Houston, TX

In 1836 brothers Augustus and John Allen purchased 6,642 acres of land near the headwaters of Buffalo Bayou for the princely sum of $1.40 per acre.



They hired Gail Borden (publisher, surveyor, and originator of condensed milk) and Thomas Borden to survey and map the town they called Houston, in honor of Sam Houston, who had won independence for Texas by leading the its army to victory over Mexico in the Battle of Jan Jacinto earlier that same year. The founders had big ideas from the start: The town