Texas

1900 Galveston hurricane

In the 1870s and 1880s Galveston was second only to New York City as an entry point for Europeans.  However, in 1900, one of the deadliest natural disasters in US history occurred in Galveston, when a hurricane and storm surges killed 8-12,000.

Texas has towns named Floydada, Muleshoe, Cool, Uncertain, Dime Box, and Cut and Shoot.

By 800 AD, Caddoans were building mounds as the Mississippians did in other areas.  Obsidian items have been found in these mounds that came from Idaho, Wyoming or northern Mexico, indicating that extensive trade must have been established.

Comal River

The Comal River is the shortest in the US; it's 3 miles long and runs from New Braunfels in central Texas to the Guadalupe River.

In 1822, when Stephen F. Austin established a colony in Texas, there were already 2,500 Spaniards, Mexicans and blacks living there.

The last battle of the Civil War was fought in Texas, because news of Lee's surrender was slow to reach the area.

In recent years, some Texans have been calling for Texas to secede on the basis that, when Texas first gave up its status as an independent republic to join the Union in 1846, the two sides agreed Texas would retain the right to secede.  So when Texas did secede in 1861, it was probably the only Southern state within its rights to do so.  Unfortunately, Texas then chose to join the Confederacy and fight against the US.  When Texas rejoined the Union after the Civil War, the US certainly wouldn't agree Texas could ever secede again.  Thus, today's secession supporters should look for a Plan B to justify it.

Although Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954, in 1956 Governor Allan Shivers called out the Texas Rangers to stop black children from going to a white school in Mansfield.

Nearly 200,000 Czech-Americans live in Texas, more than in any other state.

Gillespie County Angora goat

Most of the mohair in the US comes from Texas Angora goats.

Texas has 100 types of cactus, 500 types of grass, and 5,000 species of wildflower.




The Tigua are the oldest identified ethnic group in the US and have lived near El Paso at Ysleta del Sur since 1682.

John Wesley Hardin

Texas boasts such varied natives as Carol Burnett, Walter Cronkite, John Wesley Hardin, and Gene Roddenberry.