Texana Thursday: How Houston Got Its Name

Sam Houston in 1850 (public domain photo)

Texans—and not a few non-Texans—know that the City of Houston is named for General Sam Houston, who was the hero of the Battle of San Jacinto. Houston had previously been a protégé of Andrew Jackson, a U.S. representative, and governor of Tennessee. He would go on to be the first and third president of the Republic of Texas, United States senator from Texas, and governor of Texas.

But how did the city get its name? It depends on who you ask.

Let’s set the scene first. Two brothers, Augustus and John Kirby Allen, had moved to Texas from New York and become land speculators. After General Houston led the Texas Army to victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, the brothers paid $5,000 for a half league, or 6,642 acres, on the southern side of the intersection of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou.

Charlotte Allen, wife of Augustus, put up much of the money for the purchase.

The Allen brothers saw prospects in their investment. Because the site was on the bayou, it could be turned into a commercial port, and possibly be made into the capital of the new republic.

The Allens played on their friendship with General Houston to name it. They secured his consent in a tactful way. In her 1991 book Houston: The Forgotten City 1836-1936, author Carolyn Johnston describes how the Allens invited General Houston to a dinner at their home in Nacogdoches.

“General, will you do the us the honor of naming our city?” Charlotte Allen asked.

General Houston bowed.

“But madame, that privilege must be yours,” the general said.

“Then we ask your permission to name it after you,” Charlotte said. The general agreed.

Another author said that’s not how the city got its name, though Charlotte Allen and Sam Houston, again, were the key participants in the story.

“While the Texas Congress was in session, the Allen brothers were trying to find a suitable name for their city,” wrote S.O. Young in his 1913 book, True Stories of Old Houston and Houstonians. They approached Charlotte Allen, who “without hesitation said: ‘Name it Sam Houston.’ She also offered to write to General Houston, who was at Columbia and ask his permission to name the town after him. She wrote the letter and a few days later received a letter from him in which he said, ‘Leave off the “Sam,” and call it ‘Houston.’”

Either way, the city had its name, and the rest is history.