1.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
2.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Downtown Houston
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Downtown Houston is Houstons central business district, containing the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is a network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district. The tunnel system is home to restaurants, shops and services. What is now Downtown made up almost all of the City of Houston until expansions of the city limits in the early 20th century, Downtown Houston was the original founding point of the city. After the Texas Revolution, two New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land from Thomas F. L, parrot and his wife, Elizabeth, for $9,428. The Allen brothers first landed in the area where the White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou meet, gail Borden, Jr. a city planner, laid out wide streets for the town. The city was granted incorporation by the Texas legislature on June 5,1837, Houston was the temporary capital of Texas. In 1840, the town was divided into four wards, each with different functions in the community, by 1906 what is now Downtown was divided among six wards. The wards are no longer political divisions, but their names are used to refer to certain areas. Houston became a choice, as only the most powerful storms were able to reach the city. The second came a year later with the 1901 discovery of oil at spindletop, shipping and oil industries began flocking to east Texas, many settling in Houston. From that point forward the area grew substantially, as many skyscrapers were constructed, in the 1980s, however, economic recession canceled some projects and caused others to be scaled back, such as the Bank of the Southwest Tower. Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle wrote that Fox said that area was a neighborhood of Victorian-era homes. Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area began a downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station in 1974, the construction of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated portions of the historic Third Ward from the rest of the Third Ward and brought those portions into Downtown. Beginning in the 1960s the development of the 610 Loop caused the focus of the Houston area to move away from Downtown Houston, in the mid-1980s, the bank savings and loan crisis forced many tenants in Downtown Houston buildings to retrench, and some tenants went out of business. Barna said that this development further caused Downtown Houston to decline, the Gulf Hotel fire occurred in 1943
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Texas Eastern Corporation
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Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is an electric power holding company in the United States, with assets also in Canada and Latin America. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in the United States, Duke Energys service territory covers 104,000 square miles with 250,200 miles of distribution lines. In addition, Duke Energy has more than 4,300 megawatts of generation in Latin America. It operates eight hydroelectric power plants in Brazil with an capacity of 2,307 megawatts. Almost all of Duke Energys Midwest generation comes from coal, natural gas, or oil, during 2006, Duke Energy generated 148,798,332 megawatt-hours of electrical energy. Duke Energy Renewable Services, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, specializes in the development, ownership and this segment of the company operates 1,700 megawatts of generation. 240 megawatts of generation were under construction and 1,500 additional megawatts of wind generation were in planning stages. On September 9,2008, DERS updated its projections for future wind power capacity, by the end of 2008, it would have over 500 MW of nameplate capacity of wind power online, and an additional 5,000 MW in development. Walker Gill Wylie and his brother financed the building of a power station at India Hook Shoals along the Catawba River near India Hook. A1973 labor dispute between workers and Duke Energy was the subject of the documentary Harlan County, USA. The film documents the use of gun thugs to intimidate striking workers, in 1988, Nantahala Power & Light Co. which served southwestern North Carolina, was purchased by Duke and is now operated under the Duke Power Nantahala Area brand. Duke Power merged with PanEnergy, a gas company, in 1997 to form Duke Energy. The Duke Power name continued as the utility business of Duke Energy until the Cinergy merger. With the purchase of Cinergy Corporation announced in 2005 and completed on April 3,2006, the company operates nuclear power plants, coal-fired plants, conventional hydroelectric plants, natural-gas turbines to handle peak demand, and pumped hydro storage. During 2006, Duke Energy also acquired Chatham, Ontario-based Union Gas, on January 3,2007, Duke Energy spun off its gas business to form Spectra Energy. Duke Energy shareholders received 1 share of Spectra Energy for each 2 shares of Duke Energy, after the spin-off, Duke Energy now receives the majority of its revenue from its electric operations in portions of North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. The spinoff to Spectra also included Union Gas, which Duke Energy acquired the previous year, on July 3,2012, Duke Energy merged with Progress Energy Inc with the Duke Energy name being retained along with the Charlotte, North Carolina headquarters. Rogers retirement was part of an agreement to end an investigation into Dukes Progress Energy acquisition in 2012, on March 16,2006, Duke Power announced that a Cherokee County, South Carolina site had been selected for a potential new nuclear power plant
7.
Albert Richard Thomas
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Albert Richard Thomas was a Democratic Congressman from Houston, Texas for 29 years and was responsible for bringing the Johnson Space Center to Houston. Thomas was born in Nacogdoches, Texas on April 12,1898 to Lonnie, eagle did not seek reelection in 1936, so he could run for the United States Senate, Thomas sought and won the Democratic nomination, which was tantamount to election. In that primary, Thomas beat Houston Mayor Oscar F. Holcombe in what was something of an upset, the Eighth District of Texas at that time comprised all of Harris County, which includes the states largest city, Houston. In Congress, Thomas was a protégé of Texas Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1949, he became chairman of the House subcommittee on independent office appropriations. He also served on the subcommittee on defense appropriations and on the joint committee on Texas House delegation and he was a typical Southern Democrat who through seniority rose to be the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committees, subcommittee on defense. In that capacity, he was able to steer projects to Texas including supporting Johnsons proposal to build the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station. Since its inception, Johnson Space Center has served as mission control for every U. S. manned space flight including Apollo 11, Houston became the first word addressed to earth from the moon, in reference to the Johnson Space Center mission control. Thomas was a member of the Suite 8F Group, a group of businessmen that included his college roommate at Rice University. Browns company Brown and Root donated the land on which the Johnson Space Center would be located to Rice University. Then-Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was chairman of the Space Council, and Thomas, Thomas voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1963, Thomas was seriously considering not running for a fifteenth term, local Democrats organized an appreciation dinner on November 21,1963 with over 3200 attendees to persuade him to run for another term. The most visible attendees were President John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson who both spoke of Thomass leadership, here the President paused a second and grinned. It will be the largest payroll, too, he quipped, and who should know that better than Houston. We put a little of it right in here, the President then resumed in a more serious vein, But in any case, the United States next month will have a leadership in space which it wouldnt have without Albert Thomas. Thomas accompanied the Presidential party as it traveled to Dallas, where the next day President Kennedy was assassinated and he witnessed the swearing in of President Lyndon Baines Johnson on Air Force One. In 1964, Thomas was named Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, by the time of his death in Washington, D. C. on February 15,1966, at the age of 67, Thomas ranked eleventh in seniority in the House. The voters of Harris County elected his wife Lera to complete his term, in the fall of 1967, downtown Houstons Albert Thomas Convention and Exhibit Center was built and named in his honor. He is interred in Houston National Cemetery, biographical Directory of the United States Congress
8.
Bayou Place
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Bayou Place is a 130,000 square foot entertainment complex that houses multiple theaters, bars, and restaurants located in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The complex was the former Albert Thomas convention center located in the Houston Theater District at 500 Texas Street, the convention center was made obsolete with the opening in 1987 of the much larger George R. Brown Convention Center on the eastern edge of downtown. After years of discussion, Maryland-based developer David Cordish entered into an agreement with the city of Houston in 1991 to redevelop the site. After a few years of discussions, delays, and construction. At one time the complex had a completion date in the year 1996. Cordish Company has had a 50-year lease to manage Bayou Place since 1997, the following are located within the complex, The Hard Rock Cafe is a popular global chain that offers meals with an atmosphere surrounded by plenty of Rock and Roll memorabilia. A four-tiered riser system on the main floor creates an intimate cabaret/dinner theater feel, the permanent 56 x 40 stage is equipped with ample sound and light. Two 8 x 10 video screens are suspended above the stage, check the Website for upcoming concert schedules. Sundance Cinemas Houston opened in Bayou Place in early November 2011, the theater features specialized film programming and also present features from film festivals and from general release. In March 2011, Cordish signed a 10-year lease with Sundance, the 36,000 square feet space will receive a $2.25 million remodeling. It will open to the public on November 23,2011, the theater closed after being open for 13 years. Angelika left the space and closed on Sunday, August 29,2010 due to a dispute with the landlord
9.
Houston Theater District
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More than two million people visit the Houston Theater District annually. Houston is recognized as an important city for contemporary visual arts, the Houston Grand Opera is the only opera company in the U. S. to win a Grammy, a Tony, and an Emmy. In 2007, Da Camera of Houston was awarded the CMAcclaim Award from Chamber Music America, the Alley Theatre, founded in 1947, is Houstons oldest professional theatre company. The Alley is the theatre in Texas to win the Tony Award for best Regional Theatre. The Alley is the third oldest continually operating theatre in the United States, Alley Theatre Hubbard Stage Neuhaus Stage Hobby Center for the Performing Arts Sarofim Hall Zilkha Hall Jesse H. Early venues in the district were the Sam Houston Coliseum and the Houston Music Hall, the district is served by METRORail light rail service at Theater District Station. Houston Theater District Alley Theatre Da Camera of Houston Theatre Port
10.
