George R. Brown
Encyclopedia
George Rufus Brown was a prominent Houstonian entrepreneur. Brown led Brown & Root Inc. to become one of the largest construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

 companies in the world and helped to foster the political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 career of Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

. The George R. Brown Convention Center
George R. Brown Convention Center
The George R. Brown Convention Center opened on September 26, 1987 on the east side of Downtown Houston, Texas, United States.The center was named for the prominent Houstonian George R. Brown, an entrepreneur, civic leader and philanthropist. Brown’s Texas Eastern Corporation donated six of the 11...

 and the George R. Brown School of Engineering
George R. Brown School of Engineering
The George R. Brown School of Engineering is an academic school at Rice University in Houston, Texas. It contains the departments of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering and Biomolecular Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computational and Applied Mathematics, Computer Science,...

 of Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

 are both named in honor of him.

Early life

Brown was born on May 12, 1898 in Belton
Belton, Texas
Belton is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,623 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bell County.Belton is part of the Killeen – Temple – Fort Hood metropolitan area.-Geography:...

 and moved in 1904 to Temple
Temple, Texas
Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas. Located off Interstate 35, Temple is 65 miles north of Austin and 34 miles south of Waco. In the 2010 Census, Temple's population was 66,102, an...

; both communities are in Bell County
Bell County, Texas
Bell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Bell County was founded in 1850. It is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2000, the county's population was 237,974; in 2010 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that its population had reached...

. His older brother, Herman, left Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

 after spending less than a year there and started work in road paving. Herman's brother-in-law, Dan Root, loaned Herman money in 1919 and founded Brown & Root in 1919. George R. Brown graduated from the Colorado School of Mines
Colorado School of Mines
The Colorado School of Mines is a small public teaching and research university devoted to engineering and applied science, with special expertise in the development and stewardship of the Earth's natural resources. Located in Golden, Colorado, CSM was ranked 29th, in America among national...

 in 1922 and joined his brother in the business. The company paved roads and built bridges and other public works in Houston.

1936–1947

In 1936, Brown & Root was awarded a contract to construct the Marshall Ford Dam (now known as the Mansfield Dam
Mansfield Dam
Mansfield Dam is a dam located at across a canyon at Marshall Ford on the Colorado River, northwest of Austin, Texas. Construction of the dam began in 1937 and was completed in 1941 as a joint project by the Lower Colorado River Authority and the United States Bureau of Reclamation...

). The construction was almost stopped in 1937 but was allowed to continue when Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

 (then a very junior congressman) helped push through special legislation. The project was part of the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...

, and was completed in 1942. During World War II, the company's work was expanded to military construction. Over 300 water crafts were constructed. The company was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...

 in 1942 for giving bonuses to employees who had agreed to donate to Lyndon B. Johnson. Brown & Root was ultimately fined $372,000.

1947–1969

In 1947, Brown created an innovative oil platform
Oil platform
An oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing...

 design that was the first to be built out of sight of land. For this work, Brown was awarded the Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement from the American Petroleum Institute
American Petroleum Institute
The American Petroleum Institute, commonly referred to as API, is the largest U.S trade association for the oil and natural gas industry...

 in 1982. Other notable projects the company was involved were: Rice Stadium
Rice Stadium
Rice Stadium is a football stadium located on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas. It has been the home of the Rice University football team since its completion in 1950 and hosted Super Bowl VIII in 1974....

, the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's center for human spaceflight training, research and flight control. The center consists of a complex of 100 buildings constructed on 1,620 acres in Houston, Texas, USA...

, the Pontchartrain Bridge, and the Gulf Freeway from Houston to Galveston. Following Herman Brown's death in 1962, Brown & Root was merged with Halliburton
Halliburton
Halliburton is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people....

.

Legacy

In 1951, Brown, along with his brother Herman and their wives, began the Brown Foundation. The organization donates to notable institutions such as Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

, Southwestern University
Southwestern University
Southwestern University is a private, four-year, undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Georgetown, Texas, USA. Founded in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest university in Texas. The school is affiliated with the United Methodist Church although the curriculum is nonsectarian...

, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. As of 2000, the Brown Foundation had given away $685 million.
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