Clear Lake City was built by an oil company to house the space program. The land came from the 30,000 acres, including the West family ranch, that James Marion West sold to Humble Oil in 1938. When NASA went looking for a home for its manned spaceflight center in 1961, Humble had that year given part of the ranch to Rice University, and Rice offered a thousand acres of it to the government. NASA bought another 600 acres to reach the highway, for a site of about 1,620 acres. Houston had not been the first choice. NASA's site team ranked MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa first, and when the Air Force decided to keep MacDill open, the Rice site moved to the top. It helped that Representative Albert Thomas of Houston chaired the House subcommittee that controlled NASA's budget, and that Vice President Lyndon Johnson chaired the Space Council. Congressmen from other states asked about the roles of both men; NASA's administrator, James Webb, and other officials denied any political influence.
Humble kept the rest of the ranch and built a town around the center. In January 1962 it announced plans to develop 15,000 acres, formed the Friendswood Development Company with the Del E. Webb Corporation, and on 15 September 1963 Governor John Connally formally opened Clear Lake City. A NASA history describes it as a $500 million residential, research, industrial and commercial complex. The population grew from 3,785 in 1968 to 16,000 by 1974.
Houston annexed Clear Lake City in 1977, and by 1980 about 22,000 people lived there.
Getting there
29.5723, -95.1095
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
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