Postage stamps (remember snail mail?) are a storied American tradition. Before we had social media, the ultimate recognition in America (short of becoming president) was to be honored on a US postage stamp. Forget clicks, we’re talking about licks!

Since 1847, the US Postal Service has issued stamps commemorating presidents and other notable Americans, as well as their achievements, events, and anniversaries. To heighten the honor, the Postal Service only features deceased individuals after three years; US Presidents are an exception and typically receive the honor shortly after their passing.

While Houston doesn’t get to vote on who among us is exalted on a stamp, we can cheer on our friends and neighbors who are recognized in this way. Can you believe only six Houstonians have had the honor?

Despite Houston’s long and colorful history, the USPS has traditionally ignored Space City. It was only as recently as 2011 that Oveta Culp Hobby, the wife of former Texas governor William Hobby, became the first Houstonian to be placed on a stamp. Despite her high-profile marriage, Oveta forged her own path. During World War II, she was the founding commanding officer of the US Women’s Army Corps, enabling thousands of women to serve in the previously restricted army. President Dwight D. Eisenhower also appointed her secretary of what is now the US Department of Health and Human Services not long after it was established. Like many noteworthy Houstonians, Hobby wasn’t born here, and, though living a life of privilege, she never ceased serving Houston and the nation.

That same year, on September 16, 2011, the Postal Service honored the late US Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. As the first Southern Black woman elected to the US House of Representatives, Jordan represented Houston’s 18th District for three terms, from 1973 to 1979. She was a champion of the disenfranchised and an advocate for all Houstonians, a woman who befriended influential political figures. President Lyndon B. Johnson was a friend and mentor; President Jimmy Carter, then-governor of Georgia, considered inviting her to be his running mate; and President Bill Clinton discussed nominating her to the Supreme Court. Anyone who ever heard her speak knew it in their bones. She communicated with authority, authenticity, and the fire of truth. She gave a voice to the voiceless and spoke truth to power.

Two years later, the Postal Service drew inspiration from our booming music scene, honoring Lydia Mendoza, a native Houstonian and Tejano music superstar. Born in 1916, Mendoza, nicknamed La Alondra de la Frontera (the Meadowlark of the Border), was renowned for her signature sound, which incorporated her distinctive strumming of a 12-string guitar. The singer’s seven-decade career earned her a place on a stamp in 2013.

Houston’s most presidential pair made their mark, too. In 2019, the late President George H. W. Bush became the fourth Houstonian to receive the tribute, and his wife, First Lady Barbara Bush, followed suit in June 2025. Bush’s ties to Houston reach back to 1959, when he relocated his family and young oil company to Bayou City. The politician represented conservative West Houston in the 7th Congressional District of Texas and was the first Republican from the city to serve in Congress. He was elected president in 1988 and took pride in showcasing Houston to the world at events such as the G7 Economic Summit and the 1992 Republican National Convention. Out of office, he and Barbara Bush split their time between their residence in Tanglewood and the family home in Kennebunkport, Maine. In 1997, Houston Intercontinental Airport was renamed in his honor, and the Bushes have remained one of the most famous Houston couples. In 2018, Barbara Bush passed away, and months later, George H. W. Bush followed. The country commemorated their lives with days of local and national observance, including services in Washington, DC, and Houston, before they were laid to rest at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station. To date, the Bushes are the only Houston-based couple to be individually honored.

The Short-Timers

While not full-time Houstonians, several notable figures with ties to the city have also appeared on stamps. Before he entered politics, Lyndon B. Johnson, a native of Stonewall, taught public speaking at Sam Houston High School and lived in Westmoreland. Short story writer O. Henry made Houston his home for a short time while working as a columnist for the Houston Post. Astronauts Alan Shepard, Jr., and Sally Ride, who relocated to the area for training, received their own postage stamps, too.

And just in case you were wondering, Sam Houston has appeared on not one, but two stamps—first in 1936, alongside Stephen F. Austin to commemorate the Alamo, and then, solo, in 1964. Though he’s the city’s namesake, many do not consider Sam Houston a true Houstonian. The former general never lived in the city full-time—not even during his tenure as president of the Republic of Texas, or when the newly founded town of Houston served as the capital of the Lone Star State (it later relocated to Austin in 1839). Following Houston’s first term as president, he represented San Augustine in the Texas House of Representatives. Later, he lived in Austin, where he served as president again and governor. He took his talents to Washington, DC, as senator and returned home to Texas, where he retired in Huntsville. Let’s just call him a “Pre-Houstonian.”

Future Honorees: Who's Next?

While Houston boasts a respectable list of local notables featured on stamps, there are numerous deserving Houstonians who make the city proud. Here is my list of possible future honorees, in no particular order:

John Biggers
One of Houston’s premier Black visual artists, Biggers taught art to generations of Black students, serving as the head of Texas Southern University’s art department in 1949. 

Denton Cooley
A medical vanguard who replaced a human heart with a temporary mechanical heart in 1969, Cooley founded the Texas Heart Institute.

Michael DeBakey
Pioneering heart surgeon and medical innovator, DeBakey served in World War II and helped develop Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units and the Veterans Administration Medical Center Research System. He was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, the National Medal of Science, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008. Fun fact: DeBakey is the first Houstonian to lie in repose in city hall.

Gerald Hines
Everyone in Houston, whether they know it or not, knows Gerald Hines. A real estate developer and founder of one of the largest real estate companies in the world, Hines is responsible for constructing iconic Houston landmarks, including the Bank of America building, Chase Tower, the Galleria, One Shell Plaza, Pennzoil Place, and the Transco/Williams Tower. 

Howard Hughes, Jr.
A polymath and Houston native, Hughes’s fingerprint is on nearly every Houston industry. An industrialist, inventor, movie producer, and aviator, Hughes inherited his father's oil equipment business and became one of the wealthiest men in twentieth-century America.

Molly Ivins
This beloved, outspoken, and opinionated journalist and author specialized in skewering politicians and sacred cows. Figurative and literal hell raiser.

Jesse Jones
Mr. Houston, and no one else comes close. A lumber industrialist, real estate developer, banker, and philanthropist, Jones built Houston’s first skyscrapers and helped finance the Ship Channel. Jones was also appointed to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which became the nation’s leading financial institution during the Great Depression. President Franklin Roosevelt even appointed him Secretary of Commerce. He and his wife established the Houston Endowment in 1937.

Ninfa Laurenzo
Restaurateur, philanthropist, and founder of landmark Tex-Mex restaurant Ninfa’s, “Mama Ninfa” popularized fajitas and Tex-Mex cuisine in general.

Larry McMurtry
Author Larry McMurtry attended Rice University and later taught there in the 1960s. McMurtry then wrote some of the best books set in Houston, including Moving On and Terms of Endearment, later winning the Pulitzer Prize for the epic Texas western, Lonesome Dove.

Patrick Swayze
Attending Waltrip High School and training as a dancer, the actor soared as a tough guy, a greaser, and a ghost in hit movies of the 1980s and ’90s.

Who would you add to this list? Send your suggestions to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee.