WELCOME to HOUSTON HISTORY

Looking at all of Houston is like watching a moving kaleidoscope. Into the bright pattern come the people of many heritages who have joined together in its citizenry. The changing colors show the evolution from its origins as a tiny village of the early 1800s to an agriculturally-supported community, to an oil boom town, to a center of diversified commerce and industry. Now it is emerging as a city of technology, science, highly-sophisticated business and finance, a headquarters city of considerable renown, and an international city.

It stands as a concentration of some of the greatest minds in medicine, education, engineering, building, marketing and in foreign trade.

It is the home of the control-center for the nation's manned explorations into space, and has seen in recent years a growing interest in probing the depth of the ocean to learn its secrets. Its laboratories are the skies above and the nearby Gulf of Mexico, but these also serve as its passengers to and from the far reaches of the world.

Like any other city of similar size—now officially the nation's fourth largest—Houston has problems as well as advantages, and blights as well as beauties. Yet its problems—though similar to some in other urban areas—are problems of growth instead of stagnation. It is one of the bright cities of the country, with its youth and energy and can-do attitude.

From its early beginnings, Houston has had one advantage which stands above all others: confidence. Whether threatened by disaster or peril, by disease or economic depression, this city's unflagging confidence—and its residents' confidence in their own abilities—brought it through in triumph. This confidence, evidenced in many ways throughout the years, has paved the path of all progress.

Confidence continues to push Houston forward into the future. Beginning in the 1830s and on to present day Houston, this confidence was reflected in the announcements of major developments within the city's Central Business District and in areas further from the central core of the city surrounding Harris County. Some of these developments were completed within the first few years after the city's founding. Others were of such magnitude that their accomplishments were attained over the past 178 years.

Video Spotlight

Houston, the nation's fourth largest city.