METRORail
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METRORail is the 23. 8-mile light rail system in Houston, Texas. As of 2015, the METRORail has a weekday ridership of 60,600. After Dallas DART Light Rail, METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States, METRORail is operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County. This line was built after an approximately 20-year battle, starting in 1983 when Houston voters rejected a plan by referendum. A voter referendum in 1988 approved a 20-mile light rail plan, however, Bob Lanier was elected mayor in 1992, in 1991, U. S. Rep. Tom DeLay removed $65 million in federal funding for the rail line. Then, Houston drew up a plan with entirely local funding. Ground was broken on the original 7. 5-mile, 16-station portion of the line on March 13,2001, the opening of METRORail, which took place on January 1,2004, came 64 years after the previous streetcar system had been shut down. Houston was the largest city in the United States without a system after the 1990 opening of the Blue Line in Los Angeles. Tom DeLay strongly opposed construction of the METRORail line and twice blocked federal funding for the system in the United States House of Representatives. Thus the Metrorail was built without any federal funding until November 2011 when a $900 million grant was approved for expansions, Klineberg considers these changes a paradigm shift or sea change on attitudes towards mass transit. Construction began on the 5. 3-mile and 9-station North/Red Line Extension from UH–Downtown to the Northline Transit Center Station in July 2009 and this extension opened on December 21,2013, increasing the line to its current total of 12.8 miles and 24 stations. The 6. 6-mile Purple Line, with 10 stations, both lines, together costing $1.3 billion, share a track segment in downtown, then run east and diverge. The light rail line operates all 7 days of the week and it begins operations at 3,30 a. m. weekdays and 4,30 a. m. weekends and ends service at 12,30 a. m. Monday thru Thursday nights,2,45 a. m, friday and Saturday nights and,12,30 a. m. Sunday nights. Scheduled train frequency varies from 6 minutes during the day to 20 minutes off-peak, the scheduled time for an end-to-end trip through the entire 12. 8-mile Red Line is on average 55 minutes. METRORail operations are controlled from Houston TranStar, a traffic and emergency management center for the city, one source claims that the trains have priority signalling at intersections. The Red Line is a 12. 8-mile double-tracked,4 ft 8 1⁄2 in standard gauge line with 24 stations approximately 1⁄2 mile apart, almost the entire route is at grade and on city streets. The original 2004 portion from Fannin South to UH-Downtown is entirely at ground-level, power supply is from 600/750 volts DC overhead wires, with nine substations
11.
Henke & Pillot
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Henke & Pillot was a chain of supermarkets headquartered in Houston, Texas. During its final years of existence, it was a subsidiary of Kroger, in 1966, Kroger announced the retirement of the Henke & Pillot name. In 1872, Henry Henke, a grocer from New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1882, Henke asked Camille G. Pillot to become the company bookkeeper, a few years later, Pillot became a full partner in the firm. In 1925, the chain had two stores, one at 302 Milam in what is now Downtown Houston, and the other in what is now Midtown Houston, in May 1955, The Kroger Company acquired Henke & Pillot. Henkes logo soon was changed to similar to the Kroger logo. In 1956, the chain operated 27 stores, with locations in Greater Houston, in 1965 it had its corporate headquarters in Houston and 20 stores in the Greater Houston area, one of its Houston stores was in Meyerland Plaza. In 1966, Kroger announced that it was expanding its presence in Greater Houston, the chain was six years short of its 100th anniversary. Members of the Pillot family once lived in the Pillot House, eugene Pillot built the house in 1868. In 1965, around the month of June, the house was moved to Sam Houston Park in Downtown Houston, in 2001 Tropical Storm Allison damaged the building. As of 2011 the interior still needs work, the society is waiting for the funds to come in. The site where the used to be is part of the current site of the George R. Brown Convention Center
12.
Sam Houston Park
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Sam Houston Park is an urban park located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States, dedicated to the buildings and culture of Houstons past. The park, which was the first to be established in the city, was developed on land purchased by former Mayor Sam Brashier in 1900, Mayor Brashear appointed Houston’s first park committee to oversee the establishment of a city park in 1899. The 20 acres chosen for the park was landscaped into a Victorian-styled village, with footpaths leading past an old mill, the park also included a 52-year-old house that had long been used as a school. The Heritage Society was founded by Houstonians Faith Bybee, Harvin Moore and Marie Phelps in 1954, also located in Sam Houston Park, at the corner of Bagby and Lamar Streets, is a small museum, the Heritage Society Museum, which is dedicated to preserving Houstons history. Several historic homes are located in the park, guided tours of the restored buildings are available from the Heritage Society. A Virginian who came to Houston in 1839, Kellum operated a brick kiln, during the 1850s, Mrs. Zerviah M. Noble conducted one of Houstons first private schools in this house. Kellum-Noble is the house in the Park on its original site. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Kellum-Noble House served as an office for the City of Houstons Park Department. It is listed as a Historic American Building by the U. S, the Nichols-Rice-Cherry House is also located in Sam Houston Park. It is an example of Greek Revival architecture and was built about 1850 by Ebeneezer B. Nichols from New York, between 1856 and 1873 it was owned by financier William Marsh Rice, whose estate helped create Rice Institute in 1912. Other historic buildings now located in Sam Houston Park include, The Old Place - a rustic cabin built of cedar planks about 1823. Fourth Ward Cottage - moved from Freedman’s Town to the Park in 2002, Pillot House - built in 1868, and owned by the same family until 1964, it is believed to be the first house in Houston built with an attached kitchen. The family was related to the Henke and Pillot supermarket chain, staiti House - built in 1905 and featured electrical wiring. The Old Place is a log cabin built by John R. Williams, an Austin colonist, about 1823. Rising waters from Buffalo Bayou had flooded the building numerous times over the years, and during Tropical Storm Allison in June 2001, floodwaters reached the roof
13.
Houston tunnel system
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The Houston tunnel system is a network of subterranean, climate-controlled, pedestrian walkways that links 95 full city blocks 20 feet below Houstons downtown streets. It is approximately 6 miles long, there are similar systems in Chicago, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Montreal and Toronto. The first link was built in the 1930s by Ross Sterling to connect two neighboring buildings he owned, inspired by the system at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Soon after, Will Horwitz, an entertainment entrepreneur, connected three of his vaudeville and movie theaters to save on air-conditioning. Portions of the tunnel contain gift shops, newsstands, banks, technology centers, flower shops, copy centers, dry cleaners and they are widely and heavily used by office workers and tourists. Access is allowed to the public into these buildings with few restrictions, during normal operating hours. Most of the areas of the Tunnel are in the basements of these buildings. While walking through, one can determine which building s/he is in by the unique signage and/or architectural design of building, as well as the wayfinding system. Most of the Tunnel is in the half of downtown Houston. The tunnel is open during weekday business hours only. The Tunnel has been criticized for its numerous stairways, especially in the northern portion, the Harris County tunnel at the far north side of downtown is not connected to the rest of the system by either tunnels or skywalks. It connects Harris County courts, jails, and associated buildings totaling 10 blocks, six blocks of the St. Joseph Medical Center are connected via skywalks at the southeast corner of downtown near the Pierce elevated
14.
Super Bowl XXXVIII
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The Patriots defeated the Panthers by the score of 32–29, winning their second Super Bowl championship in three years. The game was played at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, at the time, this was the most watched Super Bowl ever with 144.4 million viewers. The Panthers were making their first ever Super Bowl appearance after posting an 11–5 regular season record and they also made it the second straight year that a team from the NFC South division made the Super Bowl, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning Super Bowl XXXVII. The Patriots were seeking their second Super Bowl title in three years after posting a 14–2 record. NFL fans and sports writers widely consider this one of the most well-played and thrilling Super Bowls. Although neither team could score in the first and third quarters, the game was scoreless for a Super Bowl record 26,55 before the two teams combined for 24 points prior to halftime. The clubs then combined for a Super Bowl record 37 points in the fourth quarter, the contest was finally decided on New England kicker Adam Vinatieris 41-yard field goal with four seconds left. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was named Super Bowl MVP for the time in three years. He set a Super Bowl record for the most pass completions, completing 66.7 percent of his passes and accumulating 354 passing yards,3 touchdowns, Jake Delhomme for his part overcame the poor start with 323 passing yards and three touchdowns. The 61 combined points stood as a Super Bowl record until the 62 points scored in Super Bowl LI in 2017, along with the rest of the halftime show, it led to an immediate crackdown by the Federal Communications Commission, and widespread debate on perceived indecency in broadcasting. NFL owners voted to award Super Bowl XXXVIII to Houston during their November 1,2000 meeting held in Atlanta and this was the first Super Bowl to be played in a stadium with a retractable roof. It also marked the first time in 4 tries that the Patriots played a Super Bowl that was not in New Orleans and this game marked a six-month stretch for Texas hosting the Super Bowl, NCAA mens Division I basketball Final Four and Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The Final Four was played at the Alamodome in San Antonio, beginning with this game, all Super Bowl games have been played on the first Sunday in February every year. Consequently, the Super Bowl is currently scheduled no earlier than February 1, the Panthers made their first trip to the Super Bowl after posting a one-win regular season just two years earlier. The franchise was only in their year of existence, joining the league as an expansion team in 1995. In just their second season, they posted a 12–4 regular season record and advanced to the NFC Championship Game, but lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers 30–13. With John Fox at the helm and the taking advantage of the free agent market and the salary cap rules. Then in 2003, they recorded an 11–5 record and won the NFC South, One of the free agents that Carolina signed before the 2003 season was quarterback Jake Delhomme
15.
