Texas Golf Courses

Texas City is a city located in Galveston County, Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 41,521 (though the 2005 census estimate placed the population at 44,274). Located on the southwest shoreline of Galveston Bay, Texas City is a busy port city on Texas' Gulf Coast. Founded in the late 19th century by Frank Davison, who became its first grocer and postmaster, this city (bordered on the east by numerous port facilities and petrochemical refineries) suffered from the Texas City disaster on April 16, 1947, when the freightors Grandcamp, High Flyer, and Wilson B. Keene, docked in the Port of Texas City, exploded in what is generally regarded as the worst industrial accident in U.S. history. It is believed that the initial explosion was the result of a smoldering fire started by a cigarette tossed by a careless longshoreman in the hold of the Grandcamp, which was carrying a load of ammonium nitrate that had recently arrived in port from Houston. The explosion aboard the Grandcamp ignited fires aboard the other two vessels, both of which exploded later that morning. In all, the explosions killed 581 and injured over 5000 people. The city ultimately recovered quite well from the accident and numerous petro-chemical refineries are still located in the same port area of Texas City. The city has often referred to itself as "the town that would not die". Texas City is also home to the Texas City Dike, which is a man-made breakwater built in 1915 to protect the Texas City Ship Channel from silting, and it extends out more than five miles into Galveston Bay. "The Dike," as it is more commonly referred, is often called "the world's longest man-made fishing pier." Texas City's port is currently the 8th largest port in the United States. http://www.texas-city-tx.org/