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 Seats for Forklifts Pasadena - Pasadena, Texas is the 2nd-biggest city within Harris County with a population of around 150,000 people. It lies in the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area and is notable for having the biggest volunteer fire department in the US.
Before Pasadena was discovered and settled by Europeans during the year 1893, the region was settled by the Karankawa and Atakapan peoples, mainly the Akokisa. The founder of the original community was John H. Burnett, who named the township Pasadena after the California community since it similarly shared 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 part of the 19th century until the U.S. Navy forced him out during the year 1821. Lafitte together with his crew had hide-outs all around Clear Lake and the bay.
Petrochemicals are the basis of the city's economy. Petrochemical processing and petroleum refining are important industries. The Pasadena Refining System has its headquarters in Pasadena. Health care, shipping and aerospace are strong industries. Pasadena benefits from its nearness to the Houston Ship Channel and the Bayport shipping terminal. The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's center for space training, located within nearby Clear Lake.
There is much history of the area preserved for tourists at the Bay Area Museum, the Armand Bayou Nature Center and the Pasadena Historical Museum. Pasadena has a thriving arts community such as theater companies and the Pasadena Philharmonic. A rodeo is held there annually. The Pasadena Citizen is the city's major newspaper.
The City of Pasadena has many refineries, giving it the affectionate nickname "Stinkadena." One more nickname is "Pasa-get-down-dena"; the fact is, there are quite a lot of country songs with that as their title.
The City of Pasadena was once known as the Strawberry Capital of the World. Its history as a strawberry growing center started when the American Red Cross shipped over one million strawberry plants to Pasadena after a devastating 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 tourists each and every year to celebrate the historic significance of the crop. A central road in Pasadena is named Strawberry Road, because it cuts through the former strawberry fields.
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