FOOD | ARTS | COMMUNITY | STYLE+LEISURE
“WHO WAS...?” GEORGE R. BROWN
Brown, George R. | 1943
Photography courtesy of RICE University
Photography courtesy of Goerge R. Brown Convention Center by Gary Barchfeld
IF ANY OF YOU HAVE BEEN WATCHING THE SHOWTIME HIT BILLIONS, YOU KNOW IT’S
NOT EASY TO HAVE A BUILDING OR ANYTHING FOR THAT MATTER (EXCEPT YOU FIRSTBORN
CHILD) NAMED AFTER YOU. IN THIS COLUMN WE WILL BRING TO LIGHT THE PEOPLE BEHIND
THE PARKS, BAYOUS, BUILDINGS, ROADS AND PUBLIC WORKS AROUND TOWN. FIRST UP…
GEORGE R. BROWN CONVENTION CENTER opened in September 1987 and was named after native Houstonian, entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist GEORGE R. BROWN, who donated six of the eleven blocks necessary to build the
convention center.
GEORGE RUFUS BROWN was born May 12, 1898, in Belton and moved to Temple in 1904. After graduating from
Colorado School of Mines in 1922, he joined his older brother Herman at Brown & Root, which had been founded in
1919. On the way to eventually becoming one of the largest construction companies in the world and a merger with
Halliburton, Brown & Root paved roads and built bridges as well as other public places in the city such as Rice Stadium
(George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University is also named after him), the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center,
the Gulf Freeway from Houston to Galveston and the Pontchartrain Bridge (from New Orleans to Slidell). George and
Herman, along with their wives, began the Brown Foundation in 1951. Their legacy continues with the Foundation’s support of Houston nonprofits, universities and institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. George R. Brown died
in January 1983.
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