Concert
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A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. A recital is a concert by a soloist or small group which follows a program, a recitalist is a musician who gives frequent recitals. The invention of the piano recital has been attributed to Franz Liszt. The performance may be by a musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir. Indoor concerts held in the largest venues are sometimes called arena concerts or amphitheatre concerts, informal names for a concert include show and gig. Regardless of the venue, musicians perform on a stage. Concerts often require live event support with professional audio equipment, before recorded music, concerts provided the main opportunity to hear musicians play. The nature of a concert varies by musical genre, individual performers, concerts by a small jazz combo or small bluegrass band may have the same order of program, mood, and volume—but vary in music and dress. In a similar way, a musician, band, or genre of music might attract concert attendees with similar dress, hairstyle. For example, concert goers in the 1960s often had hair, sandals. Regular attendees to a concert venue might also have a style that comprises that venues scene. Other Types of concerts, To plan or arrange by mutual agreement, some performers or groups put on very elaborate and expensive shows. To create a memorable and exciting atmosphere and increase the spectacle, some singers, especially popular music, augment concert sound with pre-recorded accompaniment, back-up dancers, and even broadcast vocal tracks of the singers own voice. Activities during these concerts can include dancing, sing-alongs, and moshing, concerts involving a greater number of artists, especially those that last for multiple days, are known as festivals. Unlike other concerts, which remain in a single genre of music or work of a particular artist, festivals often cover a broad scope of music. Due to their size, festivals are almost exclusively held outdoors, new platforms for festivals are becoming increasingly popular such as Jam Cruise, which is a festival held on a cruise ship, as well as Mayan Holidaze, which is a destination festival held in Tulum. Often concert tours are named, to differentiate different tours by the same artist, different segments of longer concert tours are known as legs. In the largest concert tours it is becoming common for different legs to employ separate touring production crews and equipment
16.
Broadway theatre
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Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
17.
Arena
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An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. The word derives from Latin harena, a particularly fine/smooth sand used to absorb blood in ancient arenas such as the Colosseum in Rome and it is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the lowest point, arenas are usually designed to accommodate a large number of spectators. The term arena is used as a synonym for a very large venue such as Pasadenas Rose Bowl. The use of one term over the other has mostly to do with the type of event, the home of the Duke University mens and womens basketball teams would qualify as an arena, but the facility is called Cameron Indoor Stadium. Domed stadiums, which, like arenas, are enclosed but have the larger playing surfaces, such examples of these would be terms such as the arena of war or the arena of love or the political arena. In many fighting games, the stage that opponents are fought in is called an arena. Ice hockey arena Amphitheatre List of indoor arenas by capacity List of stadiums by capacity
18.
Sport
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Usually the contest or game is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a tie game, others provide tie-breaking methods, to one winner. A number of such two-sided contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion, many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants, through to those with hundreds of participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, each against each other, however, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. Sports are usually governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition, winning can be determined by physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first. It can also be determined by judges who are scoring elements of the sporting performance, records of performance are often kept, and for popular sports, this information may be widely announced or reported in sport news. Sport is also a source of entertainment for non-participants, with spectator sport drawing large crowds to sport venues. Sports betting is in some cases severely regulated, and in some cases is central to the sport, kearney, a consultancy, the global sporting industry is worth up to $620 billion as of 2013. The worlds most accessible and practised sport is running, while football is the most popular spectator sport. The word Sport comes from the Old French desport meaning leisure, other meanings include gambling and events staged for the purpose of gambling, hunting, and games and diversions, including ones that require exercise. Rogets defines the noun sport as an activity engaged in for relaxation, the singular term sport is used in most English dialects to describe the overall concept, with sports used to describe multiple activities. American English uses sports for both terms, the precise definition of what separates a sport from other leisure activities varies between sources. They also recognise that sport can be physical, primarily mind, predominantly motorised, primarily co-ordination. The inclusion of sports within sport definitions has not been universally accepted. Whilst SportAccord recognises a number of mind sports, it is not open to admitting any further mind sports. According to Council of Europe, European Sports Charter, article 2, other bodies advocate widening the definition of sport to include all physical activity. For instance, the Council of Europe include all forms of physical exercise, in competitive events, participants are graded or classified based on their result and often divided into groups of comparable performance
19.
Houston Museum District
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The Houston Museum District currently includes 19 museums that recorded a collective attendance of over 8.7 million visitors a year. All of the museums offer free times or days and 11 of the museums are free all the time, Thursdays the Museum District gets particularly crowded because of museum free days. Houstons Museum District is walkable and bikeable, sidewalks are wide and well-maintained, and attractions and restaurants are situated near each other. The Museum District Civic Association compared the area to Georgetown in Washington, D. C. the beginnings of the Museum District are found in 1977, when it became apparent that some action needed to be taken to provide easier access to the museums of the area. This call for community improvement evolved into the non-profit Montrose Project by the mid-1980s, based on the works of this organization, the Museum District was formally recognized by the City of Houston in 1989. The founding organization was dissolved in 1994, but the Museum District is now under the auspices of the Houston Museum District Association, founded in 1997. The Museum District attracts visitors, students and volunteers of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnicities to learn about and celebrate art, history, culture, more information on the 20 institutions of Houstons Museum District may be found on their official website. In such a strongly vehicle-oriented city, and one which to this day retains the title of the largest city in the United States without zoning, this was fairly progressive. It took advantage of the opportunity to create in Houston an area of vital importance, similar to the French Quarter in New Orleans, St. Germain in Paris. 1977, Concept formulated, area associations involved, july 1986, Montrose Project becomes the Museum District Development Association of Houston. March 1987, MDDAH gains 5013 status, may 1988, “Raiders of the Lost Art” event held to raise funds and awareness of the District. September 1989, The Museum District receives a Clean Houston Honorable Mention in the Proud Partners Awards for its Museum District Improvement program, september 1989, Business leaders, museum directors and members gathered to sign a coalition agreement supporting a City of Houston Resolution creating an official Museum District. December 1991, MDDAH helped host the 5th Annual Christmas and Hanukkah in Neartown, with a tree lighting, caroling, may 1992, “Savor the Flavors” benefit held for the Museum District, highlighting 23 local restaurants. 1994, The organized abandonment/dissolution of the 5013 Museum District Development Association of Houston, records were handed off to the South Main Center Association for further collaboration and development within the community. January 1997, Eleven institutions reincorporated the Houston Museum District Association as a 5013 corporation, five new museums joined in 2002 and two more in 2007. According to 1st board meeting notes, Directors, Alexandra Marshall, Chairman Ora Harrison, today, total operating budgets for the member museums exceed $80 million, funded almost completely from revenues and private donations. The John P. McGovern Foundation, The Wortham Foundation, Inc, susan Vaughan Foundation, Inc. and corporate support from KHOU-TV Channel 11, KUHT-TV, the Houston Chronicle, Texas Monthly, Exxon, and Cadillac. The HMDA also serves as an intermediary, which fosters an ongoing dialogue among the museums in the district to maintain continuing interest, several apartment and/or condo communities are already in the area and new ones are currently being built and developed
20.
Texas Medical Center
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The Texas Medical Center, located in Houston, Texas, is the largest medical center in the world. It has one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, some member institutions are located outside of the city of Houston. More heart surgeries are performed in Texas Medical Center than anywhere else in the world with 13,600 heart surgeries annually, the TMC performs 1 surgery every 3 minutes. Over 25,000 babies are delivered each year, more than 1 baby every 20 minutes, the Texas Medical Center offers over 9,200 total patient beds. The Texas Medical Center receives an average of 3,300 patient visits a day and over eight million annual patient visits, the TMC has over 750,000 ER visitors each year. In 2011, the center employed over 106,000 people, including 20,000 physicians, scientists, researchers, the Texas Medical center has over 160,000 people visit each day. The Texas Medical Center is home to the largest childrens hospital in the world, adjacent to the Center are Rice University, Hermann Park, NRG Park, and the Museum District. The Texas Medical Center was established in 1945 in part with funds endowed to the M. D. Anderson Foundation by businessman Monroe Dunaway Anderson, the funds first gift was a check of $1,000 to the Junior League Eye Fund for eyeglasses. In 1941, the Texas State Legislature granted funds to the University of Texas for the purpose of starting a research hospital. M. D. Anderson Foundation matched the states gift to the university by supplying funds and land on the conditions that the hospital be established in Houston and be named after its founder. President Roosevelt approved the purchase of 118 acres from the Hermann Estate in 1944 for the construction of a 1, the hospital, later renamed the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, opened in 1946 and became a teaching facility for the Baylor College of Medicine. The M. D. Anderson Hospital for Cancer Research of the University of Texas began construction in 1953, Texas Childrens Hospital admitted its first patient in 1954. During the late 1950s, the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research opened, the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute at Houston added the Gimbel Research Wing. Texas Womans University Nursing Program began instruction, in 1962, the Texas Heart Institute was chartered and became affiliated with Baylor St. Lukes Medical Center and Texas Childrens Hospital. Ben Taub General Hospital of the Harris Health System opened in 1963, the Proton Therapy Center, the largest facility in the United States where proton therapy is used to treat cancer, opened in July 2006. The Memorial Hermann Healthcare System constructed the six-floor,165, 000-square-foot Memorial Hermann Heart & Vascular Institute, also recently completed is the 30-story Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza, which is now the largest medical office building in the Texas Medical Center. At night, it is recognizable by its unique rainbow lantern, the new construction is part of the systems citywide Century Project initiative. Baylor College of Medicine opened The Baylor Clinic on June 29,2005, Texas Childrens Hospital announced the largest investment and program expansion ever by a single pediatric organization
21.
