Houston Forklift Parts - Houston, fourth largest city within the US, is the seat of Harris County and the economic hub of the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area (the sixth biggest metropolitan area within the United States with a population over six million). It has a population of about 2 million in the year 2008, and its neighborhood includes Uptown, Downtown, Montrose, The Heights, River Oaks, Rice Village Area, Midtown and Chinatown.
John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, who were both real estate agents from new York City who acquired the area in hopes of establishing a city. The city was named after the Sam Houston, who was a known general in the Battle of San Jacinto and was selected the president of Texas during 1836. Houston was incorporated by James Holman, who was the first mayor of the city. The latter part of the 1800's saw the city expand as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton. 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 likewise gave way for the local shipbuilding industry to expand throughout the World War II and the establishment of NASA's "Manned SpaceCraft Center."
Houston has about twenty thousand plays, exhibitions, concerts, and arts programs, and it draws over eleven million residents and visitors every year. Its nonprofit arts are a strong player in the city's financial system also, generating roughly $70 million in state and government revenue. Its cultural exhibitions and events reportedly make around 10 million annually. The city of Houston is the only one among few cities which have permanent resident businesses in 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 one of the most dynamic names here is the Theater District situated downtown. It has six performance halls and nine performing arts organizations. The city also provides various concerts, Broadway acts, shows, exhibitions, local folk artists and art groups in smaller progressive arts organizations. Moreover, Houston is also home to several museums. The Museum District, a well-known cultural institution, is a popular site of roughly seven million people yearly. Some of the more popular ones even include: the Holocaust Museum, Houston Zoo, the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 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.
The oil and natural gas business in Houston are internationally recognized. Also, really strong in the area are the sectors of biomedical research and aeronautics. Houston has an emerging renewable energy resource sector that consists of both wind and solar energy. These areas are fast becoming a popular economic base in the city nowadays. Almost all of the supermajor companies have even made the city of Houston their operational base. They include: ExxonMobil, ConocoPhilips, BP and Shell Oil. Other businesses which have made the city of Houston their headquarters consist of: Marathon Oil Corporation, Apache Corporation, Citgo, and Horizon Wind Energy.