Core Lesson 8-3

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

League of Women Voters' Houston City Government Handbook
A.E. Grimke's Statement on Slavery (1836)
University of Virginia's Collection of Slave Narratives
169 Years of Historic Houston
Log Cabins from The Austin Colony

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:

What will be the exact location of the Houston within John Austin's half league? What will be the exact layout of the city? (Don't forget to consider the distance from waterways for navigation, drinking, and irrigation.)
How will local laws be made?
How will local laws be enforced?

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:

How will the city's people make money? Will they be involved in trading, shipping, agriculture, or something else?
What will the immigrants need to bring from the east for housing, business, and survival? What will the city lack until it is self-sufficient?
What jobs must be filled? How many people will do them? Who will supervise these workers?
How will the city pay for things?
Slavery was used in many eastern towns. Will it be legal in Houston?

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:

What will houses look like both inside and out?
What will the people do for fun and entertainment?
How will the schools be run? Who will be allowed and/or required to attend them?

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:

Have you prepared a complete presentation of the appropriate information that is clear and original?
Have you contributed to the model city in an accurate way?
Is your presentation ready to be heard by your partners and supervisor?

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

How does city government differ from national government?
What was the primary source of wealth in Houston? Employment?
What major social issues had to be addressed in planning Houston? Which do you think was the most important?