1945
The M. D. Anderson Foundation forms the Texas Medical Center Corporation to oversee the Medical Centers development
Houston's Port moved from sixth to fourth in national rankings as the post-war recovery commenced. Ship arrivals numbered 1,346, and combined barge and ship freight was 23,869,878 tons
Flood protection was being provided by army engineers, who were constructing two earth-filled dams west of the city
The war left the local chemical industry with installations worth $600,000,000 , and in a brief time another 300,000,000 would be invested
February
A house to house bond drive is held
March
Hugh Roy Cullen, the wealthy conservative oilman, donated $1,000,000 each to four hospitals, Hermann, Memorial, Methodist, and St. Luke's
March 2
Congress approved a project for widening the ship channel
June
13 gorgeous girls compete for the title of Miss Houston at the midnight " E " Bond Jamboree
July 1
City owned port facilities were transferred to the Navigation District for $1,500,000, permitting the latter body to spend the money for reconditioning which the city had refused to do
November
Arabia Temple Shrine Circus opens in Houston
1946
Ship arrivals at Houston's port totaled 2,057, and tonnage handled rose to 31,837,453 tons, surpassing the 1939 level for the first time
Local businessmen formed the Central Houston Improvement Association, which, over a three-year period, obtained better police protection, shoppers' buses, and a $10,418,000 investment in remodeling, new construction, and public improvements in downtown Houston
Houston's homicide rate was 24.4 per 100,000
Rice Institute received a $1,000,000 library through the philanthropy of Ella A. Fondren
February
161 acres of ground are dedicated for the Texas Medical Center by E.W. Bertner
February 20
City employees struck after pay hike demands were rejected
April
The Independent Petroleum Association of America meets in Houston
May 22
The Civil Aeronautics Board designated Houston an international terminal and certified Braniff, Southern, and Pan-American for flights to Central and South America and the Caribbean
July
Houstonian Howard Hughes is seriously injured in the test flight of a plane he had built
November
Oscar Holcombe was once again elected mayor, this time on a strong-mayor platform
Eddie Dyer of Houston manages the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team to
win the World Series
1947
The Foleys Department Store building opens and is one of the most popular stores in Houston
January
The 2nd public induction of city officials ever held in Houston takes place
April
Charles Matthew Winfree received the quickest life term ever assessed in a Houston court. It took the jury only 3 minutes to return a verdict of guilty
April 16
Shipboard explosions demolish Texas City, with 565 dead
The FBI recommended 2.23 patrolmen for every 1,000 people. Houston had 0.93 per 1,000 residents
The Roman Catholic Church opened the University of St. Thomas
Houston College for Negroes became Texas State University for Negroes, part of the state system
An investigator hired by Harris County revealed dangerous pollution levels in Buffalo Bayou, claiming that the water was 80 percent sewage
July
Oscar Holcombe took office as mayor, and the city manager form of municipal government was abandoned in favor of a strong mayor arrangement
July 31
Army engineers recommended that the ship channel be deepened to 36 feet along its entire length
September
The fund drive to permanently house the USS Texas gets underway in Houston
October 11
The City National Bank opened displaying the new contemporary architecture of postwar Houston
Alley Theatre of Houston gives its first performance under the direction of Nina Vance
November 2
Howard Hughes of Houston pilots Hercules flying boat, with largest wingspan ever constructed
1948
Houston was rated as the fastest growing city per capita in the nation. Building permits issued by the city totaled $100,160,322, and those for Harris County shot up to $266,802,075
February
Voters rejected zoning for the city by a two to one margin, maintaining Houston's status as the only un-zoned city in the U.SThe 30th Annual Crippled Children's Ball is held in the Coliseum by the Arabia Temple Shrine
June
Over 2,000,000 worth of horses compete in the Pin Oaks Charity Horse Show
November
Three inches of rain in three hours breaks a five month drought in Houston
November 2
Houston's Harris County was the only one in Texas carried by J. Strom Thurmond, the "Dixiecrat" candidate for PresidentDecember
Houston doubled its size (began at 76 square miles) by annexing six suburbs and part of anotherDecember 11
Houston's first television broadcast emanated from station KLEE-TV to about 2,000 receiving sets
Houston has doubled its size to 73 square miles through annexation of neighboring areas and is also ranking as the fastest growing city in the United States
Ima Hogg elected first woman president of the Philosophical Society of
Texas
1949
A bitter strain of conservatism surfaced in the city's Independent School system over the question of federal aid for lunches. The School Board's chairman, Ewing Werlein, warned federal aid would lead to federal control, and in the fall a special drive collected private funds for lunches
January
Deer Park holds their first election of city officials
