| After
World War II, Houston continued its rise as an oil and chemical
center, and also saw the emergence of two new industries now strongly
linked with the city. The Texas Medical Center, created with $20
million bequeathed in a cotton merchant's will in 1939, grew to
worldwide prominence for treatment and research, especially involving
heart disease and cancer. The opening of the Manned Spacecraft
Center in 1963 made the city's name practically synonymous with
astronauts and moon landings. And with the rest of the country,
Houston began a slow process of racial integration. |
1947: Baylor
College of Medicine, which moved to Houston from Dallas, completed
the first new building in the Texas Medical Center. |
| 1947:
Houstonians again elected Oscar Holcombe as their mayor and approved
charter changes that ended an experiment with an appointed city
manager office and replaced it with a mayor with strong powers. |
| Texas
Medical Center in 1988. |
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Thousands
wait for a chance to enter the downtown Foley's store on opening
day in 1947. The first Foley's
Brother store, later named Foley's. |
| 1947:
The Texas State University for Negroes, later to be called Texas Southern
University, was established by the state Legislature — at least
partly as a hedge against moves to integrate other state universities.
Higher education courses for blacks had been unavailable in Houston
until the mid-1920s, when an East Texas college began offering some
courses at Yates High School. In the 1930s, the University of Houston
established a segregated branch for blacks.
|
Students walk past a new building at TSU in 1954.
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1947:
With Nina Vance as its director,
the small Alley Theatre opened on South Main, launching an institution
that would move to a larger building downtown and win national recognition.
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In 1948, after its original home
was condemned, the theater moved to this building on Berry Street.
The Alley moved downtown in 1969.
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1949:
Oil wildcatter Glenn McCarthy attracted national attention when
he opened the luxurious Shamrock Hotel with 175 Hollywood stars
as his guests. |
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