The Houston Ship Channel Turned Houston Into an Industrial Giant

Houston citizens approved a $1.25 million bond to fund half the dredging cost. The deep-water channel was completed on September 7, 1914. The channel's official opening ceremony was held on November 10, 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson remotely triggered a cannon in Houston from Washington to mark the occasion. By the 1930s, nine oil refineries were operating along the channel.

By the early 21st century, the area along the channel had grown into the largest concentration of petrochemical plants in the United States. The Port of Houston became one of the busiest ports in the country by tonnage. The channel also played a role in WWII manufacturing and later in the space industry — NASA chose a site near the channel for what became the Johnson Space Center in 1961.