NRG Park
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NRG Park is a complex in Houston, Texas, USA, named after the energy company NRG Energy. It is located on Kirby Drive at the South Loop West Freeway and this complex of buildings encompasses 350 acres of land and consists of five venues, Carruth Plaza, NRG Stadium, NRG Center, NRG Arena and the Astrodome. The complex hosts many sporting events and conventions each year, the largest of which are the Houston Texans games, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and the Grand Prix of Houston. The complex is served by the Reliant Park Station, a rail station on the Red Line of the METRORail light rail system. It also includes one of the worlds largest parking lots and sees nearly 750 events yearly, until 2005, the lot also served as a parking lot for Six Flags Astroworld, which has since closed. NRG Stadium hosted WrestleMania XXV on April 5,2009 with an attendance of 72,774. The stadium was the first NFL stadium with a retractable roof, the stadium can be configured to utilize a 125, 000-square-foot space for general session, catered functions, exhibits, concerts, and much more. In addition, NRG Stadium offers four massive concourse levels for special events, the design of the stadium roof provides a very flexible rigging configuration for major audio and visual presentations. The NRG Center is a center located among the sports venues in NRG Park. It opened in 2002 and hosts various events year-round, including portions of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and it runs over ¼ mile in length. Exclusive services include support from telephone and internet, electrical, food and beverage, rigging, security. Each meeting room has its own dedicated sound, lighting and networking capabilities, a 280, 000-square-foot marshalling area on-site with over 200,000 square feet of space for shuttle transportation. Along with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, NRG Center hosts some of the largest conventions, the NRG Arena, formerly known as the Astro Arena, is a 350, 000-square-foot sports center. It was completed in 1971 and located adjacent to the Astro Hall, the Arena has been the home of several different events, including the Houston Hotshots, Houstons former indoor soccer team and smaller wrestling events such as WCW Thunder. With fixed seating in the arena for 5,800 and floor space encompassing approximately 25,000 square feet, Reliant Arena is ideal for general sessions. NRG Arenas pavilion also provides 1,700 fixed seats and is surrounded by over 325,000 square feet of exhibit space divisible into four halls, NRG Arena also includes over 18,000 square feet of meeting space. Some of the latest events to come through NRG Arena are the And 1 Mix Tape Tour, Hannah Montana, The Cheetah Girls, and Sesame Street Live. The Astrodome has been the home of other special events, including the Republican National Convention, the NBA All-Star Game
22.
Discovery Green
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Discovery Green is a public urban park in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. Opened in 2008, Discovery Green 11. 78-acre is located on Avenida de las Americas across from the George R. Brown Convention Center, the park includes a lake, bandstands and venues for public performances, two dog runs, a childrens area and multiple recreational areas. The park was designed by the landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates. The first event held at the park was Houston Mayor Bill Whites 2008 inauguration, the park officially opened to the public on April 13,2008. It is estimated that almost a quarter-million people visited the park between opening day and June 30,2008, the estimates were made by comparing the size of crowds with the Houston Police Departments estimate of 30,000 people who went to the park on opening day. The City of Houston acquired a portion of the land in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center in 2002, the Mayor agreed and became a strong advocate of a public-private partnership was developed for the $125 million project. Several other philanthropic foundations joined the effort, including the Wortham Foundation, with the guidance of Project for Public Spaces, the Conservancy mounted the large public meetings and smaller focus groups to solicit public feedback. This feedback became the basis for the park’s programming, Hargreaves Associates, an internationally renowned landscape architecture firm based in San Francisco, oversaw the design effort. Page designed the architecture and Larry Speck was their lead architect. Provided landscape and horticultural design services, artists Margo Sawyer and Doug Hollis were integral members of the design team and produced three works of art for the park. A large team of local and international engineers and specialists supported the design team. Elmore Public Relations was contracted for marketing and public relations, ever since the opening in 2008, the park has added upon. An estimate of $1 billion worth of buildings, offices, hotels, in 2009 the One Park Place opened. A high-end residential tower that houses 346 units, on 2011, the Hess Tower was built, a 29-story office building. On 2016, the Marriott Marquis convention hotel was built north of the park, a hotel that holds over 1,000 rooms. The park earned LEED certification in October 2009, the Kinder Foundation provided $10 million to help fund the $125 million project. Hargreaves Associates and their team of architects, engineers, and artists took thirteen months to design, notable challenges would be the dense intersection and the intricate design of implementing the garage with the surface park. The park is placed in the center of two juxtaposing cross axes, the linear plaza is lined by a multitude Mexican Sycamore trees and uniquely designed pavement
23.
GreenStreet
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GreenStreet, formerly known as Houston Pavilions, is a commercial development in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. Construction was scheduled to begin in Spring 2006, with the first developments opening in the quarter of 2007. The project covers three 1. 4-acre city blocks, as of November 16,2006, 50% of the retail space had been leased. 200,000 square feet of office space will be available on the mid-block between Fannin and San Jacinto Streets. Office parking will be provided in the Houston Pavilions 1,675 garage located on the corner of Main, the project is being developed by Texas Real Estate Trust, Inc. and Entertainment Development Group, who also developed the Denver Pavilions in Denver, Colorado. Geoffrey Jones and William Denton served as the co-developers of the project, the designers were Laguarda. Low Architects from Dallas. The Houston Chronicle reported that the Pavilions will provide around 1,800 to 2,000 full-, the Houston Pavilions office tower, which is 11 stories tall, is named the NRG Tower, after its main tenant. The construction of Houston Pavilions ended in October 2008, the office building originally had no tenants. On June 30,2009, Reliant Energy announced that it will take 10 floors in the Houston Pavilions tower, NRG Energy, which had acquired the retail operations of Reliant Energy, announced that it would take 234,000 square feet of space in a 10-year lease. Houston Pavilions redesigned its space to make room for NRG, prior to January 2011 rumors stated that the 23, 000-square-foot Books-A-Million location was closing. In January 2011 the management of Houston Pavilions finalized an extension of the lease with Books-A-Million, david Knox, an NRG spokesperson, said NRG employees and contractors had been moving into the 1201 Fannin St. from other locations since January 2011. Two weeks before March 17,2011, the employees of NRG finished moved into 1201 Fannin St, around March 17 the office building was renamed the NRG Tower. In December 2011 Mark Fowler, a receiver for Transwestern, took control of the development, in 2012 NBC Sports and Comcast Sports created a studio in the center. Later that year, Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds and Houston-based Midway Cos. acquired the Houston Pavilions, in December 2012 the Books-a-Million closed. In 2013 the new developers, Midway and Canyon-Johnson, announced plans to add outdoor landscaping, the developers planned to add other amenities and to schedule events. Additionally, the complex was renamed to GreenStreet, the linear urban park will span all three blocks and include mid-block crossings on Fannin and San Jacinto between Dallas and Polk. A central courtyard in the block between Fannin and San Jacinto, outdoor patios. In the office space, as of 20111,300 NRG Energy employees work in 263,000 square feet of office space, to accommodate additional workers, Houston Pavilions converted some of its empty retail space into office space
24.
House of Blues
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House of Blues is a chain of live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location, in Cambridges Harvard Square, was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, the first House of Blues opened on November 26,1992, in the Harvard Square commercial district and retail area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was financed by Dan Aykroyd, Aerosmith, Paul Shaffer, River Phoenix, James Belushi. This original location has since closed, however, the hands-in-concrete driveway where members of the Blues Brothers and others left their mark, still remains. In 1999, House of Blues acquired Universal Concerts from Seagram, on July 5,2006, Live Nation acquired House of Blues. As a division of Live Nation, the company currently operates 11 clubs throughout North America, the iconic Sunset Strip location in West Hollywood, CA closed in July 2015, a new location has not been found. Nine of these locations also feature the VIP membership club, Foundation Room
25.
Toyota Center
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Toyota Center is an indoor arena located in downtown Houston, Texas. It is named after the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota, the arena is home to the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association, the principal users of the building, and the former home of the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League. Rockets owner Leslie Alexander first began to request a new arena in 1995, and attempted to release the Rockets from their lease at The Summit, however, he was denied by arena owner Chuck Watson, then-owner of the Aeros, who also wanted control of a new arena. The two sides agreed to control over an arena in a deal signed in 1997. It was not until the city and the Rockets signed an agreement in 2001, excluding the Aeros. Construction began in July 2001, and the new arena was opened in October 2003. The total costs were $235 million, with the city of Houston paying the majority, Toyota paid US$100 million for the naming rights. In May 1995, several Texas sports teams, including the Houston Rockets, as the negotiations continued into 1996, a panel appointed by Houston mayor Bob Lanier reported that building a new arena was essential to keep pro sports in Houston. After Watson rejected a contract buyout proposal of $30 million, the Rockets filed a challenge against their lease. After both parties agreed to the terms, a bill that increased taxes to pay for a new arena was signed into law in July. In January 1999, recently elected mayor Lee Brown guaranteed a referendum on the issue before the end of the year. After several months negotiating with the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, the Rockets finalized a deal to pay half of the costs. The deal was approved by Brown and the Houston City Council, on November 3, the results of the referendum were announced, and the arena proposal was rejected by 54% of voters. Alexander said we never thought we would lose and that they were devastated by the loss, after the vote, NBA commissioner David Stern said if theres not a new building. I think its certain that the team will be relocated. Although the Rockets continued to negotiate with Louisville, Kentucky, a plan for the arena in Houston was released in June. A final agreement was proposed on July 6, and both the Rockets and mayor Brown agreed to the terms, after the city council approved the deal, the proposal was placed on the November referendum ballot. On November 8, the arena was approved by 66% of voters, morris Architects, designed the 750, 000-square-foot building, and Hunt Construction was contracted to build the arena. A building formerly owned by Houston Lighting and Power Company was demolished to make way for the arena, a groundbreaking ceremony was held on July 31,2001, and construction continued for 26 months
26.
