The city of Pasadena, Texas is the second-biggest city within Harris County with a population of roughly 150,000 people. It lies in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area and is famous for having the biggest volunteer fire department in the nation.
Initially inhabited by the Karankawa and Atakapan peoples, mainly the Akokisa, the City of Pasadena was discovered by European people and settled during 1893. John H. Burnett established the village and named it after Pasadena, California due to its lush and green plant growth. The Spanish people were early explorers of the area and charted the bay. The pirate Jean Lafitte dominated the region during the early 19th century until the U.S. Navy forced him out in the year 1821. Lafitte along with his crew had hide-outs around Clear Lake and the bay.
Petrochemicals are the basis of Pasadena's economy. Petroleum refining and petrochemical processing are important industries. The Pasadena Refining System has its headquarters within the city. Aerospace, health care ad shipping are strong industries. Pasadena benefits from its nearness to the Bayport shipping terminal and the Houston Ship Channel. The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's center for space training, located within nearby Clear Lake.
Visitors could learn about the history of the area at the Pasadena Historical Museum, the Bay Area Museum and Armand Bayou Nature Center. Pasadena has a thriving arts community such as theater companies and the Pasadena Philharmonic. A rodeo is held there yearly. The Pasadena Citizen is the city's main newspaper.
Pasadena has a lot of refineries, giving it the affectionate nickname "Stinkadena." One more nickname is "Pasa-get-down-dena"; the truth is, there are quite a lot of country songs with that as their title.
Pasadena was once known as the Strawberry Capital of the World. Its history as a strawberry growing center began when the American Red Cross shipped over one million strawberry plants to the City of Pasadena after a destructive flood. The strawberry crops grew abundantly and growers shipped dozens of train carloads of strawberries on a daily basis during the height of the season. The Pasadena Strawberry Festival draws more than 50,000 people each and every year to celebrate the historic significance of the crop. A central road in the City of Pasadena is named Strawberry Road, because it cuts through the former strawberry fields.