The Galveston Bay Area, also known as ''Bay Area Houston'' or simply the ''Bay Area'', is a region that surrounds the

Galveston Bay Galveston Bay ( ) is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of ...

estuary of

Southeast Texas Southeast Texas is a cultural and geographic region in the U.S. state of Texas, bordering Southwest Louisiana and its greater Acadiana region to the east. Being a part of East Texas, the region is geographically centered on the Greater Houston ...

in the United States, within metropolitan area. Normally the term refers to the mainland communities around the bay and excludes

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

as well as most of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. Originally part of the pirate kingdom of

Jean Lafitte Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Th ...

, this area played a role in the early

history of Texas The recorded history of Texas begins with the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors in the region of North America now known as Texas in 1519, who found the region occupied by numerous Native American tribes. The name ''Texas'' derives ...

having been the site of some early rebellions against Mexican rule and the site of the victory of the Texas army over the Mexican army during the Texas Revolution. Ranching interests became early economic drivers around the bay. As the nearby cities of Galveston and Houston developed as commercial centers, the Bay Area communities became part of a principal commercial corridor between the cities. The Bay Area is also the location of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center which houses the

Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center NASA's Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center (MCC-H, initially called Integrated Mission Control Center, or IMCC), also known by its radio callsign, Houston, is the facility at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, ...

. The City of Houston's official nickname as "Space City" is derived from this. In addition, a large tourist attraction for area visitors is

Space Center Houston Space Center Houston is a science museum that serves as the official visitor center of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. It was designated a Smithsonian Affiliate museum in 2014. The organization is owned by NASA, and operated under a co ...

. The landscape around the bay features a mix of

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

es, industrial facilities, tourist attractions, and historic sites. The area's developing population is ethnically diverse with a growing international community. The communities host cultural events ranging from

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and

musical theater Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

s and

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

s. The bay itself supports a

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

industry and features one of the highest concentrations of

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

s in the nation. On land the area holds numerous historic sites such as the

San Jacinto Monument The San Jacinto Monument is a column located on the Houston Ship Channel in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, about 16 miles due east of downtown Houston. The monument is topped with a 220-ton star that commemorates the site of the Battle of ...

, and many parks and

nature preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

s such as the

Armand Bayou Nature Center Armand Bayou Nature Center is an urban preserve located in Pasadena and southeast Houston between the Johnson Space Center and the Bayport Industrial District. The nature center is the largest urban wilderness preserve in the United States. The ...

Boundaries

The shores of Galveston Bay are home to many different municipalities and communities. The region is part of the larger Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Area. Though the term ''Bay Area'' in its broadest sense refers to all communities near the shoreline, some sources, such as the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership (BAHEP), use more limited definitions, often referring more specifically to the clusters of communities nearest to Houston.Chang (2006), p. 185.

Municipalities

The following communities lie on the shores of Galveston Bay proper and Trinity Bay, the two main components of the Galveston Bay complex (excluding those along the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

): : Anahuac, Bacliff,

Baytown Baytown may refer to: * Baytown, Texas, a city in the United States near Houston, Texas *Baytown culture, an archaeological culture in the United States *Operation Baytown Operation Baytown was an Allied amphibious landing on the mainland o ...

, Beach City, Kemah, La Porte,

Morgan's Point Morgan's Point is located 30 miles east of Houston in Harris County, Texas, United States, located on the shores of Galveston Bay at the inlet to the Houston Ship Channel, near La Porte and Pasadena. As of the 2010 census, it had a population ...

, Seabrook, Shoreacres,

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

Texas City Texas City is a city in Galveston County, Texas, Galveston County in the U.S. state of Texas. Located on the southwest shoreline of Galveston Bay, Texas City is a busy deepwater port on Texas's Gulf Coast, as well as a petroleum-refining and pe ...

The BAHEP and the

Clear Lake Area Clear Lake, or the Clear Lake Area, is a region in parts of Harris and Galveston County in Texas, United States. It is part of the Galveston Bay Area, which itself is a section of the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area.Kimball ...

Chamber of Commerce (CLACC) include the following additional communities in their membership: : Clear Lake superneighborhood of Houston (which includes

Clear Lake City Clear Lake City is a master-planned community located in southeast Harris County, Texas, within the Bay Area of Greater Houston. It is the second-largest master-planned community in Houston – behind Kingwood. The majority of the communit ...

and JSC), Clear Lake Shores, Deer Park, Dickinson, El Lago, Friendswood,

League City League City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Galveston County, within the metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 112,129. The city of League City has a small portion north of Clear Creek within Harris ...

, Nassau Bay,

Taylor Lake Village Taylor Lake Village is a city in Harris County in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 3,704 at the 2020 U.S. census. History Geography Taylor Lake Village is located at (29.574216, –95.055327). According to the United States Cens ...

Webster Webster may refer to: People *Webster (surname), including a list of people with the surname *Webster (given name), including a list of people with the given name Places Canada *Webster, Alberta *Webster's Falls, Hamilton, Ontario United State ...

. Some additional communities such as La Marque, adjacent to Texas City, are treated as bayside communities by some sources.

