Houston

The first settlement in the area, Harrisburg in 1826, was destroyed in April 1836 by the Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna in pursuit of Sam Houston and the Texas army. A week later, outside the present city at the Battle of San Jacinto, the general Santa Anna was captured, and Texas was freed.

Houston is linked by the Houston Ship Channel to the Gulf of Mexico and the Intracoastal Waterway at Galveston, 50 miles
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 General Sam Houston, commander at the Battle of San Jacinto.

In the mid twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions.
Land annexed in 1948 nearly tripled the city’s area. In 1961 the Manned Spacecraft Center (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1973), the command post for flights by U.S. astronauts, was opened near Clear Lake, about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of downtown, making Houston a focus of the nation’s space program.

Houston is located in the southeastern corner of Texas, near the Gulf of Mexico in southern USA. The region’s climate is warm and humid, and the city is noted for its hot, sticky summers.

Houston is one of the country’s major transportation hubs, with extensive trucking, rail, and air connections. Two major airports, George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport, serve the region; a third facility, Ellington Field, is used jointly by commercial, corporate, and military aircraft. The Port of Houston is now the second largest in the United States in tonnage moved and ranks number one in the nation in foreign tonnage.

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The sales tax is 8.25 percent, there is no state income tax. The legal drinking age in Texas is 21 and all drivers and passengers in Texas are required by law to use safety belts when riding in a car or truck.

Memorable Achievements

Houston was the first word spoken from the surface of the moon and the first to build an air-conditioned sports stadium.
One of only five cities in the U.S. with resident companies in the four disciplines of the performing arts: Alley Theatre, Houston Ballet, Houston Symphony and Houston Grand Opera

Historic sites and museums

The Museum District is home to the Contemporary Arts Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science among others.

Shopping

The historic downtown location of Macy’s, the Shops at Houston Center, and the new Houston Pavilions meet all your retail needs. Luxurious boutiques retailers are plentiful, the Galleria shopping center has nearly 400 retailers, two hotels, an indoor ice skating rink, and a vast array of dining options. The galleria stunning architecture, exceptional mix of quality stores, and distinctive style of entertainment are some of the reasons why the Galleria attracts over 24 million annual visitors. The Galleria is the fourth largest mall in the nation highlighted by nine types of stone, suspended glass balconies, three types of wood, glass skylights, and plush leather seating.

Geo

Latitude: 29.7630556 N
Longitude: -95.3630556 W
Elevation is 55 feet (17 metres)

Average High Temperature (July): 92° F
Average Low Temperature (January): 52° F

Bio

Houston’s population according to the Census bureau estimate for 2008 is 2,242,193 and it is ranked 4th largest city in the United States..