Houston Rockets
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The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association, as a club of the leagues Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its games at the Toyota Center, located in downtown Houston. The Rockets have won two NBA championships and four Western Conference titles, the team was established as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team originally based in San Diego, in 1967. In 1971, the Rockets moved to Houston, the Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA draft, the Rockets, picking first overall, selected power forward Elvin Hayes, the Rockets did not finish a season with a winning record until the 1976–77 season, when they traded for center Moses Malone. Malone went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player award twice and he also led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981 where they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird and future Rockets coach Kevin McHale. In 1984, the Rockets drafted center Hakeem Olajuwon, who would be paired with 7 feet 4 inches Ralph Sampson, nicknamed the Twin Towers, they led the team to the 1986 NBA Finals—the second NBA Finals appearance in franchise history—where Houston was again defeated by the Boston Celtics. The Rockets continued to reach the playoffs throughout the 1980s, Rudy Tomjanovich took over as head coach midway through the 1991–92 season, ushering in the most successful period in franchise history. Olajuwon-led Rockets went to the 1994 NBA Finals and won franchises first championship against Patrick Ewing, Houston became the lowest-seeded team in NBA history to win the title. After Yaos early retirement in 2011, the Rockets entered a period of rebuilding, the acquisition of franchise player James Harden in 2012 has launched the Rockets back into championship contention in the mid-2010s. The Rockets, under general manager Daryl Morey, are notable for popularizing the use of advanced statistical analytics in player acquisitions and style of play. The Rockets were founded in 1967 in San Diego by Robert Breitbard, Breitbard brought in Jack McMahon, then coach of the Cincinnati Royals, to serve as the Rockets coach and general manager. The Rockets lost 67 games in their season, which was an NBA record for losses in a season at the time. Because of the low performance and attendance, Breitbard looked to sell the team, and in 1971, Texas Sports Investments bought the franchise for $5.6 million, and moved the team to Houston. The franchise became the first NBA team in Texas, and the nickname Rockets took on greater relevance after the move. It was also around this time that the Rockets would unveil their classic yellow and red logo, winter left soon after, being fired in January 1973 following a ten-game losing streak, and was replaced by Johnny Egan. Egan led the Rockets back to the playoffs in 1975, where the franchise also managed to win their first round against the New York Knicks, subsequently losing to the veteran Boston Celtics in 5 games
27.
Minute Maid Park
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The ballpark is Houstons first retractable-roofed stadium, and features a natural grass playing field. The ballpark was built as a replacement of the Astrodome, the first domed sports stadium ever built and it is named for beverage brand Minute Maid, a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company, which acquired naming rights in 2002 for $100 million over 30 years. As of 2016, Minute Maid Park has a capacity of 41,168. The largest entrance to the park is inside what was once Houstons Union Station, the train moves along a track on top of the length of the exterior wall beyond left field whenever an Astros player hits a home run and/or the Astros win a game. The engines coal car is filled with giant oranges in reference to Minute Maids most famous product, the location called for the demolition of several structures of Houston prominence. Horace Baldwin Rices residence and Adath Yeshurun Congregations synagogue among other structures were removed, with an original estimated cost of $1 million USD, Union Station was constructed by the American Construction Company for an eventual total of five times that amount. Exterior walls were constructed of granite, limestone, and terracotta and it was completed and opened on March 1,1911. At the time, Houston, with seventeen railways, was considered the railroad hub of the Southern United States. This is also evident by the Seal of Houston, which features a locomotive. Two more floors were added the following year, the station served as the main inter-city passenger terminal for Houston for over seven decades thereafter. Passenger rail declined greatly after World War II, and the last regularly-scheduled train, with this move, the building effectively became abandoned. On November 10,1977, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service. In August 1995, Astros owner Drayton McLane, then leasing the Astrodome from Harris County, in reference to Pittsburghs Three Rivers Stadium and Cincinnatis Riverfront Stadium, McLane noted, I remember when those were built in the 1970s and those were as good a stadiums as there were. They were the most modern stadiums in the world, and now theyre saying theyre all bad and that they cant make a go of it without a new stadium. It helps, but there are other things involved, citing a lack of adequate luxury boxes, in October, Astros Vice-President Bob McClaren claimed that renovations to the Astrodome would help increase revenue. Drayton McLane pointed toward Astrodome renovations as necessary saying Its 30 years old, according to the organization, the team was in danger of being sold to a Virginia businessman who was expected to move the Astros to Washington D. C. because of poor revenue. Meanwhile, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels pieced together a plan to build a new ballpark next to the Astrodome in the Astrodomain, the Astros echoed the Astrodomain location sentiment because they believed construction time would be shorter. This plan was considered to be nearly finalized when the Astros, in August 1996, Houstons Union Station received a $2 million USD grant from the Texas Transportation Commission for renovation in a separate project
28.
Houston Astros
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The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros are members of the American League West division in Major League Baseball, the Astros have played their home games at Minute Maid Park since 2000. The Astros were established as the Houston Colt. 45s and entered the National League in 1962 with the expansion New York Mets. The current name—reflecting Houstons role as the center of the U. S. space program—was adopted three years later, when they moved into the Astrodome, the worlds first domed sports stadium. The Astros played in the NL from 1962 to 2012 and they played in the West division from 1969 to 1993, and the Central division from 1994 to 2012. The Astros have played in one World Series in 2005 against the Chicago White Sox, from 1888 until 1961, Houstons professional baseball club was the minor league Houston Buffaloes. Although expansion from the National League eventually brought an MLB team to Texas in 1962, Houston officials had been making efforts to do so for years prior. There were four men responsible for bringing Major League Baseball to Houston, George Kirksey and Craig Cullinan. They formed the Houston Sports Association as their vehicle for attaining a big league franchise for the city of Houston and they called the new league the Continental League. Wanting to protect potential new markets, both existing leagues chose to expand from eight teams to ten, however, plans eventually fell through for the Houston franchise after the Houston Buffaloes owner, Marty Marion, could not come to an agreement with the HSA to sell the team. To make matters worse, the Continental League as a whole folded in August 1960, however, on October 17,1960, the National League granted an expansion franchise to the Houston Sports Association in which their team could begin play in the 1962 season. Eventually, the Houston Sports Association succeeded in purchasing the Houston Buffaloes, at this point majority-owned by William Hopkins, the Buffs played one last minor league season as the top farm team of the Chicago Cubs in 1961 before being succeeded by the citys NL club. The new Houston team was named the Colt. 45s after a Name The Team contest was won by William Irving Neder, the Colt.45 was well known as the gun that won the west. The colors selected were blue and orange. The first team was formed mostly through a draft after the 1961 season. The Colt. 45s and their cousins, the New York Mets. Many of those associated with the Houston Buffaloes organization were allowed by the ownership to continue in the major league, Manager Harry Craft, who had joined Houston in 1961, remained in the same position for the team until the end of the 1964 season. General manager Spec Richardson also continued with the organization as business manager, similarly, the radio broadcasting team remained with the new Houston major league franchise
29.
Super Bowl LI
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Super Bowl LI was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League for the 2016 season. The Patriots 25-point comeback is the largest comeback in Super Bowl history, the game was played at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on Sunday, February 5,2017. The Falcons entered the game completing a 11–5 regular season record. After a scoreless first quarter, Atlanta scored 21 unanswered points before New England made a goal with two seconds left in the second period to make it a 21–3 halftime lead. The Falcons then increased their lead, 28–3, midway through the quarter with quarterback Matt Ryan completing his second touchdown pass. The Patriots then scored 25 unanswered points to tie the game, 28–28, New England won the overtime coin toss, took the ball, and drove 75 yards to win with a 2-yard touchdown run by running back James White. When the game ended, more than 30 team and individual Super Bowl records had been broken or matched. Whites 14 receptions and his 20 points scored were among these broken records, foxs broadcast of the game averaged around 111.3 million viewers, down from the previous Super Bowl. Average TV viewership for the show, headlined by Lady Gaga, was higher at 117.5 million. The NFL selected the sites for Super Bowl 50 and Super Bowl LI at the owners spring meetings in Boston on May 21,2013. On October 16,2012, the NFL announced that Reliant Stadium in Houston, Houston then competed against the runner-up for the site of Super Bowl 50, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The South Florida bid for either Super Bowl partially depended on whether the stadium underwent renovations, however, on May 3, the Florida Legislature refused to approve the funding plan to pay for the renovations, dealing a blow to South Floridas chances. The NFL ultimately selected Houston as the host city of Super Bowl LI and it was also the third time the Super Bowl has been played in Houston, with Super Bowl VIII in 1974 having been held at Rice Stadium. Subsequently, the NFL announced it would not alter plans to have the city host Super Bowl LI, Houston Texans owner Bob McNair donated $10,000 to Campaign for Houston, an organization that opposes the ordinance, which he later rescinded. McNair has a history of supporting conservative political causes. Corporate sponsorship and entertainment backlash against Super Bowl LI still exist, in 2016 New England tied an NFL record, earning 12+ wins for the seventh consecutive season. They scored 441 points while allowing the fewest in the league, Brady missed the first four games of the year on suspension due to a 2014 postseason incident known as Deflategate. Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett each started two games in Bradys place.2 passer rating ranked second in the NFL, the teams leading receiver was Julian Edelman, who caught 98 passes for 1,106 yards and added 135 more returning punts
30.
