Do you consider Houston South Texas? (San Antonio, Beaumont: home, live, beaches)

[ParaguaneroSwag]

A different chat recently emerged about is Houston East Texas. The polls went 57% no 23% yes and 17% kinda.

The conclusion is this:

1. Geography: Could be considered East Texas, but could just as much be considered South Texas.

2. Culture: More like South Texas, but unlike either. Too many cultures in Houston to decide on one and which it looks more like. So it's more of its own culture.

3. Climate: apparently East Texas is associated with a lot of pine trees. Half of Houston lives upto it,-another half not as much. Someone mentioned East Texas not having beaches, which Greater houston does have, but I don't know.

So now for the other side of the dispute, is Houston considered South Texas. List your criteria and why Houston fits that criteria.

[PinkLadyK]

Southeast or Gulf Coast.

[Texyn]

Hell no.

[malcorub16]

I can say that it is Not South Texas.

My opinion is that anything below Hwy 90 and Hwy 87 is South Texas with San Antonio being the capital of South Texas.

I am not sure what Houston is considered but can say with certainty that it's not South Texas culturally or even geographically.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by texyn

hell no.

+1
Del Rio, San Antonio and Houston are the Northern border of South Texas

Houston is the border between South Texas, Central Prairie and East Texas

[Slowpoke_TX]

Houston is where East Texas, Southeast Texas, and the Gulf Coast all meet. It is too far east to be part of South Texas.

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by Dopo

+1
Del Rio, San Antonio and Houston are the Northern border of South Texas

Houston is the border between South Texas, Central Prairie and East Texas

The northern border of South Texas would be more around places like Victoria or Port Lavaca; the Texas coast as far South as Lake Jackson is part of Greater Houston, and, thus, SE Texas.

Houston is "East Texas" and "Gulf Coast Plain." It does not border "Central Prairies" at all.

[tstone]

Southeast Texas. The southeast quadrant is big enough to be its own animal. Culturally, geographically, etc though-- I can think of examples showing it being a cross between south, east & central Texas + southern Louisiana & northern Mexico.

[Texyn]

1. Geography: Could be considered East Texas, but could just as much be considered South Texas.

The geographic argument, honestly, can be left out, because when categorizing areas with macro-scale regions like East or South Texas, you are including wide swaths of land, which end up having several distinctions of geography in themselves.

There is a stronger case for a geologic (soil) argument, but the same issues still apply.

2. Culture: More like South Texas, but unlike either. Too many cultures in Houston to decide on one and which it looks more like. So it's more of its own culture.

Houston/SE Texas is indeed its own region, but leans more towards East Texas regarding culture than South Texas. While Houston has a high Hispanic population, it isn't largely of the Tejano demographic typical of South Texas, and it didn't have as strong historical roots/fabric in the Hispanic culture. On the other hand, Houston, at least, has a commonality with East Texas, regarding strong historic roots and rural distribution in black culture.

3. Climate: apparently East Texas is associated with a lot of pine trees. Half of Houston lives upto it,-another half not as much. Someone mentioned East Texas not having beaches, which Greater houston does have, but I don't know.

For climate:
The Houston area has a wet, humid climate, with the vast majority of the metro seeing 50+ inches of rain yearly on average. This is more in line with East Texas, which has similar rainfall amounts, whereas in South Texas, most areas (even down to the coast) average totals no higher than 30 inches. However, Houston also has decently high/frequent summer rainfall totals that neither South nor inland East Texas have; only SE Texas locations (i.e. Beaumont, Port Arthur, etc) are similar to Houston in this.

The Houston area also has mild winter temperatures. In this regard, it fits South Texas more than inland East Texas, but then again, such weather is a constant all over the Texas Gulf Coast, including Beaumont and Port Arthur.

Landscape/environment:
The only reason pine trees aren't covering Houston to its entirety is due to differences in soil type; there are no climate controls to the distribution within the metro area. In fact, Houston actually has a better climate for tree/vegetative grown than even the Piney Woods forest inland in East Texas. So, while "half of Houston" isn't loaded with pine trees, make no mistake, there is still a strong degree of lushness to the vegetation nowhere in South Texas can match (without significant irrigation, of course). SE Texas cities like Beaumont, again, stand out as similar to Houston in this regard.

So now for the other side of the dispute, is Houston considered South Texas.

In conclusion, no, Houston is not South Texas, but rather, Southeast Texas. But because Southeast Texas is a sub-region of East Texas, Houston, therefore, also is in East Texas.

Just to clear things up, Houston is East Texas the same way Los Angeles is Southern California. Houston is SE Texas the same way Los Angeles is South Coast California.

[detachable arm]

Lots of talk about blacks and Mexicans here, but what about whites?

My experience growing up near Alief (when it was decent) was the German and Anglo last names were the most common. Also lots of Polish sounding names too. And there were 2-3 Heberts and Fontenots... enough I know how to pronounce them. I give the edge to Central Texas here.

BTW South Texas was quite Anglo and rural back in the day. Several of those towns way down there have Anglo names and there were a lot of gringo farmers down there with the same ties most whites in East Texas had. Part of me came from that lineage. If you want to know what they sounded like, imagine a more twangy Dale Gribble. They used to import black field hands and maids from the historically black rural parts of Fort Bend County in the '60s and then take them back home after the season was over.