Pasadena () is a city in the U.S. state of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, located in Harris County. It is part of the metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 151,950, making it the 23rd most populous city in Texas and the second most populous in Harris County, after

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. The area was founded in 1893 by John H. Burnett of

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

, who named the area after

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 commerci ...

, because of the perceived lush vegetation.Lee, Renée C.
Annexed Kingwood split on effects
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, 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''. ...

''. Sunday October 8, 2006. A21. Retrieved on July 6, 2011. "Some of the area communities that incorporated as cities and escaped annexation by Houston:" Print version exclusively has the information cited; the information is ''not'' included in the online edition.

History

Early history

Prior to European settlement the area around Galveston Bay was settled by the Karankawa and Atakapan tribes, particularly the Akokisa, who lived throughout the Gulf coast region. Spanish explorers such as the Rivas-Iriarte expedition and José Antonio de Evia charted the bay and gave it its name. 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 valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

Jean Lafitte established a short-lived kingdom based in Galveston in the early 19th century with bases and hide-outs around the bay and around Clear Lake. Lafitte was forced to leave in 1821 by the U.S. Navy. Following its

declaration of independence A declaration 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 territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

from

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

the new nation of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

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. The colony established by Stephen F. Austin and the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company of New York rapidly began a wave of settlement around the bay. Texas State Historical Association. Following a coup in the Mexican government by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Texas revolted against Mexican rule in 1835. After several battles and skirmishes the final

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

of the

Texas Revolution The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836) was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) against the Centralist Republic of Mexico, centralist government of Mexico in the Mexican state of ...

took place near modern Pasadena on April 21, 1836. While the main battlefield was located in the neighboring present-day city of La Porte, Santa Anna was captured in present-day Pasadena at Vince's Bayou. Because this was the last conflict that led to the Mexican surrender, Pasadena and neighboring Deer Park have adopted the nickname "Birthplace of

Ranching and settlement

Sam Allen started a ranch in 1843 with . This became the Allen Ranch which occupied what is now western Pasadena all the way to Harrisburg, Texas. By 1888, the ranch contained in Harris County, in Brazoria County, Texas with grazing lands in

and Fort Bend Counties. The Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railroad ran through the Allen ranch. There was a problem of cattle being regularly killed on the tracks and in 1875, Allen built a fence along the east side of the railway right of way to keep the cattle off the tracks. The fence ran from

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

to League City and had four rails and a top rail wide enough to walk on. A gate was placed in the fence at the Harrisburg- Lynchburg Road with a large sign above instructing that it should be closed at all times. The area east of this railroad fence running from Buffalo Bayou to the tracks on Sims Bayou ran all the way to Galveston Bay. It contained of grazing land for cattle. "Proposed" towns in or near present-day Pasadena were set up but short lived and either abandoned or never even got off the ground. In 1892 Colonel John H. Burnett of Galveston established an unnamed townsite on the Vince Survey just east of the Allen Ranch. Burnett was involved in both construction and promotion of railroads and knew their impact on the value of property. The land was sold in lots. He had also established the nearby towns of Deepwater and

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, later to be incorporated into Pasadena and Houston.

20th century

The 1900 hurricane that destroyed

heavily damaged Pasadena, as well. The city received a population boost from some Galveston refugees who relocated to the mainland following the catastrophe. Donations by the newly created

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

, including millions of

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...

plants to Gulf Coast farmers, helped revive the community. Texas State Historical Association This and the subsequent establishment of a major strawberry farm in the area by

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...

founder Joseph S. Cullinan made Pasadena a major fruit producer for many years afterward. As the community recovered major tracts of the Allen Ranch were liquidated opening up new development. Texas State Historical Association. Rice farmers from Japan settled in the community further diversifying its agriculture. Champion Coated Paper Company of Ohio opened a paper mill in 1937. Other businesses began to develop. In 1901 the Texas Oil Boom began with the gusher at Spindletop. The discovery of the oil field at Goose Creek led to increasing petroleum exploration around Galveston Bay.Henson (1993), p. 46. By 1917–1920 refinery operations had appeared in Pasadena and continued to expand thereafter for example the '' Pasadena Refining System''... The world wars gradually brought further industrial development, with Pasadena's growth rate surpassing even neighboring Houston. Pasadena voted to incorporate in 1923, but residents decided to cancel the incorporation one year later. Pasadena incorporated in 1928. Because of the 1928 incorporation, Houston did not incorporate Pasadena's territory into its city limits, while Houston annexed surrounding areas that were unincorporated. By the mid-20th century Pasadena's economy had become strongly tied to petroleum and other heavy industry.

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...

(JSC) was established near Pasadena in 1963 with the residential community of Clear Lake City, partially under Pasadena's jurisdiction, established nearby. Texas State Historical Association These developments helped to diversify the town's economy significantly. Eventually, the city gained the unofficial moniker ''Stinkadena'' by locals due to the pollution from its large industrial base. Former Pasadena City Council member and State Representative Ray Barnhart described the city at the time as "a lovely community but politically corrupt."Statement of Ray Barnhart, January 7, 2010. Barnhart recalled that a half dozen Pasadena officials were indicted in the late 1950s and early 1960s for public corruption. In 1965, '' Houston Post'' reporter Gene Goltz Received the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

for his exposure of government corruption in Pasadena, Texas, which resulted in widespread reforms.

21st century

In the 21st century, Pasadena emerged as a mostly working-class suburb of Houston.

Tornadoes

2015 tornado

On October 31, 2015, an EF2

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of 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, although the ...

struck a warehouse within Pasadena city limits. Half of the warehouse was completely leveled with its roof significantly damaged. The tornado moved northeast into La Porte city limits and damaged approximately 30 homes.

2023 tornado

On January 24, 2023, an EF3

struck northwestern Pasadena. Multiple neighborhoods and apartment complexes were severely damaged by the tornado. No major casualties occurred with this tornado. The tornado would go on to affect Deer Park, and Baytown, Texas.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.81%) is water. The city is bordered by the Houston Ship Channel ( Buffalo Bayou / San Jacinto River) to the north. The southeasternmost part of the city fronts Galveston Bay.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods in Pasadena include:

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 151,950 people, 48,174 households, and 36,201 families residing in the city. As of the census of 2010, there were 149,043 people. There were 54,712 housing units. According to the 2010 census, the racial and ethnic makeup of the city was 83.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.7%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.5%

American Indian and Alaska Native Native Americans (also called American Indians, First Americans, or Indigenous Americans) are the Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the lower 48 states and Alaska. They may also include any Americans whose origins lie ...

, 2.1% Asian, 11.6% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 66.2% of the population. In 2020, the racial and ethnic makeup was 24.57% non-Hispanic white, 3.29% African American, 0.17% Native American, 2.2% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.31% some other race, 1.61% multiracial, and 67.81% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Economy

The city's key economic sectors include exploration for petroleum and gas, petroleum refining, petrochemical processing, solar panel manufacturing, maritime shipping, aerospace, and healthcare. The city's economy is closely linked to the nearby Houston Ship Channel and the Bayport shipping terminal and industrial district, as well as the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it su ...

(NASA)'s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in the bordering Clear Lake Area. The Pasadena Refining System, a partnership of Petrobras and Astra Holding USA, is headquartered in Pasadena. Additionally, Harris County operates the Kyle Chapman/Pasadena Courthouse Annex. Harris Health System (formerly Harris County Hospital District) operates the Strawberry Health Center, and the Pediatric and Adolescent Health Center – Pasadena. The nearest public hospital is Ben Taub General Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, Houston. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Houston V District Parole Office in Pasadena. There are four post offices in the city limits. In July 2011 the USPS announced that one, John Foster Post Office, may close.

Top employers

According to the city's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Government

The government of Pasadena operates under a mayor-council form of government with a mayor and eight council members who are responsible for enacting legislation, adopting budgets and setting policies.

Public safety

The city has its own police department, which employs approximately 282 Officers, with one Police Chief, three Assistant Chiefs and other supervisory positions. The Pasadena Volunteer Fire Department is the largest of all volunteer municipal fire departments in the United States.

Culture

The city has several museums, including the Pasadena Historical Museum, the Bay Area Museum and Armand Bayou Nature Center. Pasadena also has a community theater, an annual rodeo, and the Pasadena Philharmonic. The city's newspaper is the ''Pasadena Citizen''. The Champion paper mill closed in 2005. Several country music songs have been recorded with "Pasa-get-down-dena" as the title including Kenefick on their album "Hard Road."

Gilley's and ''Urban Cowboy''

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

, Debra Winger and other actors came to the city to film the 1980 hit movie '' Urban Cowboy'', which depicted life and young love in Pasadena. The film centered on the city's honky-tonk bar Gilley's, which was co-owned by country music star Mickey Gilley. In 1989, Gilley's suffered an arson fire that gutted the interior of the building, including the mechanical bull used in ''Urban Cowboy''. The shell of the building stood until 2006, when it was demolished by the Pasadena Independent School District, its current owner. Only the old sound recording studio remains. Gilley resided in Pasadena until his death May 7, 2022. The old address of Gilley's is a used-car lot."City emerges as new voting rights battleground", '' Laredo Morning Times'', January 4, 2015, p. 4A

Strawberry Festival

In 1900, Clara Barton of the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

purchased 1.5 million

plants and sent them to Pasadena to help victims of the

1900 Galveston hurricane The 1900 Galveston hurricane, also known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood, and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm, was a deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane which became the List of di ...

get back on their feet. By the 1930s those crops had flourished so much that Pasadena was claiming the title of ''Strawberry Capital of the World''. At its height, the city's strawberry growers shipped as many as 28 train carloads of strawberries each day. To honor that history, the city still holds an annual Pasadena Strawberry Festival. Strawberry Road stretches through much of the city near where the old strawberry crops grew. Attendance at the annual Strawberry Festival was 56,000 in 2008.

