Talk:History of Houston

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Contents 1 Largest 2 Absence of African Americans 3 Pre history - 1500s 4 Gulf Freeway 5 Alicia claim 6 Decades v. larger history

[edit] Largest

The first line of this article states that Houston is the largest city in Texas and 4th largest in the US. This information is bound to change and should be noted with a date. Also, the statement fails to identify in what regard the city is the "largest". Population? Square Mileage? Population density? Are the people there naturally fat and large? Mojodaddy (talk) 01:02, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Absence of African Americans

This page has very little to no information about the African Americans in Houston Texas in the early 1900's. There were many influential Negros, as were they called in that day and time. There was Freedman's town which sits in the heart of fourth ward. The temple that was the meeting place for the community and for the children this is where they would go for activity until the South Central YMCA was built for African Americans. The African American community was filled with Negro doctors, lawyers, teachers etc. etc. My grandfather William Curtis Craver did much of the leg work to raise most of the funds that were raised for the South Central YMCA. He worked day and night in the fourth ward community with others to see that the youth of the community had a place for activity, meeting and education under a Christian umbrella. Shortly Before the completion of the construction of the Y he passed away and most of the credit for this great work went to Quenton Meese, another influential African American in the community. There is the history of Franklin Beauty School, Madam C.J. Walker and many, many more accomplished African Americans and all of the history that surrounds the fourth ward community, the buffalo soldiers, the whole settlement was a great piece of history concerning Houston. The national "This IS It" restaurant in fourth ward and the list goes on. I realize there is information that reflects Mickey Leland, Barbara Jordan but did we mention the School of Law at Texas Southern University???? This was somewhat current history, prior to the more recent history there seems to be no history of blacks in Houston in the 1800' or early 1900's. I think that some additions should be made.

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I'll incorporate that information in :) WhisperToMe 03:58, 22 Oct 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Pre history - 1500s

I mean I would like to see this information in both this article and the article of Houston itself. I mean where's the article on Native Americans in Houston before European contact, and information on the Euro contact and settlements in there too.

If the article concerning Houston's pre-history doesn't exist, then why don't you write it? Nobody is preventing you from creating a new article or adding additional information to the Houston, Texas article as long as it is notable, well written and properly sourced. Best wishes, Postoak 02:19, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm just lazy, and I don't have the time to find sources.

From what I recall from my 4th grade history class, the Karankawas and Atakapa (with Caddo (from whom the word "Texas" is derived) further north in the Piney Woods and the Coahuilatecans[1] further to the southwest) were the primary groups in the area. From what I've read recently, they were decimated by disease, more so than other groups, so I don't know if there's much prehistory that could be added. For instance, Harris County[2] shows little early history or prehistory. It's probably even more difficult to get definitive pre-history for the city itself. I think the best place for this hazy information would be in this article and not the Houston article. I think there is some interesting information to be added though, for instance, regarding cannibalism. I've always wondered why the natives on the coast and in the Harris/Galveston county areas were avid cannibalists. Perhaps this resulted in their greater susceptibility to the spread of diseases? But let's not get into original research. As far as laziness goes, I can't help you there. I think a lot of Wikipedians are lazy in their real lives and retreat to Wikipedia to avoid those responsibilities. Ufwuct 23:14, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Well at least we can add that the Karankawas, Atakpas, and the Coahuilatecans were the main Indian tribes in the present-day Greater Houston area.

[edit] Gulf Freeway

interstate 75 should be changed to 45 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.120.178.120 (talk • contribs) 22:09, 4 November 2006.

The Gulf Freeway preceded the Interstate Highway system by 8 years[3], so the when the first parts of the freeway opened, it would have been known only as U.S. Highway 75. I have made a clarification that it is now known as Interstate 45. Ufwuct 17:20, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Alicia claim

The following claim does not appear to be true:

August 18 saw Hurricane Alicia, which caused the most expensive damages in U.S. History

Apparently, Agnes (1972) and Frederic (1979) were more damaging, so it cannot even be said that Alicia was the most damaging to date (as of 1983). Ufwuct 16:55, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Decades v. larger history

It would be useful if rather than a listing of events through the decades, there were some effort to identify or continue themes in economy, transportation, culture, etc.--Parkwells (talk) 22:11, 6 April 2008 (UTC)