March
Houston leads the nation in post-war industrial expansion with 83 plants costing $110,700,000
March 17
On St. Patrick's Day, amidst one of the wildest celebrations in the city's history, Oilman Glen McCarthy opened his "63 Shades-of-Green" Shamrock Hotel, a $21,000,000 luxury accommodation. The melee was complete with 50,000 celebrants, 175 movie stars flown in, and a broadcast of the Dorothy Lamour radio program from the hotelOctober 24
The city's conservative school board banned Frank Magruder's text, American Government, because it alluded to socialist tendencies in American society. The text had been used for sixteen years and had the support of 90 percent of the faculty
There are 268 oil fields operating within a 100-mile radius
of HoustonAugust
The Houston Little Theater begins its 25th year
1950 Ship arrivals numbered 3,721, with a combined barge and ship freight of 40,825,048 tons
The city's population was 596,163, a jump of 55.5 percent over 1940. Houston's black population was 150,452, 19 percent of the total
The city included 1,174 manufacturing establishments producing goods annually valued at $781,600,000. Chief among the products were foods, chemicals, petroleum, iron and metal goods, and heavy machinery
Bank deposits since 1940 increased 282 percent
Automobile registrations in Harris County stood at 322,000, an increase of 89.4 percent over 1940
In a vote to test public sentiment, organizations such as the Council for Free Enterprise helped defeat public housing
January 24
Five blacks filed suit to gain access to the Municipal Golf CourseFebruary
George R. Brown, Vice President of Brown & Root, Inc., is named chairman of the board of Trustees at Rice Institute
May 27
The Pasadena Tunnel was opened under the ship channel. This, and another tunnel opened three years later, alleviated traffic congestion and eliminated the need for ferry service on the channelJuly
Staff Sgt. Nyle S. Mickley, Jr. of Houston is credited with shooting down the first North Korean plane of the Korean War
October
Ground is broken for the 18 story Prudential Insurance Company building to be located near the Medical Center
December 25
Ground was broken for a hospital for cancer researchRice Institute completes the 70,000 seat Rice Stadium
William Goyan of Houston publishes House of Breath
Houston Westbury baseball team wins world Little League title
YEARS OF READJUSTMENT
By Marvin Hurley
HE first
five-year period after World War II began with the problem of rebuilding war-torn
countries and ended with the threat of a new world war in Korea. It began with the
consequences of the first atomic destruction still reverberating around the world and
closed with the decision of President Truman to develop the hydrogen bomb. It began with
concern about post-war inflation and ended with economic stimulation from the Korean
conflict. It saw the differences between Marxism and its enemies divide the world into
hostile camps of a "cold war", with steady deterioration between the Soviet bloc
and the Western nations.
The first post-war year brought some formidable domestic problems with acute
shortages of housing, spiraling inflation, and bitter labor disputes. It saw appalling
poverty in Europe with the United States reluctantly assuming a role of stabilizer in an
uncertain world. Despite warnings that a state of war still existed and pleadings that the
emergency was not yet over, the public was impatient in 1946 with the pace of the shift
back to peacetime living. And thus began a politically troubled period that failed to
contribute much in the way of human achievements of major distinction.
In Texas the closing of ordnance, aircraft and ship-building plants caused considerable shifts in population and lessened the drastic labor shortage without creating significant unemployment. Some people returned to rural areas, but most of the 500,000 who had moved to town during the war preferred to remain in an urban environment. State constitutional amendments provided bonds to help war veterans buy farms, established a pension system for state employees, and restricted the use of gasoline tax revenue to highway construction. The gubernatorial election in 1946 culminated a controversy over the control of the University of Texas that had left it on probation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
Houston began the task of reconversion with many things in its favor. Cash, bank deposits and government bonds in the hands of individuals were estimated at about three times the prewar figure. The backlog of rationed wartime demands was huge. There was a pressing need for housing, automobiles, washing machines, refrigerators, and all of the other so-called consumer durables. Business itself needed millions for new plants and for deferred maintenance and, in the main, had the funds for these purposes. Thus, at the close of World War II, we looked forward to a relatively short period of hesitancy, covering the transitional period in which industry would reconvert its productive facilities to peacetime uses; a longer period of active business while production caught up with accumulated demand; a period of some months for trade and financial re-adjustment while the economy shifted to a more self-sustaining basis; and then to a succeeding period of several years of prosperity.
