The history of Texas and Houston is directly related to the rise of modern capitalism. Through a historiographic observation, in this paper we examine the emergence and consolidation of the city of Houston and how it has captured the intervention of private capital in a voracious land appropriation scheme and speculative real estate industry. This development is founded over a deep-rooted ideology that permeates Houston and Texas, considering land as a commodity and a culture of privatism. We review the rationale and protagonists of the relevant historic phases of urban development that have fed the cultural symbolic dimension of the -free enterprise city‖ and -city of the future.‖ And, demonstrate the fallacy of the laissez-faire ideology predicated by the business elite while lobbying for government funds to extend Houston's urban territory, build infrastructure, and invest in expensive industrial facilities which mainly benefit the elite.