HOUSE OF COMMONS 



2853 



HOUSTON 



Some of the species found in Southern Eu- 

 rope are shrubby, while others are common 

 greenhouse plants. In the botanical garden of 

 Harvard University is an interesting collection 

 of these plants. 



HOUSE OF COMMONS AND HOUSE OF 

 LORDS. See PARLIAMENT. 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. See 

 REPRESENTATIVES, HOUSE OF; CONGRESS OF THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



HOUSTON, hu'stun, SAM (1793-1863), an 

 American soldier and political leader, a promi- 

 nent figure in the struggle through which Texas 

 gained its independence from Mexican rule. 

 When he was thirteen years of age his family 

 removed from his 

 native town of 

 Lexington, Ken- 

 tucky, to the 

 eastern frontier 

 of Tennessee. 

 Tiring of school 

 and of a position 

 as clerk in a trad- 

 er's store, Sam 

 ran away when 

 he was about fif- 

 teen, and for 

 nearly three years 

 lived with the 

 Cherokee Indians 

 of East Tennes- 

 see. On his return to civilization he opened 

 a country school, then enlisted in the United 

 States army, serving under Andrew Jackson in 

 the war against the Creeks. Later he studied 

 law at Nashville, beginning practice in Leba- 

 non, Tenn., and in 1822 was sent to Congress. 

 Five years later the Jackson Democrats elected 

 him governor of Tennessee. 



In 1832, while on a visit to Texas, Houston 

 accepted the invitation of the American colo- 

 nists of that province to become their leader 

 in the struggle for independence. At the head 

 of a small company of raw volunteers he con- 

 ducted the military movements which led to 

 the defeat of Santa Anna in the famous Battle 

 of San Jacinto, April 21-22, 1836, and the fol- 

 lowing September was elected President of the 

 new republic of Texas. This position he held 

 again from 1841 to 1844. He was the leading 

 spirit in bringing about the admission of Texas 

 into the Union in 1845, represented that state 

 in the United States Senate from 1846 to 1859, 

 and was its governor from 1859 until the out- 

 break of the War of Secession. He then 



SAM HOUSTON 

 President of the republic of 

 Texas and later Senator from 

 Texas in the United States 

 Congress. 



retired to private life. The city of Houston, 

 Tex., was named in his honor. See TEXAS, sub- 

 head History. 



Consult Williams' Sam Houston and the War 

 of Independence in Texas; McElroy's The Win- 

 ning of the Far West. 



HOUSTON, TEX., the county seat of Harris 

 County and the third city in size in the state, 

 ranking next to San Antonio and Dallas. 

 Houston is one of the most important railway 

 and business centers of Texas. It is fifty miles 

 northwest of Galveston, on the Buffalo Bayou, 

 an inlet from the Gulf of Mexico which has 

 been transformed into a ship canal by the 

 Federal government at a cost of $2,500,000, 

 giving the city direct water communication 

 with the Gulf, Atlantic, South American and 

 European ports. This channel, including the 

 great turning basin in Houston, is fifty-four 

 miles long. A number of bridges cross the 

 bayou, which extends through the city. 



Houston is served by the International & 

 Great Northern; the Gulf, Colorado & Santa 

 Fe ; the Southern Pacific ; the Missouri, Kansas 

 & Texas; the Gulf Coast Lines; the Houston 

 Belt & Terminal, and a number of other rail- 

 roads, to the total of seventeen. An electric 

 line operates to Galveston. The area of the 

 city, extended in 1914 by annexation, is over 

 thirty square miles. The population, which in 

 1910 was 78,800, was 112,307 in 1915, by Fed- 

 eral estimate. Camp Logan, adjoining the city, 

 is a great training camp for soldiers. 



Location and Parks. Houston is attractively 

 located in a country rich in timber, especially 

 yellow pine and red cedar, oak and elm. 

 Excellent shell-paved motor roads extend to 

 near-by towns and resorts and to the beaches, 

 which afford surf bathing and deep-sea fishing. 

 Splendid magnolia trees beautify the streets 

 of the city. Sam Houston, Cleveland, Eliza- 

 beth Baldwin, Highland and Sattegast parks, 

 and a number of smaller playgrounds, contain 

 more than 850 acres, and five of the parks are 

 joined by a boulevard. 



Buildings and Institutions. The Federal 

 building, completed in 1913 at a cost of $500,- 

 000; the county courthouse; the Auditorium, 

 which seats 7,000 people; the city hall and 

 adjoining cotton exchange and city market; 

 the union station, Y. M. C. A. building, Car- 

 negie Lyceum and Library and a number of 

 fine bank buildings, hotels, schools, clubs and 

 churches are prominent structures. Houston 

 contains the William M. Rice Poly technical 

 Institute (coeducational), Saint Agnes' Acad- 



