The origin of the Geophysical Society of Houston dates back to the fall of 1947. On October 7th of that year, Walter J. Osterhoudt was named as temporary chairman of a Constitutional Committee and Dr. E. E. Rosaire was made chairman of a Nominating Committee. At 4:00 PM on Thursday, November 20, 1947, 108 geophysicists met in the Houston Engineers Club to form what was then called the Houston Section of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (the name was not changed to the Geophysical Society of Houston until about ten years later). The meeting was called to order by Dr. L. W. Blau who presented the proposed constitution and Dr. Rosaire read the list of officer nominees. The constitution was accepted and Walter Osterhoudt was elected the first President of the Section. On December 2, 1947, the Executive Committee of the Houston Section prepared a formal petition for the local section and the formal charter was issued on February 14, 1948. The first technical paper presented at a Houston Section meeting was presented by Wallace C. Thompson on January 16, 1948 and was entitled “Geophysics and Geology of the Discovery of the Esperson Domes.”
On May 28, 1948 the first annual meeting was held at the College Inn and the following excerpt from the proceedings is of particular interest. "Following the dinner, the newly elected officers were introduced and installed in office. In mock ceremony, each retiring officer presented to his successor his symbols and equipment of office. The new Treasurer received a shell game to guess where the funds to run the Society will come from; the new Secretary was given a stock of worn out pencils and a supply of fine stationery rolled in its usual form. The Second Vice President, who is the entertainment chairman, received a set of comic books, broken phonograph records, etc.; the new First Vice President, who is program chairman, received a comprehensive list of all people in the area who might be called to write papers for SEG - the Houston telephone directory. The new President was presented with a bottle of SEG soft soap, the president's needle, chisel and eight pound steel maul for a gavel. Of course, each new officer received generous advice.”Currently the symbol of authority, which is passed to the new president at the annual meeting, is a gold-plated, long-handle shovel. Upon the handle of the shovel is listed all GSH past presidents.
Initially, meetings were held in the evening at the Engineers Club. Later, as the membership grew, meetings convened in the afternoon at the Carter Music Company auditorium. Rapid growth of the Section occurred in the late 1940's when luncheon meetings were inaugurated in downtown Houston hotels. The old Rice Hotel was the usual meeting location until its closure in March, 1975. We can be assured that we will never again see the $1.50 lunch price that the Rice Hotel charged during the mid 1950's. Following the closing of the Rice Hotel, various facilities were used around the city until the Board of Directors, in 1992, chose to locate in the building of the Houston Engineering Scientific Society (HESS) - the modern name of the Houston Engineers Club where the Geophysical Society of Houston originated. The society remained at HESS through two relocations. In 2004, we moved to the Westchase Hilton at 9999 Westheimer since it is more centrally located for the present membership. Currently, technical and social meetings begin in September and continue through April, ending in May with the Annual Awards Dinner held at Lakeside Country Club and the Annual Meeting and BBQ at which the officers for the following year are installed.
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