Katy

Katy is a city located in Harris, Fort Bend and Waller Counties in the U.S. state of Texas, within the HoustonSugar LandBaytown metropolitan area. The population was 11,775 at the 2000 census. Katy was recently the location of one of the ten large red balloons in the DARPA Network Challenge on December 5, 2009. The balloon was stationed in Katy Park. Katy incorporated in 1945. Because of the incorporation, Houston did not incorporate Katy's territory into its city limits. The name is derived from Cane Island Creek which runs just west of downtown. Cane Creek is a branch of Buffalo Bayou. The origins of the name Cane Island are believed to be from the fact that Katy was once a major sugar cane producer and rice producer. To commemorate the importance of rice to the Katy community, the Chamber of Commerce holds the Rice Harvest Festival every second weekend of October.[citation needed] The railroad had been built through the community by the end of 1893.