Subdivisions

The Bay Area can be sub-divided based on the histories and economic connections of the different communities. * The Pasadena–Baytown area, including Deer Park and La Porte, straddles the

Houston Ship Channel The Houston Ship Channel, in Houston, Texas, is part of the Port of Houston, one of the busiest seaports in the world. The channel is the conduit for ocean-going vessels between Houston-area terminals and the Gulf of Mexico, and it serves an incr ...

and has since the world wars been defined by the heavy industry along its shores. The two towns have distinct histories with Baytown having become tied to the oil industry earlier and Pasadena having a longer history tied to ranching and agriculture before petrochemicals came to dominate. But in modern times their fortunes have been closely tied by their cores of heavy industry. * The

includes numerous communities and municipalities surrounding Clear Lake between Pasadena, Houston, and the bay. This area largely owes its recent growth and prosperity directly and indirectly to the Johnson Space Center, and has been traditionally characterized by a large white collar workforce and its prolific middle- and upper-middle-class neighborhoods. The area is sometimes seen as the heart of the Bay Area in spite of the relative youth of its history. * The Texas City area includes Texas City and La Marque and surrounding communities. Until recently this area and Galveston together were treated by the federal government as a metro area distinct from Houston. The area's prosperity revolves to a great degree around the

Port of Texas City The Port of Texas City is a major deepwater port in Texas City, Texas at Galveston Bay, United States. Its location on the bay, which is used by the Port of Houston and the Port of Galveston, puts Texas City in the heart of one of the world's mo ...

and the heavy industry around it. Texas State History Association. * The bayside region of Chambers County encompasses the shoreline of Trinity Bay (and East Bay), on the northeast side of the bay complex. This area includes Anahuac as its largest community. Some of the area remains semi-rural and oriented to agriculture and commercial fishing but petroleum and chemical processing are significant industries as well. Urban development is more limited giving the area a more small-town and rural atmosphere. This area's history is somewhat distinct from the other areas around the bay as it is not part of the once crucial commercial corridor between Galveston and Houston.

History

Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas

Prior to European settlement the area around Galveston Bay was settled by the

Karankawa The Karankawa were an Indigenous people concentrated in southern Texas along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, largely in the lower Colorado River and Brazos River valleys."Karankawa." In ''Cassell's Peoples, Nations and Cultures,'' edited by John ...

and

Atakapan The Atakapa Sturtevant, 659 or Atacapa were an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who spoke the Atakapa language and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico in what is now Texas and Louisiana. They included several distinct band ...

tribes, who lived throughout the

Gulf coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

region.

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

explorers such as the Rivas-Iriarte expedition and José Antonio de Evia charted the bay and gave it its name. In 1816 the

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

Louis-Michel Aury Louis-Michel Aury (1788 – August 30, 1821) was a French privateer operating in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean during the early 19th century. Early life Louis Michel-Aury was born in Paris, France, around 1788. French Navy Louis Aury s ...

established a settlement on Galveston Island but was soon succeeded by the pirate Jean Lafitte. Lafitte transformed Galveston and the bay into a pirate kingdom establishing bases and hide-outs at locations such as Trinity Bay, Clear Lake, and Eagle Point. In 1821, however, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

ousted Lafitte and the colony was largely abandoned. Following its

declaration of independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...

from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

the new nation of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

moved to colonize its northern territory of Texas by offering

land grant A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...

s to settlers both from within Mexico and from the nearby United States. Small settlements such as Lynchburg and San Jacinto were gradually established around the bay and in 1830 Mexican authorities created a customs and garrison post at Anahuac commanded by

Juan Davis Bradburn Juan Davis Bradburn (born John Davis Bradburn; 1787 – April 20, 1842) was a brigadier general in the Mexican Army. His actions as commandant of the garrison at Anahuac in Mexican Texas in 1831 and 1832 led to the events known as the Anahuac Di ...

. Conflicts between Bradburn and the settlers in the region led to the Anahuac Disturbances, a prelude to the larger Texas rebellion that was to come. Following a coup in the Mexican government many freedoms previously enjoyed by the Texans were revoked causing Texas to revolt and declare its independence in 1835. After a number of battles the

Texas army The Texas Army, officially the Army of the Republic of Texas, was the land warfare branch of the Texas Military Forces during the Republic of Texas. It descended from the Texian Army, which was established in October 1835 to fight for independe ...

, under the leadership of General

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

, finally defeated the

Mexican Army The Mexican Army ( es, Ejército Mexicano) is the combined land and air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National De ...

in the

Battle of San Jacinto The Battle of San Jacinto ( es, Batalla de San Jacinto), fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day La Porte and Pasadena, Texas, was the final and decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Samuel Houston, the Texan Army engaged ...

, near modern Pasadena. The new Republic of Texas grew rapidly. The shores of the bay were initially mostly home to farms and ranches such as the famed

Allen Ranch The Allen Ranch, or Sam Allen Ranch, was one of the first and longest running ranches in the history of the state of Texas in the United States. The ranch was started a few years after the Texas Revolution in what is now southeast Houston and P ...

. Texas State Historical Association. New communities such as Goose Creek (modern Baytown) were established.

