Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
In 1836, Houston was a raw, frontier town of muddy streets and hastily assembled buildings. Today it is one of the world’s great cities: the fourth largest in the United States, its second largest import/export port, and acclaimed as the energy capital of the world. The transformation was largely complete by 1990, when the sixteenth G7 summit was held in town.
The Rise of Houston as a Global City, by Geoffrey Connor, explains the whys and hows of Houston’s growth into a world-class city before the close of the 20th century.
Connor identifies the four pillars supporting Houston’s evolution: its port, its energy industry, its medical center, and its position as Space City. Each contributed in different ways to Houston, but in ways that reinforced Houston’s development.
Connor devotes a lengthy chapter to each. Therein he explains why they were important, how each sector developed, what each contributed to the city, and how they interacted with one another. He shows how, as each pillar was added, it created synergies with the already established quarters of Houston’s economy.
The port came first, giving the city the reason for its existence, driving early growth. The energy industry appeared in the wake of Spindletop as the 20th century started, filling Houston's coffers with oil money. Houston’s Medical Center appeared after World War II. It transformed Houston into a medical research powerhouse. Finally, with the appearance of the Manned Spacecraft Center (later the Johnson Space Center) in 1961, Houston cemented its reputation as a cutting-edge technology hub.
He follows this with a fifth chapter highlighting the leaders behind Houston's success. These start with William Marsh Rice and end with Oveta Culp Hobby. Then Conner includes sections on Houston socialites, international Houstonians, and the Consular Ball.
Some of those, like Rice, Jesse Jones, and William Clayton, were the visionaries who drove Houston industries. Others, like Ima Hogg, Hobby, and the socialites, developed Houston’s cultural scene. The international Houstonians and their traditions, like the Consular Ball, helped make it one of America’s most cosmopolitan cities.
The result is an extraordinary city—and a remarkable book chronicling the tale. All history seems inevitable in retrospect, but in The Rise of Houston as a Global City, Connor shows that Houston’s current status was not pre-ordained. It was the result of people, starting with its founders, the Allen Brothers, who saw an opportunity and developed it. Conner then shows how its leaders reinforced success, willingly embracing creative destruction when called for. This book is well worth reading.
“The Rise of Houston as a Global City,” by Geoffrey Connor, Texas A&M University Press, December 2025, 384 pages, $42.50 (Hardcover), $29.95 (E-book)
This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.
Discussion (6)
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Does he mention the role that the 1900 Galveston Hurricane played in Houston displacing Galveston as the primary city of SE Texas?
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I have a picture somewhere of my brother and me standing at one end of the Saturn 5 rocket at Johnson Space Center.
Later that day there was something about Skylab on the evening news, and they showed me walking there being a tourist. It was the only time I've ever been on TV, for about 3 seconds.
CONTRIBUTOR
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Sort of. First off, the 1900 Storm is not why Houston displaced Galveston as the primary city of SE Texas. Houston was doing that (and really had done it by 1900 as Houston's 1900 population was 44,633 to Galveston's of 37,788 at that time) due to its railroad and cotton connections and would boom even more after oil became big in the first decade of the 1900s. (Houston grew by 60% annually through 1930, while Galveston grew at about 10-15% per decade from 1910-1930.)
Houston did not become a deep-water port until 1914, when the Houston Ship Channel was dredged to 25 feet (from 15 feet). Only at that point could Houston seriously challenge Galveston as a port. Even then Galveston handled more tonnage than Houston until 1939.
What turned Houston in into the primary port of SE Texas was geography, not the 1900 Storm. The Houston Ship Channel offered more space to put terminals than the sheltered side of Galveston Island (where the port was located. Which meant you could easily put a refinery or chemical plant on the Ship Channel and gain access to ship product or receive feedstock by the shipload. Galveston could not compete.
Plus containerization supercharged the Port of Houston's growth. Houston was an early adaptor and one of the first to build container-handling facilities (and later RO-RO terminals). Galveston, like most big port cities world-wide initially ignored containers, treating them as a fad. By the time Galveston reversed course, Houston had an insurmountable lead.
Connor covers all of this in his chapter on the port. Absent the 1900 Hurricane (and Galveston's newly built seawall protected it from the 1916 storm - which was even worse) Houston still would have surpassed Galveston as a business center by 1910 and as a port by 1940.
CONTRIBUTOR
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I should add Galveston was the right size for a 19th century port (once steam arrived) while Houston was the right size for a 20th and 21st century port.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Thanks for sharing all that history. That was really interesting.
I lived in Houston for eight years, and it was impressive to contrast the bustling downtown of Houston and the industry of the Ship Channel with the rather worn beauty of Galveston's past (Moody Mansion, the Catholic cathedral, the Strand).
You're seeing five of six comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.