Houston History

Though Willie Mae Thornton, better known as “Big Mama Thornton,” was born in Montgomery, Alabama, it was in Houston that her career took off.

On Feb.

Lauren Anderson fell in love with ballet at the age of 6 after seeing “The Nutcracker.

For two decades, Houstonian Barbara Jordan was a leading presence for the Democratic Party, paving the way for African-American women in Congress.

Philanthropist Ima Hogg, most often called Miss Ima, was a lifelong patron of the arts, beginning to play piano at the age of three.

In 1922, Niels Esperson, an oil tycoon who called Houston home, died suddenly of a heart attack while on a business trip to Chicago.

While the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation established in 2013, the heart of the foundation goes back decades.

The Houston Coalition for the Homeless is celebrating 40 years of providing services and aid to the homeless population and the community in Houston and surrounding areas.

Houston is home the state’s oldest public park, Emancipation Park.

Do you know of the time when the Astros had a game in the Astrodome rained out, despite no water touching the field?

While it’s another city in Texas that’s known for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, did you know he spent his final night in Houston?

Houston loves being America’s Space City now, but do you know just how close it came to not having NASA’s Johnson Space Center in town?When NASA was approved to build a new crewed spaceflight laboratory, there were 23 sites considered.

Tradition is important – especially as we wrap up this most unconventional year – and Houston has some magnificent holiday stories to tell.

In 2004, Houston got its first Christmas Eve snow in history, after an arctic front blasted through southeast Texas and brought freezing temperatures with it.

The USS Battleship Texas launched in May 1912 and served through both World Wars before being declared a museum ship in 1948.

The Alley Theatre is Texas’ oldest, and one of America’s leading, nonprofit theatre companies.

Where were you Labor Day weekend, 1989? If you were in Houston, chances are you or someone you know were among the 120,000 who attended “The Biggest Party in History” at the Astrodome.

Though better known for space and Tex-Mex, Houston also contributed to the burgeoning hip-hop scene beginning in the 1980s.

In 1949, oil tycoon Glenn McCarthy opened the $21 million Shamrock Hotel. To ensure maximum publicity, McCarthy invited 2,000 guests, including reporters, Hollywood royalty and the mayor of Houston.

Born in 1793, Sam Houston ran away from home as a teenager to join the Cherokee and became known as “Raven.” At age 19 he fought in the War of 1812, and at 30, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

If you head west of downtown to 3695 Overture Drive, you’ll discover an abandoned, signless palace befitting of Dr. Evil. Its intentions, however, were much more peaceful.

The Houston Rodeo was started because America needed a special kind of cow.

Builder, banker, publisher and politician Jesse H. Jones was once known as Mr. Houston. An eighth-grade dropout, he arrived in Houston in 1898 and made his fortune as a developer and builder, constructing 35 skyscrapers.

National Women’s History Month was created to highlight the many unsung female figures in our nation’s history. Each of us has benefited from contributions made by women who have helped to build and protect America.

Fall is here and even though we’re escaping 100-degree weather, we’re still hitting 100s over the city.

Houston didn’t have a deep-water port until 1914. For years, the harbor was too shallow to allow anything but barges to pass through. But after a hurricane devastated Galveston in 1900, leaders approved a dredging plan to make way for larger vessels.