U.S. annexation

Texas succeeded in its bid to join the United States in 1845 which helped launch the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

. Texas' annexation brought more people to Texas and ranching interests around the bay began to grow. Throughout the 19th century Galveston remained Texas' dominant metropolis and the communities around the bay were strongly tied economically and culturally to the city though, as Houston began to develop, so did the Bay Area's ties to it. The construction of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad further spurred growth in the area. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, during which Texas

seceded Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics lea ...

from the United States, the area served a limited role in the conflict as new fortifications like Fort Chambers, near Anahuac, were constructed to ward off a mainland invasion by Union forces and to protect supply routes to and from Galveston. The Bay Area sat in the middle of the conflict as the most important battles in Texas occurred at Galveston with the conflict moving through the area on to Harrisburg and Houston after Galveston's fall. In the aftermath of the war the Texas economy declined for a period. Nevertheless, ranching interests became major economic drivers in the area spawning many other economic enterprises such as hide processing plants and shipping concerns. The success of these enterprises and the growth of Galveston as one of the prime commercial centers in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

helped promote the construction of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway; and the La Porte, Houston and Northern Railroad through the area over the course of the 19th century. These railroads running along the southwest shore of the bay would spawn new communities such as Clear Creek (League City), Webster, and later Texas City. Texas State History Association.
Texas State History Association. Some of these new communities would develop initially as stop-over points for travelers on the rail lines. Toward the end of the century, as ranching's profitability declined, many communities turned increasingly to agriculture. The farming community of

was established during this time. The

Galveston Hurricane of 1900 Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

devastated the city of Galveston and heavily damaged communities around the bay (according to some estimates the Bay Area death toll may have been as high as 2000). Bridges between Galveston and the mainland were destroyed. Communities along the shoreline declined for some time as economic growth moved inland and Houston became the dominant economic center in the region. The region received a population boost from some Galveston refugees who relocated to the mainland following the catastrophe.

20th century

The sparsely populated Bay Area transformed during the 20th century. Following the hurricane, donations by the newly established

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

helped revive area farming communities. Texas State History Association. The newly established community of Texas City opened its port and railroad junctions shipping cotton and grain. Commercial fishing, particularly for

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

s and

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

, grew as a significant area industry. In the early 1900s the

Goose Creek Oil Field The Goose Creek Oil Field is a large oil field in Baytown, Texas, on Galveston Bay. Discovered in 1903, and reaching maximum production in 1918 after a series of spectacular blowout (well drilling), gushers, it was one of the fields that contrib ...

was discovered launching an oil boom at Galveston Bay. In 1915 Goose Creek acquired the first offshore oil drilling site in the state and soon after refineries opened in Texas City, Baytown and Pasadena. The

Humble Oil Humble Oil and Refining Co. is a defunct American oil company founded in 1911 in Humble, Texas. In 1919, a 50% interest in Humble was acquired by the Standard Oil of New Jersey which acquired the rest of the company in September 1959. The Humble b ...

refinery in Baytown became the largest in the Houston area. The wealth brought on by the boom transformed the region and population surged. Manufacturing and refining expanded rapidly.Ramos (2004), p. 154. During the

Roaring 20s The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the U ...

, tourism and resort communities developed around Clear Lake and the bay shoreline in communities such as

, Seabrook, Kemah. The

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

s created new manufacturing opportunities for factories around the bay and the area's population grew even faster than Houston.

Ellington Air Force Base Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base is a joint installation shared by various active component and reserve component military units, as well as aircraft flight operations of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the aegis ...

was built becoming a major air field and flight training center during the wars. After the war area economic diversification brought on by the war effort helped in the transition to a peacetime economy.

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

's Johnson Space Center was established in 1963 helping to spur explosive growth in the mid-20th century, especially the 1970s and 1980s. The remainder of the communities on the southwestern shore

urbanized ''Urbanized'' is a documentary film directed by Gary Hustwit and released on 26 October 2011. It is considered the third of a three-part series on design known as the Design Trilogy; the first being ''Helvetica'', about the typeface, and the seco ...

and development connected the area to Houston. Texas State Historical Association. Tourism and recreation re-emerged and blossomed particularly around the Clear Lake area and the nearby shoreline.

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

struck the Bay Area in 2008 causing substantial damage both environmentally and economically, the most destructive event since 1900. a proposal to build a levee system, the '' Ike Dike'', to protect the bay is under discussion.

Geography

The Galveston Bay Area is located on the

gulf coastal plain The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico. This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle, southwest Georgia, the southern two-thirds of Alabama, over most of Mississippi, wes ...

, and its vegetation is classified as temperate grassland and

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

es. The municipalities have been built on reclaimed marshes,

s, and

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

s, which are all still visible in undeveloped areas. Flatness of the local terrain and proximity to the Bay and the

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...

have made flooding a recurring problem for the area. The region once relied on

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

for its needs, but land

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...

has forced much of the region to turn to ground-level water sources.

Geology

The land beneath the Bay Area consists of layers of sand and clay to great depths. These layers were created by millennia of river-borne

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand an ...

s which gradually incorporated plant and animal matter creating the

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

deposits for which the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

is known. The region has numerous faults, many considered active, but none has produced significant earthquakes in recorded history. These faults tend to move at a smooth rate in what is termed ''

fault creep In geology, aseismic creep or fault creep is measurable surface displacement along a fault in the absence of notable earthquakes. Aseismic creep may also occur as "after-slip" days to years after an earthquake. Notable examples of aseismic slip in ...

'', which reduces the risk of an earthquake.

Bay and coastline

Galveston Bay is an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

along the Texas Gulf Coast. The bay as a whole is composed of four major ''sub-bays'': Galveston Bay proper, Trinity Bay,

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa countie ...

