Texas
Texas entered the Union on December 29, 1845, becoming the nation’s twenty-eighth state. Known as the Lone Star State, it has Austin as its capital and Houston as its largest city. The second-largest state by both area and population, Texas encompasses the Gulf Coast, eastern forests, central hill country, broad plains, and the deserts and mountains of the west.
The region was governed first by Spain and later by Mexico before the Texas Revolution began in 1835. Following decisive events at the Alamo and San Jacinto, Texas became an independent republic in 1836 and remained so until joining the United States nine years later. Cattle ranching, railroads, oil production, agriculture, and international trade subsequently shaped Texas into one of the nation’s largest and most influential economies.
Recent Articles
Alexander and Sarah Cockrell
While walking through the historic landscape of downtown Dallas, I came across this Texas historical marker beside one of the large white colonnades. It commemorates Alexander and Sarah Horton Cockrell, a husband and wife whose story is closely connected with the transformation of Dallas from a small frontier settlement into an emerging commercial center. Alexander […]
Old Red Courthouse
While walking through downtown Dallas, it would be difficult not to notice this extraordinary red building. Surrounded today by modern office towers and government buildings, the Old Red Courthouse looks almost as though a piece of nineteenth-century Dallas has been left standing in the middle of the modern city. Completed in 1892, the building was […]
George Bannerman Dealy
When we arrived in Dallas to teach for the weekend, one of the places we headed to was Dealey Plaza. Like most people, I knew the name because of what happened there on November 22, 1963, but I had never really thought about the man for whom the plaza was named. George Bannerman Dealey was […]
The Grassy Knoll
When we arrived in Dallas to teach for the weekend, we headed to Dealey Plaza. Walking through the plaza gave us an opportunity to see for ourselves the locations that we had heard about for most of our lives. One of those was the Grassy Knoll. There is nothing particularly imposing about it. It is […]
