Houston

“ Houston, Promised Land or New Golconda or whatever writers say of it, is a city of great expectations. Ambitious, confident, it moves swiftly, restlessly. Its profile, a transfiguring skyline moored to the flat Gulf plain, vaguely resembles other modern skylines, but Houston resembles nothing in the world except itself. Ever since World War II the city has beguiled observers, who often approach it with preconception, and often leave it with surprise. ”

“ The Indians, oppressed and outraged, had the sympathy of Houston. He knew their wrongs, and his untiring and magnanimous efforts in their behalf form some of the finest pictures of the lights and shadows of forest life. Domiciled among them, he determined to care for their interests and protect them in their rights. He had studied the mysteries of nature among their wigwams, around their council fires, and in the silent virgin forests. By an Indian he had never been betrayed or deceived, and the Indians on this continent never had a better friend than Houston. ”

“ Houston, on his side, was a thoroughly natural and healthful man, having lived an outdoor life, hunting and camping in the forest and displaying the unaffected manner of the pioneer. Having lived the solitary life of the woods, it was a strange thing for him to meet a girl who had been bred in an entirely different way, who had learned a thousand little reservations and dainty graces, and whose very breath was coyness and reserve. Their mating was the mating of the man of the forest with the woman of the sheltered life. ”

“ In a short time Houston had become perfectly familiar with his new surroundings. He was thoroughly at home in the underground workings, readily finding his way in the labyrinth of shafts, tunnels and cross-cuts extending for miles in all directions, and connecting the various mining claims one with another.
He knew the name and face of nearly every man employed in the various shifts, and by his keen perception and insight, was able to form a very correct estimate of their character and standing in that little community. ”

“ George Henry Hermann, an eccentric who was born in Houston in 1843 and later gave the city a great hospital, Hermann Park, and Hermann Square downtown; and M. D. Anderson and Hugh Roy Cullen, the philanthropists.
Houston’s good fortune during its first century and its extraordinary rise afterward have tempted some to call it a city of destiny. But the cliché signifies an irrevocable fate in spite of man’s successes or failures. And man, not fate, decisively controls the fortunes of cities.
How is one city more or less than another? ”

“ Half an hour later, Houston found himself in the inner room of the little cabin, alone with Jack, while at the outside door, Rex was stationed as guard.
Already the twilight was beginning to gather in the little room, but even in its soft, shadowy light, Houston noted the evidences, existing on all sides, of a refined nature, a nature keenly appreciative of beauty in all its forms. ”

“ With a median age of 27.5 years, Houston’s population is the youngest of America’s big cities. The city itself seems younger than it is, for since the 1920s Houston has given the impression of being always new. Few structures stand long enough to become old. When the lovely patina of age does get a chance to form, it is scrubbed away as though it were an embarrassment, or so it was removed in 1962 from the bronze of Sam Houston’s equestrian statue in Hermann Park. Houstonians have shown little compassion for their city’s past. ”

“ Houston, which is said not to have had a lynching in fifty years, is understandably stirred by this foul thing laid on its doorstep just when it was most anxious to show itself to the world at its cleanest. ”

“ True to his word I was soon a free man and on my way with the journalist to the office of the Houston Post. After the interview, I left for my hotel, where, after the luxury of a refreshing bath, on a soft, snowy bed, I lay down to rest but not to sleep for while my body rested, my thoughts were back in that wicked cell with those of my countrymen who saw no future and to whom life held no meaning. Not until the dawn of another glorious Texas day, a symbol of the light glowing in the great hearts of the good people of Houston and of Texas, did I fall asleep. ”

“ We believe no man can say that he ever saw Houston rendered incompetent, by any indulgence, to perform any offices of private or public life a single hour. But the days of his indulgences passed away. When the sunlight of domestic happiness again shone through his dwelling, and he was sustained once more by that great conservative principle of a man's life, a happy home, illumined by the smile of an affectionate and devoted wife, his good angel came back, and for years no man was more exemplary in all the duties and all the virtues of the citizen, the father, and the husband. ”

“ Houston leaves a most devoted wife and large and lovely family of children, who lament in the bitterness of their souls the loss of him who was their comfort, their stay, and their pride. Full of years and of honors, he has gone to rest. ”

“ But the occupants of both carriages appeared to be great favorites with the populace who thronged the Plaza, the windows, the flat roofs of the houses, and every available place for hearing and seeing.
The blue flag of Texas fluttered gayly over the lovely city; and there was a salvo of cannon; then, into the sunshine and into the sight of all stepped the man of his generation. Nature has her royal line, and she makes no mistakes in the kings she crowns. The physical charm of Houston was at this time very great. ”

“ Birds and beasts almost always know beforehand; often man can tell. Then, suddenly, the temperature falls and sounds break the stillness, first a low soughing of the wind, then bedlam as the fury commands the city.
Arriving in Houston in 1873, Edward King instantly experienced his first norther, “which came raving and tearing over the town.... It was glorious, exhilarating, and—icy.” The infrequent northers are confined, like the oyster, to months with an “r,” but mostly to November, December, and January.
Nothing about Houston is harder to pin down than its weather. ”

“ An immense crowd welcomed Cass at the Jones Hotel, on Chestnut, above Sixth, and I there for the first time saw and heard General Cass, Senator Houston, Senator Allen, Senator Benton, and Representative Stevenson, all of whom spoke from the balcony of the hotel, and were cheered to the echo. I recall Houston as one of the handsomest men I have ever seen, with perfect physique, of heroic form, and a superbly chiselled face, portraying all the strength of the best type of the Roman. ”

