Houston History

The Future of the West 

The area that is now Houston was first inhabited by Native American tribes who settled along the banks of Buffalo Bayou, a source of life-giving water in an otherwise barren, swampy, and scorching-hot climate. The land was claimed by Spain in 1693 and during Spanish rule, Houston was not a destination, but a rest stop along the way – a mission outpost on a major trade route. 

The first European settlement was destroyed during the Texas Revolution, and after the surrender of Spanish forces, the area was claimed by the new Republic of Texas. As an important component of "The New West" in that era, it beckoned many European Americans from frontier states such as Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Tennessee to try their hand at taming the wild, uncompromising territory.

In a harsh, often unforgiving land, early pioneers found a haven in an unlikely place—the remnants of a war-torn village.

Two enterprising brothers from New York, Augustus and John Allen, bought land near the burned-out settlement and began advertising their property as the “Future of the West.” They named it for the war hero and first elected President of Texas, Sam Houston, and set out to develop the settlement into a commercial success. 

From Minor Outpost to Major Port

Streets and buildings were mapped in an orderly fashion, but even with the formations of several churches, the town of Houston became infamous for its vices – brawling, drunkenness, prostitution, dueling, and profanity.

“Houston is a wretched little town composed of about twenty shops, and a hundred huts, dispersed here and there, among trunks of felled trees. It is infested with Methodists and ants.” – Emmanuel-Henri- Dieudonné Domenech (1848)

Hampered by mud, extreme temperatures, fires, and yellow fever epidemics, the town struggled to grow, but doggedly developed as a shipping port for cotton and other textiles, as well as a thriving home for ranchers. 

The arrival of the railroad in 1853 propelled Houston into a prime center for trade and immigration. By the time Texas was annexed into the United States, Houston was proving to be a major international port city and the most populous city in what would become the Lone Star State.

In 1901, oil was discovered in the area, and the home of cotton and cattle was transformed forever into the oil capital of Texas. 

The Texas Oil Boom catapulted the city of Houston into a rough and rowdy boomtown, gushing with people as much as the black gold they collected from the ground. It would attract investors, roughnecks, researchers, and politicians, eventually becoming a center for government and education with the construction of railroads, universities, and energy refineries. 

From its humble beginnings as a small camp along Buffalo Bayou to its eventual development as a global urban center, Houston has been a city of frontier grit and determination, showcasing the biggest and best of Texas.