapsed worldwide in the 1980s. A concerted effort to diversify into health care, aeronautics, international banking and high technology revived the city. Houston remains resilient in all economies. Despite the well-publicized crash of the oil markets in the early 1980s and the scandalous fall of energy giant Enron that unfolded between 2001 and 2003, the city still attracts major corporations to headquarter there. It is home to the world's largest medical center, which continues to expand. Houston's local economy has continued to grow, despite the falling value of the U.S. dollar, with a major push into the high-tech field in the 21st century, especially related to energy, medical and software industries, and expansion into fledgling, leading-edge industries such as nanotechnology. Over the last few decades, this Texas town has evolved into a sprawling, diverse melting pot of industry and cultures. Houston accounted for the largest growth in the Hispanic population in the last U.S. Census, and there are also growing Asian and Middle Eastern populations. There are places of worship for every major religion and restaurants representing almost every ethnicity. Houston, with 2.3 million residents, is the fourth most populous city in the United States, trailing only New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.