OUR LEGACY - Statehood

In December 29, 1845, Texas became the twenty-eighth state of the Union. In 1850, the United States took its first census covering Texas. Houston registered a population of 2,396 and Harris County, nearly doubled that figure, or 4,686. At a time when the entire population of Texas totaled 212,592, Houston accounted for what was merely a drop in the bucket— a little more than one percent.

Indeed, the city had just begun to surpass Harrisburg in prosperity. Farther downstream, at the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston ranked as the largest and wealthiest city in Texas, as well as the largest port. Competition and rivalry between Galveston and its aggressive neighbor, Houston began in the 1840's. It characterized the relationship of the two cities during the remainder of the nineteenth century.