Houston (hūs'tŭn), Texas, county-seat of Harris County, 50 miles north of Galveston on Buffalo Bayou. It is named after Sam Houston, and is one of the largest railway and business centers of that state. It is an inland city with all the advantages of a seaport. The ship channel, at present undergoing government improvement, gives direct communication with the sea; and, besides, the city has the service of fifteen railroads. It is a distributing center for cotton, rice and oil, while corn, hay and sugarcane are important products of the nearby section. Houston has four large rice mills, a rice elevator and, close to the city, a sugar mill. The city has 38 public-school buildings and 228 teachers, besides St. Thomas' College for young men and boys, St. Agnes' Academy for girls, Rice Polytechnic Institute for the advancement of literature, art and science, four schools of music, five commercial schools, a nurse's training school, a dental college etc. Houston has two libraries, many churches and all the conveniences of a modern and progressive city. Population, according to the census of 1910, 78,800.
