HOUSTON, a city of south-eastern Texas, U.S.A., on the Houston ship channel (formerly Buffalo bayou), Som. from the Gulf of Mexico, surrounded by producing oil-fields; a port of entry in the Galveston customs district, the county seat of Harris county, the principal industrial centre of southern Texas and one of the leading Gulf ports. It is on Federal highways 75 and 90, has two commercial airports, and is served by the Galveston, Houston and Henderson, the Houston, Belt and Terminal, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas, the Missouri Pacific, the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific railways, and by 35 steamship lines, operating to the principal ports of the world. The population in 1920 was 138,278, of whom 33.96o were negroes and 12,012 were foreign born white ; and was 292,352 in 1930, an increase of 154,076 or 111.4% in the decade. This includes certain territory annexed after 1920.
The city has a fine site, covering 4o sq.m., on both sides of the channel, and a climate which permits home-grown strawberries in February and roses all the year round. Its rapid commercial and industrial development since the World War has been accompanied by tremendous improvements in paving and widening streets, constructing sewers and bridges, building driveways along the bayous, adding parks and beautiful buildings (including a new library, an art museum, an auditorium and an outdoor theatre), and transforming the business section with modern office buildings and hotels. The parks have an area of 2,500 acres. The 19 first class hotels can accommodate over 5,000 guests. The assessed valu ation of property in 1927 was $279,504,510. The Rice institute, founded by William Marsh Rice in 1891, and endowed by him with $10,000,000 (which did not become available until 1908), bids fair to be one of the most beautiful universities of America. Its campus of 3ooac. is 3m. from the centre of the city. The general architectural plan contemplates eventually 3o main build ings, in a prevailing Mediterranean style. The initial group was ready for the opening of the first session in Sept. 1912. By 1928 the endowment had grown to $14,000,000 and the enrolment was about 2,000. Tuition is free.
The city has a commission form of government, adopted in 1905, the second of its kind to be organized in the United States. Since 1924 the public schools have been in the hands of an elected board, distinct from the city government. The port (4m. E. of the city) is administered by the Harris county navigation and canal commission. The municipality owns the port facilities, the Harbor Belt railway, the waterworks (artesian wells), the public market and an auditorium seating 4,500.
The navigable waterway to the gulf has been the basis of Hous ton's economic life ever since sailing boats and flat-bottom barges nade their way up and down the shallow, meandering tide-water stream in the early days of the village. By 1928 about $24,000,000 had been spent by the Federal Government and the citizens of the Harris county navigation district in improving the channel and providing harbour facilities. A 2 5f t. channel from the turning basin at Houston to Galveston bay was completed in 1914, and in 1919-25 it was widened and deepened to 3o feet. The port is a terminal of the intra-coastal canal, which will give it direct access to 7,000m. of inland waterways. By 1925 Houston had become a world port, with 3J9 steamers clearing for foreign ports and 729 for American ports, and a total commerce valued at $522,429,205, 4.5 times as much as the previous high record (1918) and 43 times as much as it was 20 years earlier. The first shipment of cotton to Liverpool was made in 1919, and in 1927 2,167,420 bales were exported. Petroleum products rank next to cotton (in value) among the exports and first in tonnage. Others of importance are rice, refined sugar and cotton-seed meal from local plants.
On the banks of the ship channel are 13 oil refineries, with their own wharves, tank farms and tanker lines; cotton compresses and storage warehouses; fertilizer, cement and chemical works; flour mills and grain elevators, and other industries, representing a capital investment of over $140,000,000. Additional plants, valued at $12,000,000, are on the light-draft channel which con nects the port with the city. Houston was an important manu facturing centre even before the development of the coastal oil fields and the recent commercial expansion, and in 1925 the out put of the factories within the city limits was valued at $87, 445.460. Among the most important industries (after the oil refineries) are railroad repair and construction shops, foundries and machine shops, rice mills and printing and publishing plants. Houston is office headquarters for the Southern Pacific and several other railways, for the intra-coastal canal commission, and for many of the oil companies operating in the gulf coast fields, all of which are within a short journey, two of them (the Sinclair and the Galena Signal) lying just outside the city's bounds. It is an important financial centre. Bank debits to individual ac counts in 1927 amounted to $2,103,652,612. In recent years it has been the meeting-place for many large gatherings, including the National Democratic convention of 1928.
The permanent settlement of Houston began soon after the de cisive battle of San Jacinto (April 21, 1836), and it was named after Gen. Sam Houston. It was the first capital of the Republic of Texas (1837-39) and was again the seat of government from 1842 to 1845. The city was incorporated in 1840. The population of 2,396 in 1850 grew to 16,513 in 188o; 44,633 in 1900; and 78,800 in 1910. Between 1910 and 1920 the area was more than doubled and the population increased 75.5%. Further annexations of territory have been made since 1920. The battle-field of San Jacinto, 22M. below Houston on the banks of the ship channel, has been a State park since 1906.