I know this is hypothetical and at this point and probably nonsensical..... ..but I've been perusing the geography of Houston lately and when you think about the fact the top 3 largest cities, NYC, LA, CHI all have a clear and massive body of water present, it would be have been perfect (IMHO) if Houston would have historically developed right where Baytown is today.....so that you would likely see a downtown in that area with the water vistas.....and accordingly developed and encompassed the entire bay.

For comparison purposes the Trinity Bay is about 20 miles across, compared to the northern Bronx to southern Staten Island in NYC is like 35 miles across. Hence, Houston could have developed a true waterside community and still be comfortably sized with obvious room to grow outward in whatever county political boundaries would have grown out of that.....

After doing my intensive wiki research :bowtie:, I saw that the Battle of San Jacinto was fought by Sam Houston (the namesake) 25 miles east of Houston, in present day La Porte, TX, right across the river from Baytown, TX. I guess technically, its in close proximity, but if the businessmen that incorporated the city had instead just hung around the area, imagine what a Houston, aqua-centric, would look like today :shocked:.........I assume the area was probably to marshy to start a city and they figured, lets get away from these damn mosquitos, but still have access to the Gulf and Bay via the river.....

Very random I'm sure....just was curious about the Galveston Bay and Trinity Bay and started thinking to hard :lol: :cheers:

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/oceans/oceanviews/slide_31.html
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/oceans/images/ocean31.jpg

http://www.marydunn.com/waterfront.asp
http://www.marydunn.com/images/trinity_bay.gif

Wasn't there a time when Galveston and Houston were approximately equal in size?

Yes. When railroads came on the scene Houston was a nicer place to put a rail hub, and after the 1900 hurricane Galveston was finished.

Anyways, if Houston was founded closer to Galveston bay or the Trinity I imagine the shape of the city would be a lot different to deal with the marshy terrain. Houston might have turned out more like Norfolk where instead of there being one city it would have sprawled around the bay in a decentralized fashion.

Wasn't there a time when Galveston and Houston were approximately equal in size?

According to my ancient World Almanac, Galveston had 29,084 people in 1890 while Houston had 27,557 inhabitants. Dallas was the state's largest city at that time with 38,067 people and San Antonio was the second largest at 37,673.

According to my ancient World Almanac, Galveston had 29,084 people in 1890 while Houston had 27,557 inhabitants. Dallas was the state's largest city at that time with 38,067 people and San Antonio was the second largest at 37,673.

Who would have thought that 3 or the 4 cities mention here turned out to be the top 10 largest cities in the U.S.

Who would have thought that 3 or the 4 cities mention here turned out to be the top 10 largest cities in the U.S.

I guess that little thing that happened in 1901 made all the difference! ;)

I guess that little thing that happened in 1901 made all the difference! ;)

Just imagine, a super metropolis on Galveston Island. Mini-Manhattan anyone?

Just imagine, a super metropolis on Galveston Island. Mini-Manhattan anyone?

Probably not. As said before, Galveston was a really inconvenient place to drop railroad lines. Furthermore, the hurricanes have shown that there's not much in the way of safe harbor in Galveston/Trinity bays, and Galveston Island had relatively little in the way of room to expand its port.