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CLEAR LAKE CITY, TEXAS
Clear Lake City is
located in the Southeast corner of The City of Houston. In 1938 Humble Oil,
which later became Exxon, purchased the West family ranch and allowed NASA
to build on 1000 acres near the West Ranch House, still located at the
corner of Space Center and Nasa Parkway today. In 1961 the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration selected Houston as the site for its
Manned Spacecraft Center and renamed it the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
in 1973. Shortly after NASA came to the area, Humble established Friendswood
Development Company and started developing 15,000 acres of the former West
ranch for residential and industrial use.
Clear Lake City was annexed by
Houston in 1977. In 1988 Clear Lake led the Houston area in new single
family home sales. Clear Lake enjoys not only a solid economy provided by
the aerospace industry, but also one provided by petrochemicals,
boating and recreation as well as retail and some high tech. Back in 1988,
when things still were not looking nearly as rosy as they are today, the
Johnson Space Center contributed nearly $860 million to the Houston economy.
Annual events include the Clear Lake Spring Fling and Boating Festival in
April, the Lunar Rendezvous Festival in July, the Blessing of the Fleet in
August, the Armand Bayou Nature Center Fall Festival in October, and the
Christmas Boat Parade.
Clear Lake City belongs to the Clear Creek Independent School District,
which covers southern Harris County and northern Galveston County. This is
one of the most highly rated school districts in the entire Houston area and
the rest of the country as well. The University of Houston-Clear Lake began
regularly scheduled classes in September 1974.
The Schools of Business,
Education, Human Sciences and Humanities, and Science and Computer
Engineering offer bachelor’s degrees in more than 30 fields of study and
master’s degrees in more than 40 fields of study. This upper-level
institution is located on 487 acres adjacent to the Johnson Space Center. |
