TEKS #6 (6) Geography. The student understands the types and patterns of settlement, the factors that affect where people settle, and processes of settlement development over time. The student is expected to: (A) locate settlements and observe patterns in the size and distribution of cities using maps, graphics, and other information; and (B) explain the processes that have caused cities to grow such as location along transportation routes, availability of resources that have attracted settlers and economic activities, and continued access to other cities and resources.

How have settlements such as states grown in size? Example: Texas Texas really started to grow when railroads were introduced in 1847 In 1847, a soldier and businessman named General Sidney Sherman organized a company and found investors to build a railroad from Harrisburg on the Buffalo Bayou to the BRAZOS River and then on to the Colorado River. He chose this route because it ran through the more settled, populous, and productive areas in the state, known as the "Cotton Patch" and the "Sugar Bowl" of Texas.

What was the cotton patch and sugar bowl of Texas? It was the name give to the most populated and most the most settled and the most productive areas of the whole state That is why they put the railroad thru those areas to link them to each other.

How did Houston start and why was it going to last? In 1990 Houston, covering 540 square miles, ranked as the fourth largest city in the United States with a population of 1,630,553.. The city began on August 30, 1836, when Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen ran an advertisement in the Telegraph and Texas Register for the "Town of Houston." The town site, which featured a mixture of timber and grassland, was on the level Coastal Plain in the middle of the future Harris County, at 95.4° west longitude and 30.3° north latitude. The brothers claimed that the town would become the "great interior commercial emporium of Texas. This spectacular growth developed as a result of the construction of transportation systems, the fortuitous nearby location of useful natural resources, and an entrepreneurial spirit.

How Did Houston Grow With Economic Activities ? Because of:1853--Houston's first railroad--the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado Railroad--begins operations Houston Board of Trade and Cotton Exchange organized First grain elevator built on Houston Ship Channel Houston's first free public schools established Houston Electric Light Co. organized. Houston and New York were the first cities to build electric power plants.

Rank city 1998 population 1990 population change: 1990 to 1998 m number percent 1 Phoenix, Ariz 1,198, , , San Antonio, Texas 1.114, , , San Diego, Calif 1,220,666 1,110, , Houston, Texas 1,786,691 1,654, , Dallas, Texas 1,075,894 1,007,618 68,

References – bin/WebObjects/WOPortal.woa/wa/HWCDA/file?fileid=261098&flt =High_School&pathTitles=/Special_Subjects/History_of_Houston/H istory_of_Houston&version=2&tg=History Release/www/1999/cb html