There was also a community aspect in connection with reconversion. This was a result of the changes that had taken place in Houston during the war years. The impact of the war in Houston can be indicated by some statistical comparisons: from 1940 to 1945, population increased from 384,000 to 471,000; bank debits increased from about $3,000,000,000 to over $6,000,000,000; bank clearings jumped from $2,500,000,000 to almost $5,500,000,000 and, under wartime restrictions, building permits dropped from $26,000,000 to $9,000,000. During this period, the effective buying income of Harris County increased from $300,000,000 to over $750,000,000, and, in spite of limited stocks of merchandise, retail sales climbed from $126,000,000 to $357,000,000.
Industrial development had
progressed at a record-breaking pace, and industrial employment had jumped from about
22,000 to about 64,000. During the war, many of the steamship lines to South America and
other ports of the world were diverted from Houston for safety reasons. These lines,
joined by many new ones, soon resumed service to the Port of Houston. In 1944, the last
full year of the war, only 16,956,538 tons of cargo had moved through Houston, compared to
27,739,616 tons in 1940, when 5,624 vessels arrived and departed. In 1945, the tonnage
climbed to 23,869,878 tons, and the upward trend continued. Thus, after but one year of
peace, the Port of Houston was able to look back upon a period of solid achievement and
progress.
The question was whether or not we could hold the gains of the war years and sustain the momentum that had been built up. We had every reason to expect a continued growth in population, with returning veterans migrating to Houston, with a continued high birthrate, and with the trend from farm to city being sustained. Even during the depression years from 1930 to 1940, the population of Houston had increased 31.5 percent. Industrial growth seemed assured. Surveys indicated that we would not only hold the high level of wartime industrial employment, but that it would continue to show some increase.
The rate of construction would be limited only by the availability of materials. Surveys showed projected building plans aggregating more than $400,000,000. The commercial picture was promising. Retailers, wholesalers, and service establishments all expected an increase in employment. In the long run, the 3,000,000 people living in the Houston primary retail area would determine whether or not Houston retail stores would continue to grow; what proportion of the tremendous pent-up consumer-products demand would be satisfied by Houston retailers; and the future expansion of the city’s retail influence and volume. These people would be influenced in part by the type of consistent, unified, year-around entertainment and recreational programs carried on in Houston; by the type of access streets and parking facilities; by the quality, type and range of merchandise carried by the retailers, and how it would be displayed and advertised; and by the courtesy and efficiency of the sales force.
During the period from 1945 to 1950, we saw the beginning of the so-called "flight to the suburbs", with people attempting to combine city benefits with country living. We saw the beginning of a new pattern of urban development with a core city surrounded by many local and regional shopping centers. We began to recognize for the first time the relationship of slums to the welfare of the entire city, and the need for urban renewal. If the central city were not to become an area for the concentration of the poor, the elderly and the discriminated-against, we would have to take steps to make close-in living more attractive. Already the problems of city and county financing were beginning to be felt.
Some needs for the development of a great city could not be recognized as well in 1945-1946 as later. The wartime demands had emphasized team effort to such an extent that the role of the individual was not as clearly seen as it had been during the pioneering period of our country. We would need a reawakening of a sense of individual responsibility and a cultivation of the highest type of citizenship. The functioning of the democratic process would need new emphasis and understanding.
Education at the adult level would be essential in this objective. The role of the arts and sciences, of the visual and performing arts, would assume greater significance in the development of a great city. Urban renewal, health and welfare, and a religious revival would be recognized as essential activities in city building, as well as economic growth, technological change, and the nation’s new role as a world power.
Early in the twenty decisive years following World War II, therefore, we began to realize that the future of the city depended upon the type of city our people wanted and what they were willing to do to get a great city. We realized that high standards would have to be set to challenge the best efforts of our people. We realized that our city would be rebuilt and improved in the same way that it was built in the first place—by many people making many improvements and investments because of their confidence in the future of Houston. We appreciated the fact that a healthy economy is basic to a great city, and that a favorable business climate is basic to a healthy economy. And, eventually, we came to a somewhat agonizing conclusion that the process of solving our community problems and of capitalizing upon our possibilities would take time, would take hard work, would take dedicated citizens, and would take millions of dollars in public expenditures.