Hurricane Katrina
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Hurricane Katrina was the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. The storm is ranked as the third most intense United States landfalling tropical cyclone. Overall, at least 1,245 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, total property damage was estimated at $108 billion, roughly four times the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 in the United States. Early the following day, the new depression intensified into Tropical Storm Katrina, the cyclone headed generally westward toward Florida and strengthened into a hurricane only two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach and Aventura on August 25. After very briefly weakening to a storm, Katrina emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on August 26. The storm caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge, severe property damage occurred in coastal areas, such as Mississippi beachfront towns, over 90 percent of these were flooded. Boats and casino barges rammed buildings, pushing cars and houses inland, over fifty breaches in New Orleanss hurricane surge protection were the cause of the majority of the death and destruction during Katrina on August 29,2005. Eventually 80% of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes became flooded, according to a modeling exercise conducted by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, two-thirds of the deaths in Greater New Orleans were due to levee and floodwall failure. All of the studies concluded that the USACE, the designers and builders of the levee system as mandated by the Flood Control Act of 1965, is responsible. This is mainly due to a decision to use shorter steel sheet pilings in an effort to save money, exactly ten years after Katrina, J. Many other government officials were criticized for their responses, especially New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, several agencies including the United States Coast Guard, National Hurricane Center, and National Weather Service were commended for their actions. They provided accurate hurricane weather tracking forecasts with sufficient lead time, Hurricane Katrina formed as Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas on August 23,2005, as the result of an interaction of a tropical wave and the remains of Tropical Depression Ten. It strengthened into Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of August 24, the tropical storm moved towards Florida, and became a hurricane only two hours before making landfall between Hallandale Beach and Aventura on the morning of August 25. The storm weakened over land, but it regained hurricane status about one hour after entering the Gulf of Mexico, on August 27, the storm reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, becoming the third major hurricane of the season. An eyewall replacement cycle disrupted the intensification, but caused the storm to nearly double in size, the storm rapidly intensified after entering the Gulf, growing from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in just nine hours. This rapid growth was due to the movement over the unusually warm waters of the Loop Current. Katrina attained Category 5 status on the morning of August 28 and reached its peak strength at 1800 UTC that day, with sustained winds of 175 mph. However, this record was broken by Hurricane Rita
31.
Astrodome
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The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply The Astrodome, is the worlds first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. Construction on the began in 1962, and it officially opened in 1965. Additionally, the Astrodome was the venue of the Houston Livestock Show. When opened, it was named the Harris County Domed Stadium and was nicknamed the Eighth Wonder of the World, while originally utilizing a natural grass playing surface, the Astrodome became the first major sports venue to feature artificial turf, which became known as AstroTurf. In another technological first, the Astrodome featured the Astrolite, which was the first animated scoreboard, the Astrodome received considerable renovations in 1988 that significantly expanded seating, and altered many original features. By the 1990s, the Astrodome was becoming obsolete, unable to secure a new stadium, Oilers owner Bud Adams moved the team to Tennessee after the 1996 season, where they eventually became the Tennessee Titans. Although it no longer had any primary tenants, the venue regularly hosted events during the 2000s, the Astrodome was declared non-compliant with fire code by the Houston Fire Department in 2008 and parts of it were demolished in 2013 after several years of disuse. In 2014 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in 2017, the Texas Historical Commission designated the Astrodome a State Antiquities Landmark. Major League Baseball expanded to Houston in 1960 when the National League agreed to add two teams, the Houston Colt. 45s were to begin play in 1962, along with their expansion brethren New York Mets. Roy Hofheinz, a mayor of Houston, and his group were granted the franchise after they promised to build a covered stadium. It was thought a covered stadium was a must for a league team to be viable in Houston due to the areas subtropical climate. Game-time temperatures are usually above 97 °F in July and August, with high humidity, Hofheinz abandoned his interest in the worlds first air-conditioned shopping mall, The Galleria, and set his sights on bringing major league baseball to Houston. The Astrodome was designed by architects Hermon Lloyd & W. B, morgan, and Wilson, Morris, Crain and Anderson. Structural engineering and structural design was performed by Walter P Moore Engineers and it was constructed by H. A. Lott, Inc. for Harris County, Texas. It stands 18 stories tall, covering 9.5 acres, the dome is 710 feet in diameter and the ceiling is 208 feet above the playing surface, which itself sits 25 feet below street level. The scoreboard, eventually known as the Astrolite, was designed by Fair Play Scoreboards of Des Moines, having designed the scoreboard for Dodger Stadium several years prior, team owner Roy Hofheinz was not impressed with the initial proposal for a much more generic type of scoreboard. Project designer Jack Foster teamed up with a creative professional based in Kansas City to create the first animated scoreboard and its reported cost was $2.1 million. The Dome was completed in November 1964, six ahead of schedule
32.
Houston Chronicle
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The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. As of April 2016, it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, with its 1995 buy-out of long-time rival the Houston Post, the Chronicle became Houstons primary newspaper. The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily paper owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, the paper employs nearly 2,000 people, including approximately 300 journalists, editors, and photographers. The Chronicle has bureaus in Washington, D. C. and it reports that its web site averages 125 million page views per month. The publication serves as the newspaper of record of the Houston area, previously headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building at 801 Texas Avenue, Downtown Houston, the Houston Chronicle is now located at 4747 Southwest Freeway. From its inception, the practices and policies of the Houston Chronicle were shaped by strong-willed personalities who were the publishers, the history of the newspaper can be best understood when divided into the eras of these individuals. The Houston Chronicle was founded in 1901 by a reporter for the now-defunct Houston Post. The Chronicles first edition was published on October 14,1901, at the end of its first month in operation, the Chronicle had a circulation of 4,378 — roughly one tenth of the population of Houston at the time. Within the first year of operation, the paper purchased and consolidated the Daily Herald, in 1908, Foster asked Jesse H. Jones agreed, and the resulting Chronicle Building was one of the finest in the South. Under Foster, the circulation grew from about 7,000 in 1901 to 75,000 on weekdays and 85,000 on Sundays by 1926. Foster continued to write columns under the pen name Mefo, and he sold the rest of his interest to Jesse H. Jones on June 26,1926 and promptly retired. In 1911, City Editor George Kepple started Goodfellows, on a Christmas Eve in 1911, Kepple passed a hat among the Chronicles reporters to collect money to buy toys for a shoe-shine boy. Goodfellows continues today through donations made by the newspaper and its readers and it has grown into a city-wide program that provides needy children between the ages of two and ten with toys during the winter holidays. In 2003, Goodfellows distributed almost 250,000 toys to more than 100,000 needy children in the Greater Houston area, in 1926, Jesse H. Jones became the sole owner of the paper. He had approached Foster about selling, and Foster had answered and he replied, On real estate and everything about 200,000 dollars. I then said to him that I would give him 300,000 dollars in cash, having in mind that this would pay his debts, I considered the offer substantially more than the Chronicle was worth at the time. No sooner had I finished stating my proposition than he said, I will take it, in 1937, Jesse H. Jones transferred ownership of the paper to the newly established Houston Endowment Inc. Jones retained the title of publisher until his death in 1956. As such, it eschewed controversial political topics, such as integration or the impacts of economic growth on life in the city
33.