, and West Bay. Other smaller bays and lakes connecting to this complex of waterways in the Bay Area include San Jacinto Bay, Burnet Bay, Scott Bay, Crystal Bay, Goose Lake, Clear Lake, Dickinson Bay, and Moses Lake. Galveston Bay is mostly shallow with an average depth of 7–9 feet. It is fed by the Trinity River and the San Jacinto River, numerous local

bayou In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...

s and incoming

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide t ...

s from the

. This unique and complex mixing of waters from different sources supports many types of

marine life Marine life, sea life, or ocean life is the plants, animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of seas or oceans, or the brackish water of coastal estuaries. At a fundamental level, marine life affects the nature of the planet. M ...

including

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

s, and many varieties of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

thereby supporting a substantial fishing industry. Additionally the system of bayous,

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s, and marshes that ring the Bay support their own

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s allowing for diverse wildlife and enabling freshwater farming of

crawfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

. The areas near the bay shore in fact have a higher diversity of habitats than the nearby Gulf coast. Although contaminants from the major industrial complexes along the bay contribute substantially to bay pollution, most is the result of storm run-off from various commercial, agricultural, and residential sources. In recent decades, conservation efforts have been enacted which have improved water quality in the bay.

Climate

The Bay Area's climate is classified as humid subtropical (''Cfa'' in

Köppen climate classification system Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author an ...

). Spring

supercell thunderstorms A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (s ...

sometimes create

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

s (but not to the extent found in

tornado alley Tornado Alley is a loosely defined area of the central United States where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, So ...

). Prevailing winds from the south and southeast bring heat from the deserts of

and moisture from the

. Summer temperatures regularly exceed . The area's proximity to the bay and the winds that it generates moderate the area's temperatures and ease the effects of the humidity creating a more pleasant climate than inland communities like Houston (e.g. the average July high in Texas City is with winds vs. with winds in Houston). Winters in the area are temperate with typical January highs above and lows are near . Snowfall is rare. Annual rainfall averages can range from depending on the community. Excessive

ozone Ozone (), or trioxygen, is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , breaking down in the lo ...

levels can occur due to industrial activities; nearby Houston is ranked among the most ozone-polluted cities in the United States. The industries located along the ship channel and the bay are a major cause of the pollution.

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s are a substantial concern during the fall season. Though Galveston Island and the

Bolivar Peninsula Bolivar Peninsula ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,417 at the 2010 census. The communities of Port Bolivar, Crystal Beach, Caplen, Gilchrist, and High Island are located on ...

provide some shielding, the Bay Area still faces more danger than Houston and other inland communities, particularly because of storm surge.

Economy

The Bay Area has a diverse

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

with much of it built around

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

petrochemicals Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...

, and

high tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

industries. The region's economy is closely tied to the rest of the Houston area though the mix of local businesses is somewhat unusual. In 2005, the median household income for the Clear Lake area was $62,061 compared to $50,868 for the Houston area as whole and $45,472 for all of Texas.

Overview

Aerial View of the Johnson Space Center - GPN-2000-001112

The Bay Area's four major employment sectors are

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...

s and chemical processing, high-tech (

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

, etc.), and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

. Most other employment in the region is supported by these industries although some smaller, independent industries exist as well. The most widespread economic activities in the area revolve around petroleum and petrochemicals, largely centered in Baytown, Pasadena/La Porte, and Texas City. These industries in Houston and the Bay Area account for nearly half of the U.S. petrochemical manufacturing and approximately one third of the U.S.

petroleum refining An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt, asphalt ...

capacity. The Bay Area is home to the largest refineries and petrochemical complexes in the Greater Houston area and to the majority of the processing capacity.

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

(JSC) is an important pillar of the Bay Area economy. Businesses around this core include a broad range of high-tech development enterprises from aerospace engineering to software and electronics. The tourism industry attracts millions of visitors each year with attractions ranging from

to the bay itself.

Ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

, in particular, is a growing sector with destinations such as the Armand Bayou Nature Center.

Biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

, which already employs nearly 3000 workers in the area, is a smaller but growing industry in the area enabled in large part by JSC and the

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrate ...

in Houston.

Commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

is one of the older industries in the region and is still a significant economic sector. Some outlying areas around the bay, particularly to the northeast side, remain semi-

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

Cattle ranching A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

remain staples of some local economies as well as

fishing and

farming.

Economic hubs

Major Bay Area economic hubs include the following: *

Bayport Industrial District The Bayport Industrial District is a large commercial real-estate development located in southeast Harris County, Texas, within the Bay Area of Greater Houston. It is one of the two industrial districts in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of La ...

- A large complex of chemical processing facilities comprising 57 companies with a business impact of over $829 million. *

- The central facility of

, this site manages more than $4 billion annually in

contracts, and together with numerous private companies involved in space programs and related ventures gives the Bay Area one of the highest concentrations of aerospace businesses and expertise in the nation. Additionally, JSC's research in bioastronautics has helped create a growing

industry in the area. The Galveston Bay area is home to 92% of the Houston-Galveston area aerospace jobs. *

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

Baytown Complex — One of the world's largest petrochemical industrial complexes, this complex is Baytown's largest employer and one of the largest in the area. For its part the Baytown Refinery located on this site is the largest

refinery A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value. Types of refineries Different types of refineries ...

in the United States and is capable of processing 572,000 barrels of oil per day. * Texas City Industrial Complex — This petrochemical complex includes the BP Texas City Refinery, the state's second largest. *

Barbours Cut Terminal The Barbours Cut Container Terminal, or simply the Barbours Cut Terminal, is a major deep water port in the Greater Houston area in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of one of the world's busiest ports by cargo tonnage. Geography Barbours Cut ...

