Huntsville

Huntsville, city, seat (1846) of Walker county, southeastern Texas, U.S., 72 miles (116 km) north of Houston. It was founded (1835) as a trading post by Pleasant Gray and named for his hometown in Alabama. Farming and stock raising are economically significant, but lumbering, based on vast tracts of pine trees that cover much of the county, has become a major activity. General Sam Houston, first president of the Republic of Texas, took up residence at Raven Hill in 1847; his last two homes (including Steamboat House, where he died in 1863), his personal effects, and historic relics have been preserved in a memorial park on the campus of Sam Houston State University (1879). A portrait statue 77 feet (23.5 metres) high was erected in 1994. His tomb is in Oakwood Cemetery. The city is the headquarters of the Texas Department of Corrections, and inmates of the Huntsville Unit stage an annual Prison Rodeo in October. Huntsville State Park is 6 miles (10 km) south, and the Sam Houston National Forest is nearby. Inc. 1845. Pop. (2000) 35,078; (2010) 38,548.