Dotdash
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About. com is an American Internet-based network of content that publishes articles and videos about various subjects on its topic sites, of which there are nearly 1,000. It is operated by About, Inc, the website competes with other online resource sites and encyclopedias. By March 2014,61,428,000 unique visitors were registered by comScore for About. com, making it the 16th-most-visited online property during that month. As of August 2012, About. com is the property of IAC, owner of Ask. com and numerous other online brands, and its revenue is generated by advertising. Founded in 1996 as The Mining Company, the site was launched on April 21,1997 by Scott Kurnit, owner of General Internet, Bill Day, and a group of other entrepreneurs in New York City. The original goal was to maintain 1,800 topic areas, but after five years of operation, the company changed its name to About Inc. and the website address from miningco. com to about. com in May 1999. The company was acquired by Primedia, Inc. in 2000 through a deal valued at US$690 million, whereby Primedia swapped 45.2 million shares for About, at the time of the acquisition announcement, About Inc. Following the purchase, which was finalized in the first quarter of 2001, in February 2005, The New York Times Company announced it was buying About. com, a purchase that was completed in the first half of the year for US$410 million. Google and Yahoo were reportedly among the other bidders, following the Times Co. acquisition, Peter C. Horan was appointed as About Inc. s president and CEO, in March 2007, About. coms patronage was measured at 33.5 million unique visitors. On May 7,2007, About Inc. acquired ConsumerSearch. com, initially conceived of in January 2007, About. coms first fully owned foreign venture, the China-based Abang. com, debuted in December 2007. At the time of the launch, the company had a Japan-based online entity, Allabout. co. jp, the About Group generated US$102.7 million in 2007, which represented a 135-percent increase from the time of the Times Co. acquisition. Meyer stepped down from the executive role in March 2008 and was replaced by Cella Irvine. Martin Nisenholtz, SVP of digital operations, temporarily replaced Irvine following her departure in May 2011, in July 2011, Darline Jean was named CEO of the About Group, after the companys second-quarter revenues totaled US$27.8 million. Jean previously served as Abouts chief financial officer and her new appointment became effective on September 1,2011, a media report published in August 2012 indicated that Answers. com had reached a preliminary agreement to acquire About. com for US$270 million. However, on August 26, Barry Dillers IAC announced that it would acquire About. com instead for US$300 million in cash. A source for the TechCrunch publication later confirmed that Answers. coms offer was valued at US$270 million. In the corresponding press release, IAC explained that the acquisition will help bolster and accompany its existing properties, Jean fulfilled her role as chief executive during the transition period, while ownership was transferred to IAC, and then left About shortly after the sale was finalized
34.
Houston Skyline District
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The Houston Skyline District is a geographic area encompassing severral blocks of downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The collection of skyscrapers in this district creates one of the largest skylines in the United States, most of Houstons major modern buildings can be found in this district, including the two tallest buildings in both Houston and Texas, the JPMorgan Chase Tower and Wells Fargo Bank Plaza. These buildings are home to the headquarters of various multinational businesses, most of the buildings in the Skyline District are connected by the Houston Downtown Tunnel System. Downtown Houston Architecture of Houston Houston Skyline District map
35.
Main Street Market Square Historic District
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Main Street Market Square Historic District is a historic district in Houston that includes the Market Square Park. It includes buildings nearby, as well as the square itself and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The Main Street Market Square District has irregular boundaries, the district includes all of the blocks between Travis and Main from Texas Street to the northern boundary of University of Houstown-Downtown. From the southern edge of Market Square at Preston Street, it all of the blocks northward until Buffalo Bayou. It includes three and a half blocks between Main and Fannin Streets, running south from Franklin Street, a wedge-shaped, partial block at Milam falls within the district, as well as a partial block east of Main Street at the base of the viaduct. The University of Houston–Downtown is a state university, located within the Main Street Market Square Historic District. Founded in 1974, it is one of four separate and distinct institutions in the University of Houston System, UHD has an enrollment of 12,900 students—making it the 13th largest public university in Texas and the second-largest university in the Houston area. One of the anchors of the district is Market Square Park, so-named because this site previously hosted four Houston City Halls and City Markets. Adjacent to the park are three structures, the Fox-Kuhlman Building at 305-307 Travis, the Baker-Meyer Building at 315 Travis. Like the Kennedy Bakery Building, the property at 214 Travis had been owned by Irish-born baker and he started a building there in 1860. WL Foley Dry Goods commissioned Eugene Heiner to enlarge the structure in 1889, across the street at 201 Travis is the Houston National Bank, once owned by Ross S. Sterling. Houston Ice and Brewing Company built the Magnolia Brewery Building at 110 Milam, Eugene Heiner designed two other buildings in the district, the 1882 Henry Brashear Building at 910 Prairie, and the Sweeney and Coombs Building at 310 Main. National Register of Historic Places listings in Harris County, Texas
36.
Houston Independent School District
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The Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas, and the seventh-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby, like most districts in Texas it is independent of the city of Houston and all other municipal and county jurisdictions. The district has its headquarters in the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center in Houston, in 2016, the school district was rated met standards by the Texas Education Agency. The Brunner Independent School District merged into Houston schools in 1913-1914, Houston ISD was established in the 1920s, after the Texas Legislature voted to separate school and municipal governments. Houston ISD replaced the Harrisburg School District, in the 1920s, at the time Edison Oberholtzer was superintendent, Hubert L. Mills, the business manager of the district, had immense political power in HISD. He had been in the employment of the district over one decade before Oberholtzer started, by the 1930s the two men were in a power struggle. The number of students in schools in Houston increased from 5,500 in 1888 to over 8,850 in 1927. There were 8,293 students in Houstons schools for students in the 1924-1925 school year. The original secondary school for blacks, was Colored High School, at the time all three secondary schools had junior high and senior high levels. There were 12,217 students in the schools in the 1929-1930 school year. William Henry Kellar, author of Make Haste Slowly, Moderates, Conservatives, Houston ISD absorbed portions of the White Oak Independent School District in 1937 and portions of the Addicks Independent School District after its dissolution. In the fall of 196012 black students were admitted to HISD schools previously reserved for whites, the racial integration efforts in HISD, beginning in 1960, were characterized by a lack of violence and turmoil as business leaders sought not to cause disruption. Prior to 1960 HISD was the largest racially segregated system in the United States. During the 1960s, HISDs school board instituted a phase-in with each subsequent grade being integrated, local African-American leaders believed the pace was too slow, and William Lawson, a youth minister, asked Wheatley students to boycott school. Five days afterwards 10% of Wheatley students attended classes, in 1970 a federal judge asked the district to speed the integration process. Simultaneously Mexican Americans were being discriminated against when they were being labeled as whites and this kept both Mexican Americans and African Americans away from Anglos while satisfying integration requirements set forth by the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education court case decision. Many Mexican Americans took their children out of the schools and put them in huelga. On August 31,1970 and organized by the Mexican-American Education Council and this action lasted approximately three weeks, during which up to 75% of the student bodies of some high schools participated in the boycotts
37.
Incarnate Word Academy (Houston)
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Incarnate Word Academy is a Roman Catholic secondary girls school located in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. Incarnate Word Academy serves grades 9 through 12 and is owned and operated by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word, gabriel Dillon and two other members of the religious order of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament arrived just 37 years later in 1873. At the time, Houston’s streets weren’t paved and most residents did not yet have electricity, in fact the entirety of the town encompassed what we now know as downtown Houston. While its population was only around 10,000 residents, its Catholic leaders were already seeing the need for a Catholic school to serve the youths in the region and these three Sisters arrived and began what is the oldest Catholic high school in Houston. Today, much like the city it calls home, Incarnate Word Academy has grown into an example of what can happen when people are willing to work hard. Regardless of the changes to the school and the community, the commitment to educate, Incarnate Word Academy provides young women with a Catholic college preparatory education, helping them grow in their relationship with Jesus, the Incarnate Word, and live according to His values. Its cornerstones are, Academics, Values and Spirituality. The Academy has a Strategic Plan in place to help pave the way for the generation of young women who will call the school “home. ”In addition to the Strategic Plan. New Advanced Placement courses and stimulating electives have been added to the curriculum, after 140 years, IWA understands that continually planning and adapting is the only way to be prepared for the future. IWA continues to offer its students a traditional Catholic education in a more modern world. The IWA Young Leaders Program is an innovative 4-year character and leadership development program and it provides each student the unique opportunity to develop in-demand leadership skills built upon a foundation of strong personal character. The program provides activities and curriculum for each grade classification, for incoming freshmen and sophomores, the focus is on character - challenging each student to be virtuous by doing the right things, the right way, and, thus, becoming a role model. The focus for the junior and senior years is leadership and our program and curriculum will inspire the student to prepare for a lifelong journey to becoming a better leader. This involves understanding the laws of leadership and how to apply them in service to others, additionally, the demands of the 21st century require that our students have something extra. When they identify and apply their personal strengths in creative ways, when our students go above and beyond, the community recognizes them as future good neighbors or students whom they would like to hire one day. This program, together with IWAs unique downtown location, creates a strong differentiator for our graduates, some schools talk about building leadership and character as an indirect outcome of the high school experience. Conversely, the IWA Young Leaders Program is built around specific courses and activities intended to achieve a positive outcome. It is available to all students, the activities required to stay active in the program will demand effort largely outside of the classroom
38.
South Texas College of Law
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South Texas College of Law - Houston, is a private American Bar Association accredited law school and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. US News consistently ranks the South Texas trial advocacy program in the top ten, in 2010, according to South Texas 2013 ABA-required disclosures,61. 2% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. South Texas offers a 3 and 3 program with Texas A&M University and this program makes it possible to obtain a Bachelors degree and a Juris Doctor in six years. The Consortium for Innovative Legal Education, combines resources designed to enhance and strengthen the educational mission of each school separately and this partnership provides access to educational programs on a national and international basis. Students at South Texas can study abroad in London, Ireland, Malta, the Czech Republic, France, in 2007, South Texas won the National White Collar Crime Invitational Mock Trial Competition hosted by Georgetown Law School. As of August 2011, South Texas has won 108 national titles, the schools most recent win was at the Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Tournament in 2011. As of 2016, South Texas College of Law Houstons rank is unpublished in the US News Rankings of Best Law Schools and it is currently not ranked on the U. S. News Report for Best Law Schools in the nation. According to South Texas official 2013 ABA-required disclosures,61. 2% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, the total cost of attendance at South Texas for the 2013-2014 academic year is $50,010. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $186,530, the average Class of 2009 graduate had $104,862 of student loan debt. Since September 3,2011, the courts are now located in the 1911 Harris County courthouse, in 1998, Texas A&M University tried to merge with South Texas College of Law Houston under a public/private partnership. Under the proposal, the law school would have remained a private school, the deal went sour after a lengthy legal fight with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the governing body of the states public institutions. The courts ruled that the schools had failed to obtain the Boards approval before entering into the agreement, the University of Houston and other institutions voiced concern about the partnership. In 2013, Texas A&M University entered into an arrangement with the Texas Wesleyan School of Law in Fort Worth, Texas. Until mid-2016, the law school was called South Texas College of Law, the University of Houston System filed a lawsuit on June 27,2016, in U. S. Federal district court in Houston. On November 7,2016, the dean of the law school announced that the name would be changed to South Texas College of Law Houston, pat Lykos, former Harris County District Attorney David M. S. News and World Report, Americas Best Graduate Schools, Law Specialties, Trial Advocacy Official website Digital Collections at The Fred Parks Law Library
39.
