The Karankawa people lived on the Gulf Coast before the arrival of the Europeans. The first European settlement in the area, Harrisburg (1824), was destroyed in 1836 by the advancing Mexican Army in the Texas Revolution. That same year, Augustus C. Allen and John K. Allen laid out Houston. The Allen brothers persuaded the legislature to designate the site as the temporary state capital, because the present capital, Austin, was close to the fighting during the revolution. Houston served as the capital from 1837 until the permanent capital was returned to Austin in 1839. The legislature granted incorporation to Houston on June 5, 1837, and that same year it became the county seat of Harrisburg County (renamed Harris County in 1839).
From the early days of the city, businesspeople counted upon Buffalo Bayou, which served as a point of connection to Galveston, to encourage trade and growth. However, the Bayou was difficult to navigate. Various efforts were mounted to dredge a better canal, and a turning basin was created in 1881. The Houston Ship Channel, which created an inland ocean port, opened in 1914. Since then the channel has been widened and deepened, making Houston a deep-water port that is among the busiest in the United States. Houston residents also built railroads into the outlands, which complemented the water route. The Houston and Texas Central Railroad, a local railroad, was completed in 1853, but the American Civil War (1861-1865) interrupted further railroad construction, and the city did not join the national rail network until 1873, when the Houston and Texas Central met the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad at Denison.
Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Houston Information info
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