Houston is turning 175 years old! It’s a truly amazing city given humble beginnings and a bit of false bravado.

The Houston Chronicle Sunday edition had a great special section on the city’s history and the story of the founding Allen Brothers.

The Allen Brothers truly represent the type of attitude that has driven this city to become the fourth largest in the nation. They bought a piece of swamp land, told the world it had nice sea breezes and recruited people to move here.

From these humble beginnings and through troubling times, the city has continued to grow and prosper.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I love Houston. I mostly grew up here, in East Harris County. I have had the privilege of traveling and working in other parts of the U.S. and even around the world.

Sometime around 30, I decided that my city truly had a lot to offer and I made a decision to move home permanently. Of course, for a few more years, I commuted between Houston and Austin for my work and visited most every corner of Texas. I would always feel relieved when I landed back in Houston.

To me, Houston is a microcosm of the world. It is a truly international city with all types of people and the cultures they bring with them. The spirit of our city is deeply rooted with the entrepreneurial style of the Allen Brothers and the early oil prospectors. If you believe it can be done, someone in Houston will believe with you.

While we certainly have an elite class in Houston, it is not difficult to break the barriers to join that group. If you have worked hard, taken risks and built your own empire, you are usually welcomed and accepted. This holds true for basically all levels of the city.

I like to compare Houston and Dallas sometimes. I have had the opportunity to conduct much business in both cities. I compare the two with the perspective that Houston is the risk-taker city, home to the big oil persona. These leaders took great risks and made and lost money like gamblers. Through their risks, they began to succeed. They owned the oil and they built a city around it and the various services required to distribute it elsewhere.

Dallas is the financial and insurance center that grew from backing the risk takers. It still has that staid attitude of finance about it. Dallas may be a little more secure and proper but Houston is lots more fun.

It took a Houstonian to build the Shamrock Hotel and another one to tear it down. How about the Astrodome and the invention of artificial turf? So many tools of the energy industry have been created here and we haven’t even touched on medical. It took a brave and bold doctor to put an artificial heart in a human and many more to find ways to slow cancer.

There are so many celebrated entrepreneurs and professionals in Houston that one could go on endlessly.

If you live in Houston, be proud and celebrate 175 years of amazing success – from the sweltering swamp………