Augustus and John K. Allen just recently purchased part of John Austin's land grant near Harrisburg, Texas. On this land they'd like to build the "Town of Houston." The Allen brothers are looking for plans to guide Houston's construction, and you have been hired. Your team must plan every detail of the new "Town of Houston."

You have been asked to plan a new community. Your work should be very thorough because many people's futures and investments depend on Houston's success. To adequately plan this new city, you will need to prepare a presentation and model and fulfill the following objectives:
  • Create a detailed, thorough presentation of your research and recommendations for your portion of the plan
  • Prepare a neat model of your plans for the city. One model will be made with your entire class, so you must work with others.
  • You should seek out others who are working on similar tasks. You must make sure you agree on the information collected and conclusions made.
  • You will present your findings to your partners and supervisor (your classmates and teachers).

Augustus Chapman Allen
From 169 Years of Historic Houston


John Kirby Allen
From 169 Years of Historic Houston
Online Off-line
  • library
  • map of John Austin's land grant
  • Joe B. Frantz and David G. McComb's Houston: A Student's Guide to Localized History

Because planning a new city is such a large undertaking, your partners will be divided into three teams and assigned one aspect of the planning to research. Your team will be responsible for planning one of the following: politics, economics, or society. You must individually explore your category and answer these questions:

Politics: Determining how Houston will be run is key not only to the city's survival, but also to the success of the new Republic of Texas. Without good leadership, organization, and laws the city will not succeed. You must determine the following: Economics: Houston's survival will hing upon its ability to produce revenue and economic activity. Newcomers will need means of employment and many goods and services must be produced. You will decide the economic character of this new city by exploring the following: Society: You are in charge of planning the smaller details of daily life in Houston. Your decisions will affect all city dwellers on a regular basis, so carefully explore and consider your decisions. Some things you'll need to consider are listed below: Once you've completed your independent research, it's time to get together with the other people working on your category and start planning your presentation. You'll have to work together to work out your different opinions about how the city should be run. Create a presentation (written, oral, multimedia, or a combination) of your findings that meets the guidelines your supervisor has given you. Make sure you have your presentation ready to go on the due date. When everyone has presented their findings, work with your class to build a model of the new "Town of Houston."

When you think you are all done with this project, you should be able to answer "yes" to the following questions:

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to answer these questions in a snap: