Editing Harris County, Texas (section)

==History==
[[File:Firefighters and Carriages.jpg|thumb|Firefighters on San Jacinto Street, circa 1914]]
[[File:OldHarrisCountyCourthouse.png|thumb|The [[1910 Harris County Courthouse|Harris County Courthouse]] in Houston, in 1913]]
Human remains date habitation to about 4000 BC. Other evidence of humans in the area dates from about 1400 BC, 1 AD, and later in the first millennium. The region became [[uninhabited]] from 1 AD to European contact. Little European activity predates 1821. [[Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca]] may have visited the area in 1529. French traders recorded passing through in the 18th century. Spaniards attempted to establish a fort in the area around the same time, but did not persist for long.<ref name="tsha"/>

The first recorded European settlers in Harris County arrived in 1822. Their [[schooner]] sailed into [[Galveston Bay]] and ran aground on the Red Fish Bar. Some of those passengers traveled further up the bay system, but it is not known whether they settled up [[Buffalo Bayou]] or the [[San Jacinto River (Texas)|San Jacinto River]]. One of these passengers, a Mr. Ryder, settled at what is now known as [[Morgan's Point, Texas]]. Also in 1822, John Iiams settled his family at [[Cedar Point, Texas|Cedar Point]] after sailing from [[Morgan City, Louisiana|Berwick's Bay, Louisiana]]. Dr. Johnson Hunter arrived just after Iiams. He also wrecked his boat near Galveston. He settled at Morgan's Point and was a grantee of land there. Nathaniel Lynch settled in the area and operated a ferry.<ref name="harriscounty1">{{cite journal|title=Harris County, 1822-1845|last=Looscan |first=Adele B.|journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly|volume=18|issue=2|date=October 1914|pages=195{{endash}}207|jstor=30234634}}</ref>

In 1824, the land empresario, [[Stephen F. Austin]] convened at the house of William Scott for the purpose of conveying titles for Mexican headrights. He was joined by the land commissioner, Baron von Bastrop, and Austin's secretary, [[Samuel May Williams]]. About thirty families gained legal titles to land in what would later be known as Harris County. A few immigrants settled on Buffalo Bayou in these early years, including Moses Callahan, Ezekial Thomas, and the Vince brothers.<ref name="harriscounty1" />

Nicolas Clopper arrived in the Galveston Bay area from Ohio in the 1820s. He attempted to develop Buffalo Bayou as a trading conduit for the Brazos River valley. He acquired land at Morgan's Point in 1826.<ref name="clopper">{{cite Handbook of Texas|id=fcl31|title=Clopper, Nicholas|access-date=December 27, 2017|date=June 12, 2010|last=Sibley|first=Marilyn McAdams}}</ref>
John Richardson Harris (1790–1829), for whom the county was later named, arrived in 1824. Harris had moved his family to Sainte Genevieve, Missouri Territory, where they had been residing until the early 1820s.<ref name="JRH">{{cite Handbook of Texas|last=Beazley|first=Julia|title=Harris, John Richardson|orig-year=June 15, 2010|id=fha85|date=February 28, 2017}}</ref>

Harris was granted a league of land (about 4,428 acres) at Buffalo Bayou. He platted the town of Harrisburg in 1826, while he established a trading post and a grist mill there. He ran boats transporting goods between New Orleans and Harrisburg until his death in the fall of 1829.<ref name="harrises">{{cite journal|title=The Pioneer Harrises of Harris County, Texas|last=Looscan |first=Adele B.|journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly|volume=31|issue=4|date=April 1928|pages=365{{endash}}373|jstor=30242532}}</ref>

The [[1st Congress of the Republic of Texas|First Congress of the Republic of Texas]] established Harrisburg County on December 22, 1836. The original county boundaries included Galveston Island, but were redrawn to its current configuration in May 1838.<ref name="tsha"/>

The area has had a number of severe weather events, such as the following hurricanes and tropical storms:
{{columns-list| colwidth=15em|
* [[1900 Galveston Hurricane|Galveston]] (1900)
* [[1941 Texas hurricane|Texas]] (1941)
* [[1943 Surprise Hurricane|Surprise]] (1943)
* [[Hurricane Carla|Carla]] (1961)
* [[Hurricane Alicia|Alicia]] (1983)
* [[Hurricane Rita|Rita]] (2005)
* [[Tropical Storm Allison|Allison]] (2001)
* [[Tropical Storm Erin (2007)|Erin]] (2007)
* [[Hurricane Ike|Ike]] (2008)
* [[Hurricane Harvey|Harvey]] (2017)
* [[Tropical Storm Imelda|Imelda]] (2019)
* [[Tropical Storm Beta (2020)|Beta]] (2020)
* [[Hurricane Nicholas|Nicholas]] (2021)
* [[Hurricane Beryl|Beryl]] (2024)
}}