Midwest Engineering and Testing Corporation

World War II had a dramatic effect on Texas as federal money poured in to build military bases munitions factories POW detention camps and Army hospitals; 750,000 young men left for service; the cities exploded with new industry; the colleges took on new roles; and hundreds of thousands of poor farmers left for much better-paying war jobs never to return to agriculture. Texas needed more farm workers the Bracero Program brought in 117,000 Mexicans to work temporarily. Nowhere were the wartime effects greater than in Houston which in 1940 was a city of 400,000 population dependent on shipping and oil the war dramatically expanded the city's economic base thanks to massive federal spending Energetic entrepreneurs most notably George Brown James Elkins and James Abercrombie landed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal wartime investment in technologically complex facilities Houston oil companies moved from being refiners and became sophisticated producers of petrochemicals Especially important were synthetic rubber and high octane fuel which retained their importance after the war the war moved the natural gas industry from a minor factor to a major energy source; Houston became a major hub when a local firm purchased the federally-financed Inch pipelines Other major growth industries included steel munitions and shipbuilding.

. Houston hosted Super Bowl VIII in 1974 Super Bowl XXXVIII 30 years later in 2004 and Super Bowl LI in 2017 (making it the only Texas city to host the Super Bowl three times) the 1989 NBA All-Star Game the 1981 1986 1994 and 1995 NBA Finals (The hometown Houston Rockets winning the latter 2) 2004 Major League Baseball All-Star Game Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 2005 World Series the 2005 Big 12 Conference championship game the 2006 NBA All-Star Game and the Tennis Masters Cup in 2003 and 2004 and the annual Shell Houston Open.[citation needed] the city hosts the NCAA College Baseball Minute Maid Classic every February Houston formerly hosted the NCAA football's Houston Bowl in December but now hosts the Texas Bowl in January, Francisco Pizarro meets with the Inca emperor Atahualpa 1532 Tropical Storm Erin made landfall in August 2007 with heavy rainfall a total of 9 inches (230 mm) of rain fell elsewhere than George Bush Intercontinental Airport on August 16 and many roads and neighborhoods were flooded Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Texas halted its light rail and bus services in view of the effects Four deaths in the city were attributed to the storm the Houston Fire Department reported 72 rescue operations.