Author Archive | Houston History Magazine

valdez

Witness to the Day of Reckoning: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

On March 24, 1989, the U.S. oil industry encountered a day of reckoning. Just after midnight, the Exxon Valdez supertanker carrying Alaskan crude to California ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling nearly eleven million gallons of oil into one of the nation’s most beautiful coastal habitats. At the time, this […]

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JBO with Claudia Schmuckli

Recalling Houston’s Early Days and its Oilmen: A Conversation with Jane Blaffer Owen

Jane Blaffer Owen, an arts patron, social activist, and preservationist, was the daughter of Robert Lee Blaffer, one of the founders of Humble Oil & Refining Company (now ExxonMobil), and the granddaughter of William T. Campbell, who established the The Texas Company, which became Texaco.

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carnegie library

Two Worlds a Mile Apart, A Brief History of the Fourth Ward

Clatter of light rail running down Main Street, cars roaring by, crowds gathering at the crosswalk champing to get on with the day—hectic life fills twenty-first century downtown Houston. But when a Houstonian takes a short stroll from the busy intersection of Congress and Main to nearby Sesquicentennial Park and wanders down the walk to […]

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Saratogo Crew Boss copy

Oil in Houston

Wildcats and sweet crude. Live in Houston long enough and you’ll learn that wildcats are exploration oil wells and the price of sweet crude – the high-quality, low-sulfur oil used for processing gasoline – is a closely watched economic indicator. But if you just got here or want a refresher on what the oil industry […]

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