Construction had the green light all along the line in Houston with the beginning of 1946. The greatest building and construction era in the city’s history was already under way. The all-time high building record of $41,088,844 had been set in 1945, and the more than $400,000,000 in projected construction indicated that this was but the beginning. Over $58,000,000 was earmarked for home construction to help meet an estimated shortage of almost 40,000 home units. Public-works construction plans included: $38,406,968 for the City of Houston, $11,577,981 for Harris County, $10,057,726 for the Flood Control District, $5,550,000 for the Navigation District, $7,500,000 for the Houston Independent School District, and $30,000,000 for state and federal highways. The United States Navy was building an $11,000,000 hospital, and many other multi-million-dollar construction projects had been announced.
The majority of the industrial plants that had sprung up almost like magic under the stress of wartime demands continued to operate in peacetime. Some of these, such as synthetic rubber, magnesium and steel, required no reconversion to meet normal demands. In metal-working plants, little reconversion was needed to swing into the production of heavy consumer products such as oil-field equipment. In this way, the wartime gains were held, and expansion immediately followed the war. Important additions were made to research facilities in the petroleum and chemical fields.
"Industrial possibilities in this area are not limited to the output of chemical products. We are in the pathway of a geographical trend of industrial dispersion. We already have important manufactured goods produced within the area. We are fortunately located with reference to basic raw materials for which modern research is opening up the most varied opportunities. We have the advantage of deep-water transportation and we are favorably located to serve a national market as well as to capitalize upon increasing trade with the Latin American countries. We emerged from the war with three times as many trained and skilled industrial workers as we ever had before."
Thus we had every reason to believe we could hold our wartime gains and continue to grow. The war demonstrated that industry in our area was capable of mass production on a scale theretofore believed impossible. The Houston area, as a source of basic raw materials, had been advanced to a new position of national leadership. We had the manpower to produce a host of new products, and with the increase of population in our area and improvements in transportation facilities, we had new market potentials. We had an appeal for industries complementary to existing plants, for industries utilizing intermediate materials for consumer products, for industries rendering special services to existing plants, and for industries built around the management skill and inventive genius of technicians and scientists available in the area. Industrial expansion, therefore, was expected to pace the peacetime developments in the Houston-Gulf Coast area.
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A Continental Airlines DC-3 on the tarmac at Houston International Airport, which is now Houston's Hobby Airport. |
In 1946, the six percent of the land area of Texas in the 19 counties surrounding Houston accounted for 20 percent of the state’s total crude oil production and 40 percent of its refinery capacity.
This area had over 100 oil fields with almost 7,000 producing wells, with an average daily production of 64 barrels per well compared to a state average of 21 barrels. The area had 17 natural gasoline and cycling plants processing gas to recover liquid hydrocarbons. There were 14 refineries in the area with a total crude-oil processing capacity of 593,000 barrels daily. Synthetic rubber facilities included two butadiene, two styrene, and two copolymer plants and one butyl rubber plant. A network of pipelines centering in Houston was moving 527,000 barrels of crude oil per day into the area and 370,000 barrels of crude oil plus 36,000 barrels of refinery products daily out of the area.
Houston recognized in 1946 that the economic progress of the area rested as directly as ever upon the success of the farmer, and the Chamber of Commerce expanded its activity in farm and ranch services. Houston was the hub of a vast agricultural trade territory, with excellent rail, water, air and highway transportation serving an expanding market. The more immediate area embraced 35,100 farms totaling 6,455,000 acres, including 1,422,000 acres under cultivation. Factors contributing to the successful production of various types of field crops included: a long growing season, an annual rainfall of between 40 and 50 inches fairly well distributed through the year, a variety of soils, a topography permitting the use of modem machinery, and a growing local market.The lifeline of Houston then, as now, was the Houston Ship Channel with its connecting network of waterways, railways, highways and airways. Speaking in May, 1946, Oveta Culp Hobby said, "World War II froze commercial shipping through Port Houston like an Arctic ice pack. Now the floes of war are thawing, and the question confronting Port Houston is: what of the future? Will the Ship Channel subside into the obscurity of a coastwise backwater, or will it regain its pre-war ascendancy and go forward to greater performance? The answer to this question depends partly upon the opportunities of foreign trade to develop in the new order of a changed world, and partly upon the enterprise and vision of the Port Commission and the aggressiveness of the business leaders of Houston. Both of these contingencies favor the prospect of a greater port development in the years ahead than it has yet known. For the spirit of progress pulsates as strongly in the builders of today as it did in those of yesterday. And prospects of post-war foreign trade, while as yet un-crystallized, are hopeful."