- This shipping terminal, the largest of the terminals operated by the

Port of Houston The Port of Houston is one of the world's largest ports and serves the metropolitan area of Houston, Texas. The port is a 50-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. ...

Authority, handles in excess of 3 million tons of cargo annually. * Ellington Airport - This mixed-use (

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

) airport is part of the

Texas Air National Guard The Texas Air National Guard (TX ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Texas, United States of America. It is, along with the Texas Army National Guard, an element of the Texas National Guard. No element of the Texas Air National Guard is und ...

. The airfield has traditionally been a major contributor to the local economy though government realignments have scaled back the base's military role through the years.

Demographics

: Home to a diverse set of communities, the Bay Area has a demographic distribution that varies greatly among these individual communities. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the City of Houston (2008, where available, and 2000 otherwise), the area demographic statistics are as follows (see table for more details). The total population was approximately 566,850. The median household income was $56,827. The white population was 72.9%, the African American population was 8.3%, and the Asian population was 3.9%. The most populous community in the region is Pasadena (though Houston is a much larger city, the portion within this region is smaller than Pasadena). Taylor Lake Village has (by far) the highest median household income; and Bacliff and San Leon have the lowest. Texas City and La Marque have the largest African-American populations. La Porte and the Clear Lake area of Houston have the largest Asian populations.

Education

Colleges and universities

The Bay Area contains several institutions of higher education. The largest is the

University of Houston–Clear Lake The University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) is a public university in Pasadena and Houston, Texas, with branch campuses in Pearland and Texas Medical Center. It is part of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1971, UHCL had an enr ...

(UHCL) located adjacent to Clear Lake City. UHCL is separate and distinct from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

(UH), but it is part of the larger

University of Houston System The University of Houston System is a public university system in Texas, comprising four separate and distinct universities. It also owns and holds broadcasting licenses to a public television station (KUHT) and a public radio station (KUHF). Th ...

. The university offers a wide spectrum of programs including what it touts as the most complete

graduate programs in the state.

Texas Chiropractic College Texas Chiropractic College (TCC) is a private chiropractic college in Pasadena, Texas. Founded in 1908, it is the fourth oldest chiropractic college in the United States. TCC was originally located in San Antonio, Texas before moving in 1965 to P ...

in Pasadena, one of two schools of

chiropractic Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudosci ...

in Texas and one of a handful in the nation, provides training for students from around the state. Several community colleges serve communities in the area as well, including

San Jacinto College San Jacinto College is a public community college in the Greater Houston with its campuses in Pasadena and Houston, Texas. Established in 1961, San Jacinto College originally consisted of the independent school districts (ISD) of Channelview, De ...

College of the Mainland College of the Mainland (COM) is a public community college in Texas City, Texas. Its name comes from its location on the "mainland" portion of Galveston County, Texas (the portion north of Galveston Island). The school's sport teams are nam ...

Lee College Lee College is a public community college in Baytown, Texas. Lee College's main campus occupies near downtown Baytown and extension campuses throughout its service area. The school has an enrollment of over 7,773 total students as of Fall 2018. ...

, and

Houston Community College Houston Community College (HCC), also known as Houston Community College System (HCCS) is a public community college system that operates community colleges in Houston, Missouri City, Greater Katy, and Stafford in Texas. It is notable for active ...

Primary and secondary schools

The Bay Area covers multiple municipalities with multiple

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

s. Most of the communities in the Clear Lake Area are served by

Clear Creek Independent School District Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) is a school district based in League City, Texas, United States. The district serves most of the Clear Lake Area and some other neighboring parts of the Houston metropolitan area. CCISD is the 29t ...

though some nearby areas are served by Dickinson and

Houston Independent School District The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...

s. Communities in the Pasadena/Baytown area are served by Deer Park, Goose Creek Consolidated, La Porte, and

Pasadena Independent School District Pasadena Independent School District is a school district that is based in Pasadena, Texas, United States. Pasadena ISD serves much of southeast Harris County. The district includes most of Pasadena, South Houston, a portion of Houston (incl ...

s. The Friendswood area is served by the

Friendswood Independent School District Friendswood Independent School District is a school district based in Friendswood, Texas ( USA). FISD covers the Galveston County portion of the city of Friendswood (the portion south of Clear Creek, which is the majority of the city). A small ...

. The Texas City area is served by La Marque and

Texas City Independent School District Texas City Independent School District is a public school district based in Texas City, Texas. It serves most of Texas City and La Marque as well as a portion of Tiki Island. In 2009, the school district was rated " academically acceptable" ...

s. The communities in Chambers County near Anahuac are served by

Anahuac Independent School District Anahuac Independent School District is a public school district based in Anahuac, Texas ( USA). The district serves Anahuac and several unincorporated areas, including Double Bayou, Hankamer, Monroe City, Oak Island, Smith Point, Turtle Ba ...

and Barbers Hill Independent School District. these 11 districts, excluding Houston ISD, have a total of 190 primary and secondary schools. Of these Clear Creek, Deer Park, Goose Creek, Barbers Hill and Anahuac ISD were evaluated as "recognized" districts (the second highest ranking) by the

Texas Education Agency The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

, or TEA. All of the others were evaluated as "academically acceptable" with the exception of Texas City ISD, which was evaluated as "academically unacceptable". 67 (35%) of the schools were ranked as "exemplary" (the highest ranking); 62 (33%) were ranked as "recognized"; 39 (21%) were ranked as "academically acceptable"; 2 (1%) were ranked as "academically unacceptable"; and 20 (11%) were not rated by the TEA. Notably 100% of Friendswood ISD schools and 65% of Clear Creek ISD schools were "exemplary", the highest percentages of these 10 districts. Overall, of the schools that were rated, 37% of the schools in these 10 districts were "exemplary", compared with 29% for the entire state.

