Texas City

Texas City, city, Galveston County, southeastern Texas, a deepwater port on Galveston Bay (an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico), opposite Galveston; incorporated as a city 1911. It gained prominence as a petroleum-refining center with large petrochemical industries. A junior college is here. The community was platted in 1893. Spurred by channel improvements in the late 1890s and by the extension of a railroad here in 1907, industrialization was rapid. The city was damaged in 1947, when a chemical explosion in a cargo ship in the harbor triggered some 50 blasts that started widespread fires and took more than 500 lives. A park in the city commemorates this event. Population 41,403 (1980); 40,822 (1990); 41,521 (2000); 44,274 (2005 estimate).