War-transportation needs had put Houston’s six trunk-line railway systems to their greatest test, and from 1940 through 1945 they increased their tonnage 128 percent, jumping from 1940’s 6,236,162 tons to 14,191,692 tons in 1945. This was done in the face of an acute manpower shortage, critical materials and equipment shortages, and other wartime restrictions. During 1945, these systems moved 43,280 freight trains in and out of Houston, an average of 146 freight trains daily, receiving and forwarding 397,976 carloads of freight and 250,302 less-than-carloads These six systems, late in 1945, had 33 scheduled passenger trains in and 33 out daily. Older type trains were being replaced by faster, streamlined trains, and steam locomotives were being replaced by diesel-power units.
A network of short-range bus lines served communities near Houston, and in addition there were seven long-line bus services, with a total of 228 schedules daily in and out. Six airlines’ daily schedules called for 30 planes in and 30 out, with the number and size of the aircraft rapidly increasing. In 1946, Harris County had a registration of 23,479 commercial trucks, an increase from 16,167 in ten years, despite the intervening war-restrictive years.
Houston was laying the foundation for the post-war period in many ways in 1946. Dr. E. W. Bertner was elected President of the Texas Medical Center, with plans being expanded for a complex of institutions chartered for "benevolent, charitable and educational purposes", but which was still largely in the planning stages. The Rice Institute was preparing for a new era, with the selection of Dr. William V. Houston, physicist and mathematician from the California Institute of Technology, as president to succeed Dr. Edgar Odell Lovett, who had been president since the opening of the university and who became president emeritus. Expansion plans were being drawn by the University of Houston.
Houston bank deposits reached the billion-dollar mark. Modern facilities for
commercial aviation became one of the city’s liveliest issues. The re-development of
the core city began with the ground-breaking ceremonies for Foley’s Department Store
and with the City National Bank Building getting under way. Dedicating its activities to
peacetime aims, the Community Chest and Council began its program of reconversion after
four years of distinguished service as a War Chest. The Chamber of Commerce resumed its
trade and goodwill trips to Mexico. The Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo began making
ambitious long-range plans.
From the standpoint of meeting its public responsibilities Houston took its first major post-war step in July, when the voters approved by a vote of almost four-to-one a $55,225,000 public-works program for the city. This program had been developed by the Mayor’s Post War Planning Committee with the full assistance and support of the Chamber of Commerce. City improvements provided for by the various issues included storm and sanitary sewers, street and bridge improvements, airport additions and improvements, developments in the Civic Center, police and fire stations, and work on public buildings.
The Chamber of Commerce, in January, declared in the preamble to its program of works: "1946 is a year of opportunity for Houston. During the shift over of national and world economics from war to peace, the vast potentials of Houston and this area are greater than ever before. They are more generally recognized by our own people as well as by business and industrial leaders throughout the country. In the pent-up demand for goods of all types, in the wealth of natural and human resources abounding in this area, and in the continuation of development trends that have made Houston the South’s largest city, prospects are bright for the most fruitful year in the long history of the Houston Chamber of Commerce.
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The year of 1946 in Houston turned blueprints into scaffolds and reconversion into expansion. During one week in October, announcements were made of a $3,900,000 Champion Paper expansion, a $11,700,000 Sheffield Steel expansion, and a $25,000,000 Shell Oil expansion. Industrial and commercial construction announcements were made throughout the year. In colorful ceremonies September 4, the $11,000,000 United States Naval hospital was activated. Houston became an International Air Gateway, with Braniff, Pan American and Chicago & Southern airlines obtaining permission to operate international services.
