The 4th biggest city in the US, is the city of Houston, that is the main center of the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area (the 6th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. with a population more than six million) and is the seat of Harris County. It has a population of around two million during 2008, and its neighborhood comprises Uptown, Downtown, Montrose, The Heights, River Oaks, Rice Village Area, Chinatown, and Midtown.
The City of Houston was born from two real estate entrepreneurs from New York City named Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, who bought the area in hopes of establishing a city. Named after Sam Houston, a well-known general at the Battle of San Jacinto, he was voted the President of Texas in the year 1836. Houston was incorporated by the first mayor of the city, James Holman. The latter part of the 1800's saw the city expand as a railroad and commercial hub for cotton export. It even became the headquarters for General John Bankhead Magruder throughout the American Civil War. The 1950's and 1960's saw the unincorporated areas joined into the city limits, which expanded the city's size. It also gave way for the local shipbuilding trade to grow during the World War II and the establishment of NASA's "Manned SpaceCraft Center."
With approximately 20,000 exhibitions, plays, concerts, and arts programs, Houston can draw over 11 million visitors and residents each year. With roughly $70 million in government and state revenue, the non profit arts sector is very strong within the financial system of the city. Its cultural exhibitions and events reportedly make about ten million yearly. Houston is the only one of a few cities which have permanent resident businesses within all the areas of the performing arts: The Houston Symphony Orchestra (music), Alley Theatre (theatre), Houston Grand Opera (opera) and the Houston ballet (ballet). The city's strongest area is the visual and performing arts scene, and among the most dynamic names here is the Theater District located downtown. It has six performance halls and nine performing arts organizations. The city likewise provides numerous concerts, Broadway acts, shows, exhibitions, local folk artists and art groups in smaller progressive arts organizations. Moreover, the city of Houston is likewise home to a lot of museums. The Museum District, a well-known cultural institution, is a popular destination of around seven million tourists annually. Among the most well-known ones likewise consist of: the Holocaust Museum, Houston Zoo, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Station Museum of Contemporary Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts and Houston Museum of Natural Science. Bayou Bend, a facility of the Museum of Fine Arts, has amongst America's best collections of ornamental furniture, paintings, and art.
Houston's natural gas and oil are the two energy businesses which are internationally recognized in addition to biomedical research and aeronautics. The city of Houston is even developing its renewable energy resources, like wind and solar energy, and it is becoming a popular economic base within the city nowadays. Practically all of the supermajor companies have likewise made the city of Houston their operational base. They comprise: ExxonMobil, ConocoPhilips, Shell Oil, and BP. Various businesses that have made the city of Houston their head office include: Apache Corporation, Marathon Oil Corporation, Horizon Wind Energy and Citgo.