Houston celebrated it's 175th anniversary of the founding of the city this weekend and what a weekend to do it, we tied the all time high in Houston on Saturday, 109 DegF.
Some Houston facts:
1. 86 streets are named after men who were killed in WWl
2. Stella Link in not named after a person. In fact the street paralleled a railroad than ran from Bellaire to Stella. You could say it was a link to Stella
3. Generally, downtown Houston streets running north and south are called streets while those running west and east are avenues. Hence, Texas Avenue and San Jacinto Street
4. T.C. Jester is named after a Heights pastor
5. Reliant Stadium has a seating capacity of 71,500
6. The name Denver Harbor is a combination of the communities of Denver and Harbor. The neighborhood was laid out in 1913 as four subdivisions, Denver, Harbor, Harbordale and Liberty Heights. The first two names were merged to give Denver Harbor its name
7. Elgin Street is named after Robert Morris Elgin, who moved to Texas in 1842
8. The area where West End is today was once called Brunner
9. in all, 6800 patient beds make up the Texas Medical Center
10. The old Astrodome scoreboard required 1,200 miles of wiring
11. The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA), which includes eight area counties, covers 8,778 square miles, an area larger than New Jersey
12. 28,000 babies were delivered in the Texas Medical Center in 2010
13. About 130,000 inmates are booked into the Harris County Jail in a year
14. The Theater District is second only to New York City with its concentration of seats (at least 12,000) in one geographic area
15. Houston's latitude is 29 degrees 45 minutes north, and its longitude is 95 degrees 22 minutes west
16. Houston is the fourth most populous city in the nation
17. Franklin Avenue was the first Houston street to be paved by asphalt
18. 33 votes were cast in the city's first mayoral election
19. 111 Houston police officers have died in the line of duty
20. The Galleria gets about 24 million annual visitors
21. Tuarn Street is named after the Irish hometown of Dick Dowling
22. 63 paid Houston firefighters and one volunteer have died in the line of duty
23. Houston is about 43 feet above sea level
24. One provision from Houston's 1918 annexation of the Heights is that it remains dry
25. The San Jacinto Monument is 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument
26. More than 90 languages are spoken thoufhout the area
27. The Astros have performed nine triple plays in franchise history
28. The Post of Houston is the largest foreign waterborne tonnage post in the U.S and the second-largest in total tonnage
29. As of November 2008 there were 1,964,391 registered voters in Harris County. Ten years earlier there were 1.76 million registered voters in Harris County
30. 23 companies on the Fortune 500 list are headquartered in Houston
31. Of the 23 Fortune 500 companies in Houston, about 10 are located downtown
32. The largest attendance at Reliant Stadium was 74,147 on March 15, 2009, during the Ramon Ayals and Alacranes Musical concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
33. The largest rodeo in the world is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
34. Though Houston likes to claim him as a hometown boy, Howard Hughes was actually born in Humble. The city of Humble is surrounded by the city of Houston.
35. 65,000 rounds of golf are played every year at Memorial Park
36. Houston ranks third among metropolitan statistical areas in the number of Fortune 500 headquarters
37. At 634 square miles, Houston could contain the cities of New York, Washington, Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis and Miami
38. Houston has been Texas' most populous city since 1930
40. The Astrodome has a seating capacity of 65,000
41. The first word spoken from the moon was Houston
42. Minute Maid Park is the first major sports facility to feature a closed-captioning board for the hearing impaired
43. The 10 county Houston Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) recorded 2.54 million payroll jobs in November 2010
44. The Houston MSA contains 3,703 miles of freeways and expressways
45. The population of Houston stands at about 2.1 million
46. The highest temperature recorded in Houston was 109 DegF, set on September 4, 2000 and tied on August 27, 2011
47. 2,262,834 visitors attended the 2011 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, setting a new attendance record
48. Houston's downtown tunnel system is more than 6 miles long
49.The Houston area has more than 5,000 energy related firms
50. Houston has had 35 measurable snowfalls since 1895
51. The Houston Ship Channel is 52 miles long
52. Houston averages 160.3 cloudy days annually, most in December through May
53. Houston has more miles of HOV lanes than any other U.S. city
54. Texas won its independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto
55. The Houston Astros were formerly the Colt .45's
The final operation of the Astrodome Scoreboard, a sad day in the history of the city.
[video=youtube;zZn_CS4MVx4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZn_CS4MVx4&feature=related[/video]
Opposing teams hated the scoreboard. The scoreboard went thru the sequence for each home run hit by an Astros player and once for each RBI on the home run. I got to see it light up for a Grand Slam, it seemed like it would never end.
