. . The Harris County Jail Complex of the Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) is the largest in Texas and one of the largest in the nation in July 2012 the facility held 9,113 prisoners to handle overcrowding in the facility the county had to ship inmates to other counties and some are housed out of the state. German immigrants started arriving in Texas and Houston after the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states Many were educated and arrived with capital to set up businesses or buy farms the port in Houston was getting some shipping business but the shallowness of the water hampered massive shipping During the 1850s the Houstonians decided to build a rail system to connect their port with rail links Eleven companies built 451 miles of track before 1860 Mexicans who were one of the earliest immigrant groups to Houston worked as railroad builders and stayed in the area.[citation needed].
In 2008 Houston received top ranking on Kiplinger's Personal Finance "Best Cities of 2008" list which ranks cities on their local economy employment opportunities reasonable living costs and quality of life the city ranked fourth for highest increase in the local technological innovation over the preceding 15 years according to Forbes magazine in the same year the city ranked second on the annual Fortune 500 list of company headquarters first for Forbes magazine's "Best Cities for College Graduates" and first on their list of "Best Cities to Buy a Home" in 2010 the city was rated the best city for shopping according to Forbes, MD Anderson Cancer Center A significant number of East Texas youth participate in Little League Baseball soccer and softball Church leagues are quite common in providing opportunities for basketball and softball for youth and adults alike in recent years cowboy churches have grown in number and offer rodeo events for their youth. Johnson Space Center 1989 1870 9,382 93.6% US Company Japanese Imperial Army soldiers during the Battle of Shanghai 1937 5 Awards and recognitions Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Rockport Texas very early on August 26 2017 by August 30 Houston was flooded due to torrential rainfall from the hurricane.
David Stoker, MD