Records for 1946 showed 151,428 passenger cars, and 193,255 motor vehicles of all types in Harris County; building permits of $50,693,000 within the Houston city limits; $136,000,000 in non-residential construction contract awards, and $98,000,000 in residential construction contracts to build 14,000 dwelling units; postal receipts of $5,277,387, and in Harris County 181,889 electric current customers, 159,605 natural gas customers, and 174,477 telephones in service.
During 1947 the nation’s economy became a matter of growing concern, when rising food prices as well as prices for clothing, rent and other necessities aroused bitter complaints from a restless population. The nation dedicated itself to world cooperation under the "Marshall Plan", with a program of international aid "directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos." The Taft-Hartley Bill amended many of the provisions of the Wagner Act and set something of a new pattern in labor relations. Supersonic speed was achieved by experimental jet aircraft, and Dr. J.A. Van Allen predicted space flight.
The most newsworthy event in Texas in 1947 was the explosion in Texas City on April 16 of the French SS Grandcamp, loaded with chemicals, which set off a series of explosions that killed more than 500 people and injured about 3,000, with property damage estimated in excess of $50,000,000. The State Legislature established the Texas State University for Negroes at Houston, its name later being changed to Texas Southern University. The 1947 Census of Manufacturers showed growth in the value added by manufacture in the state since 1939 from $453,105,423 to $1,727,464,000. Wage earners increased from 126,996 to 242,014, and wages from $128,138,703 to $558,420,000. In Harris County, 915 industrial plants were listed With employment of 58,254.
When Mayor Oscar Holcombe started his 8th term in the City Hall in January, after a six-year absence from the mayor’s office, the short-lived city manager type of government was soon to return to the full-time, strong mayor type. Earlier estimates of public works were revised upward with a total program of $145,114,117 being indicated, and with the City of Houston estimating a program of $75,419,506 in improvements. Climaxing their many outstanding philanthropies over the years, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Roy Cullen established a foundation worth an estimated $160,000,000 for the purpose of aiding educational, medical and charitable institutions in the State of Texas. Discussing their generosity, Mr. Cullen said:"Many of our wealthy citizens are much less selfish than are we. For they are willing to allow their successors or the trustees of their estates to get the pleasure of giving money to these welfare organizations after they are dead and gone... We are selfish because we want to enjoy our money while we live.
Commenting editorially on the 10th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone for the San Jacinto Monument, the "Houston Magazine" said: "Houston has made great strides in the decade just completed. It has made this progress in the face of history’s most devastating war, and it has made it only because its business leaders were men of vision and men who were possessed of such patriotic zeal that it permitted them to work in unison for the good of the city they loved. Yes, it takes great men to make a great city and fortunate is Houston, for the passing decade has proven that it is the home not only of great men but also of unselfish men, who possessed with rare vision the will and determination to make realities out of dreams.
When the Monsanto Chemical Company, shortly
after the Texas City disaster, announced the rebuilding and expansion of its
plant, it gave confidence to the people of that stricken city and they set
about the task of rebuilding. Commenting on this disaster, the "Houston
Magazine" said: "Heroically the citizens of that industrial city have
responded to the gigantic task of aiding the wounded and the disabled, and
with unprecedented assistance from neighboring cities, and the nation, they
are rebuilding the wrecked city. And from the ashes, the desolation and the
grief that was Texas City of a few weeks ago, has come a determination and a
civic pride that, together with the brave hearts that are in command, will
soon build a finer and more modern city. Standing ever ready to assist,
their hearts heavy with sympathy, are the people of Houston—-their neighbors
and their friends."
While reconversion of industries doing war work in the Houston area was accomplished with little re-tooling, a few specialized war plants were closed down after the war. Most of these plants in the Houston area, however, passed into the hands of private industry and continued to be operated for peacetime purposes, in many cases on an expanded scale. The future of the synthetic rubber plants, though, remained uncertain through 1947 because of the lack of an established national rubber policy. In April, "The Wall Street Journal" said: "The chemical industry is on an expansion splurge along the Gulf Coast. Big manufacturers like DuPont, Dow, Shell and Monsanto are plunging a third of a billion dollars into new plants on a 600-mile stretch of the Texas-Louisiana shore.. Advantages of the Gulf Coast extend beyond raw materials as an official of an important chemical manufacturing concern indicated: (1) cheap building costs; (2) excellent water transportation; (3) fine living conditions for employees; and (4) a progressive community spirit."
