Editing Houston, Alaska (section)

==History==
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Houston Siding was first listed on a blueprint map of the [[Alaska Railroad]] in 1917 as part of the growing mining operations in the area. It was heavily used by the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] during [[World War II]], after which the mines were abandoned.<ref name=":0" />

Houston was incorporated as a third-class city in 1966, and later re-designated as a second-class city in 1973.

Other notable events in the city's history include:

* On August 30, 1972, [[George Boney]], the chief justice of the [[Alaska Supreme Court]] and at the time the youngest chief justice of any U.S. state supreme court, died in Houston (at Cheri Lake) in a boating accident which resulted in drowning.<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 31, 1972 |title=Chief Justice George Boney Of Alaska Supreme Court |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/08/31/archives/chief-justice-george-boney-of-alaska-supreme-court.html |access-date=January 5, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
* On June 3, 1996, the [[Miller's Reach Fire|Miller's Reach wildfire]] covered more than {{convert|37000|acre|ha|0}} in Houston and adjacent [[Big Lake, Alaska|Big Lake]]. Property loss included 454 buildings; it cost over $16 million USD.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Media |first=Ellen Lockyer, Alaska Public |date=June 10, 2016 |title=Big Lake recognizes 20th anniversary of Miller's Reach fire |url=https://alaskapublic.org/2016/06/10/big-lake-recognizes-20th-anniversary-of-millers-reach-fire/ |access-date=January 5, 2024 |website=Alaska Public Media |language=en-US}}</ref>