Transportation

The Bay Area Houston Transportation Partnership (BayTran) coordinates planning for the transportation needs of the Bay Area. Collaborative efforts by the local communities have helped push forward development of regional infrastructure.

Ground transportation

The Bay Area's two interstate freeways act as linear ''backbones'' connecting the communities on either side of the ship channel. The few other

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

s in the region provide access into the centers of heavy industry within the region. Connectivity within other communities mostly relies on uncontrolled surface highways.

Interstate 45 Interstate 45 (I-45) is a major Interstate Highway located entirely within the US state of Texas. While most Interstate routes which have numbers ending in "5" are cross-country north–south routes, I-45 is comparatively short, with the ...

(the Gulf Freeway) is the major freeway for the core areas of the Bay Area linking them with Houston and Galveston. Highway 146 (Bayport Blvd.) is a coastal highway linking the waterfronts of the communities. The Gulf Freeway and Bayport Blvd. together are the main arteries linking the Clear Lake Area communities and Pasadena, though Highway 225, East

Beltway 8 Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway maintained by the Texas ...

Highway 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3. For roads numbered 3A, see 3A. International * Asian Highway 3 * Europea ...

and others are important as well. The Fred Hartman Bridge on Highway 146 crosses the ship channel connecting Baytown and La Porte, while the

Galveston Causeway The George and Cynthia Mitchell Memorial Causeway is a set of causeways in Galveston, Texas, United States. Two of the routes carry the southbound and northbound traffic of Interstate 45, while the original causeway is restricted to rail traffic. ...

on the Gulf Freeway crosses the bay connecting Texas City and

Galveston Island Galveston Island ( ) is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in the United States, about southeast of Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City of Galveston in Galveston County. T ...

. In the outlying north Bay Area,

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...

links Anahuac and other communities nearby connecting them to Houston and the rest of the Bay Area. Highway 124 provides access to the Bolivar Peninsula. The Houston Metro bus system provides service to the southeast Houston and Pasadena connecting the communities with central Houston. The remaining communities in the Bay Area communities are not served by mass transit.

Greyhound Bus Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and pa ...

, which provides service to cities nationwide, has stations at Baytown and La Marque/Texas City.

Air travel

Houston Hobby Airport William P. Hobby Airport (colloquially referred to as Hobby Airport, Houston Hobby, or simply Hobby) is an international airport in Houston, Texas, located from downtown Houston. Hobby is Houston's oldest commercial airport, and was its primar ...

(HOU) is the nearest airport providing regular domestic service. It is in southeast Houston near the Bay Area and provides service to U.S. destinations. International service is provided by

Bush Intercontinental Airport George Bush Intercontinental Airport is an international airport in Houston, Texas, United States, serving the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Located about north of Downtown Houston between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69/ U.S. Highwa ...

(IAH) in north Houston. Ellington Airport, the other branch of the

Houston Airport System Houston Airport System (HAS) is a department of the City of Houston, Texas, United States that manages city airports. Its administrative offices are on the property of George Bush Intercontinental Airport.NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, the military, and public aviation. The system has performed significant expansion of the airport in recent years expecting significant growth in its usage in coming years. La Porte Municipal Airport in Pasadena and Chambers County Airport near Anahuac provide public air access to their respective communities.

Shipping

For seagoing shipping the Barbours Cut and Bayport terminals (administered by the Port of Houston Authority), and the

are the major freight shipping points. For railway shipping the Union-Pacific Webster station, the Union-Pacific Deer Park station, the Union-Pacific Baytown station, and the Texas City Terminal Railway Company, are major access points.

Healthcare and medicine

: The Bay Area Houston Healthcare Network (BAHHN) is a collaboration of health care providers coordinating health care services in many of the west bay communities and Galveston. The ''hubs'' of the network include Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital in the Clear Lake City area, Bayshore Medical Center in Pasadena, and the

University of Texas Medical Branch The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) is a public academic health science center in Galveston, Texas. It is part of the University of Texas System. UTMB includes the oldest medical school in Texas, and has about 11,000 employees. In Febr ...

in Galveston. Numerous other health care facilities exist in the region as well. Notable facilities outside the area covered by BAHHN include San Jacinto Methodist Hospital (Baytown) and Mainland Medical Center (Texas City).

Culture

The Bay Area is a racially and ethnically diverse region. The industrial centers of Pasadena and Baytown in particular have large international communities. Multicultural events such as the Grito Fest (Baytown) celebrate the area's diversity. Many other annual events take place in the Bay Area as well. The Strawberry Festival in Pasadena celebrates the role the iconic fruit played in rescuing the town's economy following the 1900 Hurricane. The Blessing of the Fleet boat

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

in Kemah is an annual event that celebrates Kemah's history as a

fishing town. The

Gulf Coast Film Festival The Gulf Coast Film and Video Festival (GCFVF), commonly known as the Gulf Coast Film Festival, is a film festival in the United States held in the Clear Lake Area of Greater Houston, Texas (United States). In 2008, 127 independently made films ...

annually showcases independent films from local, regional and international artists in various categories ranging from short films to documentaries. Other annual events include the Wings over Houston Air Fest (Ellington Field), the Music Fest by the Bay (Texas City), the Ballunar Festival, the Oak Tree Festival (League City), and the South Shore Dockside Food & Wine Festival (League City). In Anahuac the annual Gatorfest celebrates the semi-rural culture of Chambers County. And, of course, in the spirit of the state to which the area belongs, the annual Pasadena Livestock Show and Rodeo features traditional

events for area spectators.

