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1975 Map of Houston

Name: 1975 Topographic Map of Houston
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1977
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1977

About this map

The massive urban footprint of Houston anchors this mid-1970s look at the Texas Gulf Coast, a period of rapid suburban expansion and industrial dominance. The map details the intricate network of the Houston Ship Channel and the Intracoastal Waterway, which fueled the petrochemical economy of Pasadena, Baytown, and Texas City. Landmarks of the era are clearly marked, from the Astrodome and Rice University to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and Ellington Air Force Base, reflecting the city's role in space exploration and national defense.

Beyond the concrete, the map preserves the hydrologic landscape before later development, showing the Addicks Reservoir and Barker Reservoir on the western edge. To the south, the shoreline of Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula meet the Gulf of Mexico, while the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge mark the conserved coastal wetlands that buffered the growing metropolis.