Houston Community College
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Houston Community College, also known as Houston Community College System is a community college system that operates community colleges in Houston, Missouri City, Katy, and Stafford in Texas. It is notable for actively recruiting internationally and for the number of international students enrolled. Its open enrollment policies, which do not require proficiency in English, are backed by a full-time 18-month English proficiency program, in 1971, the district founded HCCS after HJCs and HCNs evolutions into the University of Houston and Texas Southern University respectively. In its early days, HCCS once used HISD school campuses for teaching facilities with classes during evenings, around 1997, HCCS began to transfer operations to community college district-operated campuses throughout the HCCS service area. Jim Murphy, a member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 133 in Houston, was a HCCD trustee for two terms from 1997 until 2006, HCC operates its own police department. They may make an arrest pursuant to a warrant anywhere in Texas, the HCC Police Department is divided into six divisions, Administrative, Criminal Investigations, Patrol, Bike Patrol, Training, Communications. HCCS operates Houston Community College Television, aired on Comcast Channel 19, TV Max Channel 97, Phonoscope Channel 77 and Cebridge Channel 20. Content is also streamed over the internet, the studio complex, which has one large studio unit, five editing suites, and a digital master control system, is located at the HCC District Campus. Houston Academy for International Studies of Houston ISD opened on HCCs Central Campus in Fall 2006, willie Lee Gay Hall Coleman College of Health Sciences Codwell Hall Campus Northline Campus The HCC Northline Campus is the site of HISDs North Houston Early College High School. Pinemont Campus Alief Campus The Alief Campus is the site of Alief ISDs Alief Early College High School, Alief Continuing Education Center Katy Campus Spring Branch Campus Southeast College is home to two separate campuses in different parts of the HCC Southeast service area. The Felix Fraga Academic Campus is located a mile and a quarter east of Downtown Houston at 301 N. Drennan St. Fraga served as an HISD trustee, today he is the Vice President of External Affairs for the Neighborhood Centers, Inc. The Felix Fraga Campus hosts classes to over 1,500 students every semester and its flagship offerings include Maritime Logistics, Pre-Engineering, and other STEM classes. Most core courses are also available, in partnership with HISD, the Felix Fraga Campus is also the host location of HISDs East Early College High School. The country of Qatar operates an area called Education City and its purpose is to bring U. S. universities to the Middle East. Houston Community College ran a satellite campus in Education City, however, as of March 2016, HCC “is massively scaling back operations, ” according to Gulf News Journal. Over a five-year period, Qatar’s government paid HCC approximately $30.5 million to subsidize the Education City campus, in a news interview, the HCC Board of Trustees Treasurer said he did not support continuing the campus. “We’re a community college to educate kids in our district, ” he said, when HCC first sent teachers to its Qatar campus, the Qatari government made some of them return back to the United States because they were Jewish. Kim Su Tran La, founder of the restaurant chain Kim Sơn, HCCS Homepage HCCS Libraries TSPR Houston Community College System - Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
40.
Midtown, Houston
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Midtown is a district southwest of Downtown Houston, bordered by Neartown, Interstate 69/U. S. Around 1906 what is now Midtown was divided between the Third Ward and Fourth Ward, before the 1950s what is now Midtown was a popular residential district. Increasingly, commercial development lead homeowners to leave for neighborhoods they considered less busy, the area became a group of small apartment complexes, low-rise commercial buildings, and older houses. According to a City of Houston report, the remaining churches, in the 1970s, Midtown became home to Little Saigon, a neighborhood of Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans, who pioneered the redevelopment of Midtown Houston. During the 1980s, Travis and Milam Streets were viewed as an image of 1970s era Saigon. The Vietnamese areas were established around Milam Street, Webster Street, Fannin Street, by 1991 this Little Saigon had Vietnamese restaurants, hair salons, car shops, and travel agencies. Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly stated in 1991 that Little Saigon is a place to begin easing into a new country, on June 24,1994 Isabella Court at 3909-3917 South Main Street received listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The City of Houston established the Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone in 1995, the establishment of the TIRZ lead to the opening of upper income townhomes and apartment complexes in western Midtown and the area along Elizabeth Baldwin Park. Between 1990 and 2000 the area within the Midtown Superneighborhood saw the increase from 3,070 to 5,311. The increase by 2,241 people was 73% of the 1990 population, during that period about 2,200 multi-family units opened, particularly along Louisiana Street and West Gray Street. Since the total multi-family acreage remained at a number, the population increase also increased the density of the area. During the 1990s commercial uses increased, particularly along Main Street, in 1999 the 76th Texas Legislature created the Midtown Management District. In 2009 Houston City Council approved the expansion of the Midtown TIRZ by 8 acres, the new territory includes the Asia House, the Buffalo Soldiers Museum and the Museum of African-American culture. In 2014 the ranking website Niche stated that Midtown was the neighborhood for millennial people. In 2010 Denny Lee of The New York Times said that Midtown, by 2012 many new bars, retail operations, and restaurants had opened in Midtown. Ed Page, a broker, said in 2012 that Midtown has not yet seen any significant new retail. As of 2010 five flower shops are located along Fannin in a section of Midtown, one decade before 2010 there were over one dozen flower shops in that area. In 2003 the flower shop owners were mostly Asian, the shops, along four city blocks, were centered on Rosedale Street
41.
Houston Public Library
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Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States. The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the Houston Lyceum in 1854, the lyceum was preceded by a debating society, a special-interest mechanics lyceum, and a circulating library. The lyceums library eventually split into an institution at the end of the 19th century. In 1892, William Marsh Rice, a Houston businessman and philanthropist who later chartered Rice University, the facility opened in 1895 and obtained its own building in 1904 with financial assistance from Andrew Carnegie. Julia Ideson was named its first librarian, the building constructed as Houstons Central Library in 1926 was later named in her honor, the name was changed to Houston Public Library in 1921. The Colored Carnegie Library opened in 1913 and became a part of HPL in 1921, the library system racially desegregated in 1953. In June 1953, Mayor of Houston Roy Hofheinz told the HPL board that library facilities should no longer be segregated, on August 21,1953, library facilities for high school students and adults were desegregated – without public announcement to the black community. On July 31,1961, the Carnegie colored branch closed, the library facility required extensive repairs and it was in the path of the Clay Avenue extension project. The branch, auctioned in February 1962 and shortly afterward demolished except for the cornerstone, was replaced by the W. L. D. Johnson Library in Sunnyside, Central Library consists of the Julia Ideson Building and the Jesse H. Jones Building, constructed in 1976. The HPL administrative offices were moved out of the Jones Building, freeing 12,600 square feet of space. Lisa Gray, of the Houston Chronicle, said the renovation made the Jones Building less of a public space devoted to reading, the offices moved to the Marston Building. Additions in the 2000s include McGovern-Stella Link Neighborhood Library, HPL Express Southwest, a new building for Looscan Neighborhood Library opened in 2007, replacing a 1956 structure. The Jones Building closed for renovations in 2006 and reopened in 2008 and that same year, the Houston Press heralded the project as Houstons best renovation in its annual awards. In 2010, due to a shortfall, the library system reduced its hours. During the same year the system put its decades-old city directories online, during the Jones Building remodeling the HPL administrative offices moved to the 22, 000-square-foot Marston Building in Neartown Houston. The City of Houston spent $1.3 million to renovate the Marston Building to accommodate HPL staff, prior to the remodeling, the HPL administrative offices were located in the Jones Building. This addition houses the Houston Metropolitan Research Center which is the center of the Houston Public Library System. The Marston Building was sold in 2012 by the City of Houston, in addition to the Central Library and Clayton Library, there are 35 neighborhood libraries, including four regional libraries, all located within the city of Houston
42.
Julia Ideson Building
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The Julia Ideson Building is a Houston Public Library facility in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is named for Julia Bedford Ideson, the first Head Librarian of the Houston Public Libraries, the building, with Spanish Renaissance architecture, is part of the Central Library, it houses the archives, manuscripts, and the Texas and Local History Department. The Houston Metropolitan Research Center is located in the building, in 1976 the Jesse H. Jones Building opened, and the Central Library moved to the new building. The building received listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the Ideson building reopened in 1979. Lana Berkowitz of the Houston Chronicle stated that there are legends of the Ideson Building being haunted by the ghost of Jacob Frank Cramer, a library caretaker, and Petey, his dog