Arts and theatre

The Bay Area has a substantial community of artists and artistic programs. The Bay Area Houston Ballet and Theatre group and the League City Ballet offer performances in genres ranging from

to American musicals. The Clear Lake Symphony, the Pasadena Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Baytown Symphony Orchestra offer multiple performances each year ranging from classical to "pops" performances. Other arts and theatre programs exist in the area as well. The Arts Alliance at Clear Lake, a group of 50 area arts organizations, regularly schedules arts exhibits, musical performances, and other arts programs.

Community theater Community theatre refers to any theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community. It may refer to a production that is made entirely by a community with no outside hel ...

groups such as the Pasadena Little Theatre, the Clear Creek Country Theatre (Nassau Bay), the Harbour Playhouse (Dickinson), and the Baytown Little Theater offer a variety of regularly scheduled performances. Regular free concerts and other cultural events take place in venues such as the Pasadena Fairgrounds and League Park Plaza (League City).

Parks and landmarks

The Bay Area contains parks and landmarks. One of the oldest landmarks is the

San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site The San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site includes the location of the Battle of San Jacinto and the museum ship . It is located off the Houston Ship Channel in unincorporated Harris County, Texas near the city of Houston. The site was desig ...

in La Porte which marks the site of the

and holds the

and the . Nearby, the Sterling Mansion, a former Governor's residence at Morgan's Point, marks the edge of the former ''Gold Coast'' of Texas. The

in Pasadena is the largest urban wilderness preserve in the nation. It features a

boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge ...

through the marshes, numerous nature trails, and boat tours offering views of natural habitats for animals ranging from bison to seagulls to butterflies. The

Baytown Nature Center The Baytown Nature Center is located in Baytown, Texas, east of Houston. It is located on a peninsula along the Houston Ship Channel and surrounded on three sides by Burnet Bay, Crystal Bay, and Scott Bay. The Baytown Nature Center is both a ...

, located on two peninsulas along the ship channel, and the

Texas City Prairie Preserve The Texas City Prairie Preserve is a nature preserve located on the shores of Moses Lake and Galveston Bay in Texas City, Texas in the United States, near Houston. The preserve was created in 1995 by the Nature Conservancy thanks to a $2.2 milli ...

, located along

Moses Lake Moses Lake is a lake and reservoir along the course of Crab Creek, in Washington state, USA. Moses Lake is part of the Columbia River basin, as Crab Creek is a tributary of the Columbia River. Although originally a shallow natural lake, Moses ...

and the bay, are largely undeveloped nature preserves with views of wetlands and coastal wildlife in addition to a variety of park facilities. The Seabrook Trail System which includes Robinson and Pine Gully parks offers primitive access to natural habitats for numerous species. These sites are all part of the larger Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail. Further from the core on the northeast side of the bay sits the

Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge The Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is a wildlife conservation area along the coast of Texas (USA), west of the town of High Island, Texas. It borders East Bay, part of the Galveston Bay complex, behind Bolivar Peninsula at the Gulf of Mex ...

, a federal nature preserve. The coastal habitats in the park offer opportunities for viewing species ranging from the

American alligator The American alligator (''Alligator mississippiensis''), sometimes referred to colloquially as a gator or common alligator, is a large crocodilian reptile native to the Southeastern United States. It is one of the two extant species in the g ...

and

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

to bird species such as the

fulvous whistling-duck The fulvous whistling duck or fulvous tree duck (''Dendrocygna bicolor'') is a species of whistling duck that breeds across the world's tropical regions in much of Mexico and South America, the West Indies, the southern United States, sub-Sahar ...

and the

yellow rail The yellow rail (''Coturnicops noveboracensis'') is a small secretive marsh bird, of the family Rallidae that is found in North America. Taxonomy The yellow rail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in ...

. Other major area parks include Clear Creek Nature Park (League City), Chandler Arboretum (Baytown), Challenger 7 Memorial Park (Webster), and Sylvan Beach Park (La Porte).

Urban attractions

is the tourist arm of the Johnson Space Center and one of the most visited tourist attractions in Texas. Visitors can tour the Space Center grounds, view space capsules and artifacts, and find numerous educational activities including an

IMAX theater IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

. The

Kemah Boardwalk The Kemah Boardwalk is a 60-acre Texas Gulf Coast theme park in Kemah, Texas, approximately 30 miles southeast of Downtown Houston, Texas. The Boardwalk is built entirely along the shores of Galveston Bay and Clear Lake. The complex is owned an ...

is a waterfront attraction featuring a variety of rides,

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

s, shops, and other entertainment venues. It is next to the Kemah Marina and hosts annual events such as the Boardwalk Wine Festival. The Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Education and Recreation Center in Baytown offers indoor and outdoor educational exhibits featuring wetlands wildlife and habitats. The exhibits range from aquariums to science labs. The site also includes hiking trails through primitive habitats. Museums in the area include the

San Jacinto Museum of History The San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site includes the location of the Battle of San Jacinto and the museum ship . It is located off the Houston Ship Channel in unincorporated Harris County, Texas near the city of Houston. The site was desig ...