Pasadena Philharmonic Society and Orchestra

Pasadena Philharmonic Society and Orchestra is a combination of two groups. The Society is composed of members of the local community that support the fine arts and classical music. The Orchestra is composed of local music educators, musicians, college students and selected high school students. The Orchestra presented its first performance in the fall of 1982. The Philharmonic has presented performances ever since.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Most of city of Pasadena is served by the Pasadena Independent School District. Some of the eastern part is served by Deer Park Independent School District, some of the southern part is served by Clear Creek Independent School District and La Porte Independent School District. The

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

operated the St. Pius V School in Pasadena from 1947, until its 2020 closure; the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

contributed to the closure.

Colleges and universities

Institutions of higher education include: * University of Houston–Clear Lake (partially in the Pasadena city limits) - The university boundary is indicated on this map. * San Jacinto College (Central Campus and System Headquarters) a

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

system which under Texas law serves all of Pasadena ISD, La Porte ISD, and Deer Park ISD, as well as other school districts, and the portion of Clear Creek ISD in Harris County; this means in effect it serves all of the City of Pasadena. * Texas Chiropractic College

Public libraries

Pasadena owns the Pasadena Public Library with the Main Library at 1201 Jeff Ginn Memorial Drive and the Fairmont Library, a branch, at 4330 Fairmont Parkway between Panama Street and Watters Road.

Parks and recreation

The city operates 15 tennis courts, several baseball fields, and a total of 43 parks. These include over of trails, four Youth Recreation Centers, the Verne Cox Multipurpose Recreation Center, three pools for Swimming or Aquatics, an Athletics department, a Dog Park, Party Rentals, a Golf Course, an Historical Museum, and a Senior Citizen Center. Harris County operates several community centers in Pasadena. * East Harris County Activity Center * Bay Area Community Center * Clear Lake Water Front (Pasadena Section) Local residents have access to tennis courts, soccer fields, jogging tracks, walking tracks, picnic tables, family gathering pavilions at Pasadena's 47 parks, 5 swimming pools, and 5 game room buildings, museum, recreation center, 15 tennis courts and 21 ball fields.

Armand Bayou Nature Center

Armand Bayou Nature Center (ABNC) is a preserve on the western shore of Galveston Bay in Pasadena. It is the only remnant of this region's original eco-systems: coastal tallgrass prairie, bottomland forest and bayou. A diversity of plant life has taken root here, including bottomland hardwoods. Hundreds of species of wildlife thrive in the narrow wooded streams and scattered lakes, ponds and marshes. Armand Bayou also is a breeding and nursery ground for many finfish and shellfish and a haven for rarely seen species such as bobcats and owls. ABNC has been designated as one of five preserves under the Texas Coastal Preserve Program of the

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitat (ecology), habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the state park, state's parks and historical ar ...

Infrastructure

Transportation

Pasadena is served by three freeway systems.

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

is the closest interstate to the Pasadena city limits. The main freeway artery is the Pasadena Freeway ( State Highway 225). The east side of the Sam Houston Tollway (

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, Texas, Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway mai ...

) runs through the eastern portion of the city. The Harris County Toll Road Authority sells EZ Tags in the city.

Public transportation

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) operates a park & ride service from the Plaza Paseo Mall. This joint venture between Harris County, the city of Pasadena and METRO extended select trips. METRO operates four trips during the morning and five trips during the afternoon rush hours. Harris County Transit operates a bus route that runs through most of the city, stopping at health centers, shopping centers, colleges, and other venues, with connections to neighboring cites. The Pasadena Park and Ride lot is located on the north side of the mall.

County services

Harris County Youth Village, a juvenile detention facility, is located in far southern Pasadena, but it has a Seabrook postal address.

Notable people

* Ray Barnhart, former member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

from Pasadena, later director of the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

* Emily Chan, figure skater, 2016 junior national champion * Dean Corll, serial killer, rapist, kidnapper and torturer, died in Pasadena * Brandon Darby, political activist * Donnie Elliott, former pitcher for the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

* Marlen Esparza, Olympic competitor 2012 and bronze medalist in women's boxing * Jacob Green, All-American football player for

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

and the Seattle Seahawks, born in Pasadena * Russell Harvard, actor, ''

There Will Be Blood ''There Will Be Blood'' is a 2007 American epic film, epic historical drama, period drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, loosely based on the 1927 novel ''Oil!'' by Upton Sinclair. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kev ...

'', '' Fargo'', born in Pasadena * R. J. Helton,

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

artist who placed fifth on the first season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' * Mike McKinney, former member of the Texas House of Representatives and 13th chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, from Pasadena * Gilbert Pena, former member of Texas House of Representatives, from Pasadena * Robert Talton, former member of Texas House of Representatives, born in Pasadena * Duane Walker, former outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds

Sister city

The city of Pasadena, community police outreach has devoted "friendship gardens" to the city of Hadano.

Notes

References

External links

City of PasadenaPasadena Texas Community InformationPasadena Chamber of Commerce
* {{authority control

Cities in Texas Cities in Harris County, Texas