Some Houston facts:
1. 86 streets are named after men who were killed in WWl
2. Stella Link in not named after a person. In fact the street paralleled a railroad than ran from Bellaire to Stella. You could say it was a link to Stella
3. Generally, downtown Houston streets running north and south are called streets while those running west and east are avenues. Hence, Texas Avenue and San Jacinto Street
4. T.C. Jester is named after a Heights pastor
5. Reliant Stadium has a seating capacity of 71,500
6. The name Denver Harbor is a combination of the communities of Denver and Harbor. The neighborhood was laid out in 1913 as four subdivisions, Denver, Harbor, Harbordale and Liberty Heights. The first two names were merged to give Denver Harbor its name
7. Elgin Street is named after Robert Morris Elgin, who moved to Texas in 1842
8. The area where West End is today was once called Brunner
9. in all, 6800 patient beds make up the Texas Medical Center
10. The old Astrodome scoreboard required 1,200 miles of wiring
11. The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA), which includes eight area counties, covers 8,778 square miles, an area larger than New Jersey
12. 28,000 babies were delivered in the Texas Medical Center in 2010
13. About 130,000 inmates are booked into the Harris County Jail in a year
14. The Theater District is second only to New York City with its concentration of seats (at least 12,000) in one geographic area
15. Houston's latitude is 29 degrees 45 minutes north, and its longitude is 95 degrees 22 minutes west
16. Houston is the fourth most populous city in the nation
17. Franklin Avenue was the first Houston street to be paved by asphalt
18. 33 votes were cast in the city's first mayoral election
19. 111 Houston police officers have died in the line of duty
20. The Galleria gets about 24 million annual visitors
21. Tuarn Street is named after the Irish hometown of Dick Dowling
22. 63 paid Houston firefighters and one volunteer have died in the line of duty
23. Houston is about 43 feet above sea level
24. One provision from Houston's 1918 annexation of the Heights is that it remains dry
25. The San Jacinto Monument is 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument
26. More than 90 languages are spoken thoufhout the area
27. The Astros have performed nine triple plays in franchise history
28. The Post of Houston is the largest foreign waterborne tonnage post in the U.S and the second-largest in total tonnage
29. As of November 2008 there were 1,964,391 registered voters in Harris County. Ten years earlier there were 1.76 million registered voters in Harris County
30. 23 companies on the Fortune 500 list are headquartered in Houston
31. Of the 23 Fortune 500 companies in Houston, about 10 are located downtown
32. The largest attendance at Reliant Stadium was 74,147 on March 15, 2009, during the Ramon Ayals and Alacranes Musical concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
33. The largest rodeo in the world is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
34. Though Houston likes to claim him as a hometown boy, Howard Hughes was actually born in Humble. The city of Humble is surrounded by the city of Houston.
35. 65,000 rounds of golf are played every year at Memorial Park
36. Houston ranks third among metropolitan statistical areas in the number of Fortune 500 headquarters
37. At 634 square miles, Houston could contain the cities of New York, Washington, Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis and Miami
38. Houston has been Texas' most populous city since 1930
40. The Astrodome has a seating capacity of 65,000
41. The first word spoken from the moon was Houston
42. Minute Maid Park is the first major sports facility to feature a closed-captioning board for the hearing impaired
43. The 10 county Houston Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) recorded 2.54 million payroll jobs in November 2010
44. The Houston MSA contains 3,703 miles of freeways and expressways
45. The population of Houston stands at about 2.1 million
46. The highest temperature recorded in Houston was 109 DegF, set on September 4, 2000 and tied on August 27, 2011
47. 2,262,834 visitors attended the 2011 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, setting a new attendance record
48. Houston's downtown tunnel system is more than 6 miles long
49.The Houston area has more than 5,000 energy related firms
50. Houston has had 35 measurable snowfalls since 1895
51. The Houston Ship Channel is 52 miles long
52. Houston averages 160.3 cloudy days annually, most in December through May
53. Houston has more miles of HOV lanes than any other U.S. city
54. Texas won its independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto
55. The Houston Astros were formerly the Colt .45's
The final operation of the Astrodome Scoreboard, a sad day in the history of the city.
[video=youtube;zZn_CS4MVx4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZn_CS4MVx4&feature=related[/video]
Opposing teams hated the scoreboard. The scoreboard went thru the sequence for each home run hit by an Astros player and once for each RBI on the home run. I got to see it light up for a Grand Slam, it seemed like it would never end.