, the Bay Area Museum ( Seabrook), the Pasadena Historical Museum, the West Bay Common School Museum (League City), the Baytown Historical Museum, the Texas City Museum, the Buttler Longhorn Museum (League City) and the Dickinson Railroad Museum.

Farmers market A farmers' market (or farmers market according to the AP stylebook, also farmer's market in the Cambridge Dictionary) is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or ...

s in the area, including the Nassau Bay Farmers Market and the Farmers Market at Clear Lake Shores, provide opportunities for area residents to connect with local growers, producers, and other businesses.

Historic districts A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from cer ...

such as the Goose Creek Historic District (Baytown), the Morgan's Point Historic District, and the League City Historic District are available providing views of early area architecture in addition to unique shopping venues. The area contains many marinas for boating and fishing enthusiasts such the Bayland Park Marina (Baytown) and the Watergate Yachting Center (Clear Lake Shores). The shoreline of Clear Lake itself has the greatest concentration of recreational boats in Texas and ranks third nationwide (Watergate even claims to be the nation's largest).

Sports

The Bay Area Toros are the area's minor-league

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team. The Toros play their home games at Robinson Stadium in Texas City. The

Texas City Rangers Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

are a minor-league

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team that plays its home games at

La Marque High School La Marque High School is a public high school in La Marque, Texas, United States in Greater Houston. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Texas City Independent School District (TCISD); prior to July 1, 2016, the school ...

. The

Houston Raceway Park Houston Raceway Park, formerly known as Royal Purple Raceway, is a quarter-mile dragstrip in Baytown, Texas, just outside Houston. Built in 1988, the Park is situated on 500 acres on the eastern edge of the greater Houston metropolitan area and i ...

in Baytown holds regular

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most c ...

and speedway motorsport events through the year. The park has a seating capacity of 30,000 with VIP suites. The Galveston Bay Cruising Association holds regular

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

events on the bay such as the Bay Cup (

Lakewood Yacht Club Lakewood Yacht Club is a yacht club located in Seabrook, Texas and a member of the Gulf Yachting Association. The club sits on 38 acres with six sheds and seven docks. There are over 250 covered slips for power boats ranging in size from 44’ to ...

, Seabrook) and the Performance Cup. The 2009 season had 22 events throughout the year offering entertainment for sportsmen and spectators. The Gulf Greyhound Park in LaMarque is a stadium complex offering dog racing exhibitions. The park is the largest of its kind and features the state's largest restaurant among its amenities.

Media

Major daily newspapers serving the area include the

Galveston County Daily News ''The Daily News'', formerly the ''Galveston County Daily News'' and ''Galveston Daily News'', is a newspaper published in Galveston, Texas, United States. It was first published April 11, 1842, making it the oldest newspaper in the U.S. state of ...

, the Baytown Sun, and the

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

. Several smaller local newspapers serving the communities are available including the Bay Area Observer, the Bay Area Citizen, the Pasadena Citizen, and the Deer Park Progress. The Bay Area Observer, Bay Area Houston Magazine and the Bay Area Houston .Directory are online publications providing area interest stories and information. The area receives many

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

s including some licensed within the area, such as

KKBQ KKBQ (92.9 FM), branded as "The New 93Q", is a commercial FM radio station with a country music format. KKBQ is licensed to Pasadena, Texas, serving the Greater Houston area. The station is owned by Cox Radio and is part of its Houston radio ...

(

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

, Pasadena),

KWWJ KWWJ (1360 AM) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Baytown, Texas, and serving Greater Houston. It airs an urban contemporary gospel radio format, and is owned by Salt of the Earth Broadcasting. The station is branded as ''Gospel 96 ...

(

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

, Baytown), and

KFTG KFTG (88.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Religious format. Licensed to Pasadena, Texas, United States, it serves the Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United ...

and

KLVL KLVL (1480 AM) is a terrestrial radio station, paired with an FM relay translator. KLVL is licensed to Pasadena, serving the Greater Houston area. K235CS (94.9 FM; Channel 235) is licensed to Houston, serving northwest Houston, Cypress-Fairban ...

(Spanish religious, Pasadena). Among the many

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

s received in the area stations licensed in the area include

KUBE-TV KUBE-TV (channel 57) is a television station licensed to Baytown, Texas, United States, serving the Houston area. Owned by WRNN-TV Associates, it airs programming from ShopHQ. KUBE-TV's studios are located on Fountain View Drive and Burgoyne R ...

( TuVisión, Spanish language, Baytown).

Notes

References

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read at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

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External links

BetterBay.org

Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership

Bay Area Museum

Texas Travel: Bay Area Houston

The Baytown Area / West Chambers County Economic Development Foundation

Galveston County Economic Alliance

Bay Area Houston Convention and Visitor's Bureau

Bay Area Houston Transportation Partnership

Bay Area Houston Ballet and Theater

Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program
{{Coord, 29.499797, -95.089784, type:city_region:US, format=dms, display=title Metropolitan areas of Texas Regions of Texas Chambers County, Texas Galveston County, Texas Harris County, Texas Geography of Houston Greater Houston