“ Houston. "A dictator, sir, has no superior."
Santa Anna. "I have orders, General Houston, from my Government, commanding me to exterminate every man found in arms in the province of Texas, and treat all such as pirates; for they have no government, and are fighting under no recognized flag. ”

“ In spite of the lingering legend, Houston is in fact a city of working people. They came en masse during World War II, more than forty thousand to the shipyards alone, and most remained. Unlike the state, whose population has grown mainly from the excess of births over deaths, Houston has grown also from people moving in from the rest of Texas and other states.
The city’s population differs widely from that of most other American urban areas, having proportionately fewer industrial workers and more professional, technical, and white-collar workers. ”

“ Houston is said to be well planned. Yet it is the largest city in America without zoning and more than three hundred of its streets have duplicate names. Main Street, or so the legend goes, is the longest in the world, sometimes merely the longest in the country. No doubt it is neither; still, from end to end within the city limits, the Main Stem measures 19.1 miles.
In Houston a prudent pedestrian looks both ways before crossing a one-way street. Houstonians, a safe-driving expert said, are the most zealous horn-blowers in the land. ”

“ Houston is comparatively safe, and they must not be allowed to watch him, or get any clue to his movements.”
“But how can you prevent it, dear? You know the country and the people so much better than I, that you can plan and direct far better than I can; you command, dear Lyle, and you will find me ready to obey, afraid of nothing, not death itself, if I can only help him and save him from his enemies.” ”

“ Houston or the lady, has ever furnished the reason for this remarkable proceeding. Unfounded reports, born of bitter malignity, were scattered through Tennessee, and the popular feeling was so completely inflamed that, in this strange excitement, the State was divided into two hostile parties. His name was denounced; impertinent disturbers of the peace, curiosity-hunting busybodies, whom human laws rarely reach, yet criminals against the peace and dignity of society, and the laws of God and man, did not hesitate to charge him with every species of crime ever committed by man. ”

“ No man in the United States was better prepared by his wide experience to judge wisely on this question than Houston, and no more magnanimous spirit had ever been shown than Houston had exhibited, first in his intercourse as an agent's clerk, then as a soldier, then again as an army agent among them. His long apprenticeship among the Chickasaws in Western Tennessee before his enlistment as a soldier under Jackson, and his detail as a lieutenant after the war to serve as military agent among the Seminoles of Georgia, were reminiscences always fresh and fragrant in his after-life ”

“ Houston’s Mexican group lacks the color and ritual of San Antonio’s, but it is the second largest national group in the city. Western Slavs, mainly Czechs and Poles, have lived in Houston for many decades, especially the Czechs. A few Japanese, most of whom excel as truck farmers and rice growers, live outside the city. Many foreign traders, scientists, and executives have been drawn to Houston by cotton and oil and chemicals. ”

“ While strolling aimlessly about the streets of Houston on the last evening of 1895, little sights and sounds obtrude themselves and reveal the spirit of the time, as little pulse beats indicate the general tone of the human system. ”

“ There came but one clash beneath my notice, and that would feed my humor. Houston was just come into town, as rude and tangled a gentleman in every politer technicality as the bears of his native woods. With him for his table-mate he bore away the wife of Ingham of the Treasury. ”

“ During the war Houston was a lair for blockade runners, and on January 1, 1863, using two small vessels fortified with bales of cotton, it mounted a sea attack down Buffalo Bayou and helped recapture Galveston Island from Union forces that had seized the island three months earlier. In the same year Houston became the headquarters for the Confederate district of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. The period of Reconstruction lasted from June 20, 1865, when Houston was occupied by Union troops, until January, 1874. ”

“ Houston people are prosperous, and they take things easy, believing that one may gather a few roses of pleasure on the way through life and still keep up with the march of progress. In no city in the South is Christmas more merrily welcomed with social pleasures, the exchanging of friendly offerings, and general rejoicing than in Houston. ”

“ The brothers Augustus C. and John K. Allen, the founders of Houston, were neither heroes of the Texas revolution—they did not fight in the Battle of San Jacinto or in any other—nor were they distinguished in other ways. They were land speculators, New Yorkers who came to Texas in the summer of 1832. Augustus had just turned thirty, John was twenty-six when they bought the land for Houston.
Though the Allens’ town would become one of the leading cities of North America, though it would one day be abashed by a legend of riches, neither profited much for his pains. ”

“ Mr. Houston said: 'Sir, you are welcome to the Senate of the United States.' Kossuth feelingly replied: 'I can only wish I had been as successful as you, sir.' To this Houston responded: 'God grant you may be, sir.'"
At a later period Houston said, explaining his course toward Kossuth:
"When the advent of the illustrious stranger, Kossuth, was announced, I was not captivated by his advent, Mr. President. A portion of my life had been spent among the Indians. ”

“ As Houston had acted only in self-defence, the tide of popular sentiment not only sustained him, but led to his nomination and election as Governor. His popularity throughout the country is indicated in the fact that Niles' Register, of May 18th, Baltimore, Md., then the chief reporter of national events, gives a full report of Houston's speech previously made at Telico, Tennessee, when called out by the people as their favorite. ”

“ The largest of twenty-one places named Houston in the United States, not counting Houston City and Houston Junction, both in Pennsylvania, Houston is the seventh American city in population and the second, after Los Angeles, in land area. But to call Houston the seventh city in population, though correct, is unrealistic. The true population of a modern city is shown not by the number of people living within its legal limits but by the number living within its metropolitan area, which for Houston is Harris County. ”