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History & Culture
Local Notes
History & Culture notes
Bexar County · History / Culture
San Antonio saved its river bend, then learned to walk beside it
After the deadly 1921 flood, San Antonio nearly paved over a downtown river bend before Robert H. H. Hugman's walkway plan offered another future.
Bexar County · History
San Antonio's 1718 start came in three pieces
A Spanish religious outpost came first, followed days later by a fort and civilian town near San Pedro Creek.
Bexar County · Outdoor Theater
Sunken Garden Theater Turns Quarry History Into a Performance Space
Sunken Garden Theater is an open-air amphitheater carved into an old limestone quarry next to Brackenridge Park, with a back wall made of the quarry's own rock.
Bexar County · History / Culture
Tejanos have been central to Bexar County from its founding through the Texas Revolution
Tejano history is built into Bexar County: San Antonio grew from Spanish and Mexican Texas, and Juan Seguín carried that local story into the Texas Revolution.
Bexar County · History
The Battle of the Alamo in 1836 became the defining event of the Texas Revolution
The 13-day siege at the Alamo in February and March 1836, where roughly 200 Texian defenders faced the Mexican Army under Santa Anna, became a rallying symbol for Texas independence.
Blanco County · History / County origins
Blanco County Had Two County Seats — and Two Courthouses
Blanco County was created in 1858 with the town of Blanco as its seat, but a contested move in 1891 shifted county government to Johnson City — leaving behind an 1885 limestone courthouse that still stands today.
Blanco County · History / National park
LBJ National Historical Park Has Sites in and Near Johnson City
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park preserves sites tied to the 36th president across two districts, including his boyhood home in Johnson City and his working ranch along the Pedernales River.
Borden County · History
Borden County and Its Seat, Gail, Are Both Named for the Same Man
Borden County was created in 1876 and named for Gail Borden Jr., a Texas patriot, surveyor, and inventor, whose name also became the county seat when it was established in 1891.
Bosque County · History
Bosque County was home to a significant Norwegian immigrant community starting in 1854
Starting in 1854, Norwegian immigrants settled in a triangle around present-day Clifton, Norse, and Cranfills Gap, creating a lasting cultural presence still visible in the area today.
Bosque County · History / Architecture
The 1886 Bosque County Courthouse was restored to its Victorian design in 2007
The Bosque County Courthouse in Meridian is a three-story limestone building from 1886, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and restored between 2005 and 2007 with Texas Historical Commission support.
Bowie County · History / Economy
A WWII military complex in Bowie County is now one of the largest industrial parks in the Americas
The Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant, built on nearly 40,000 acres in Bowie County starting in 1941, shaped the county's growth and now operate in part as TexAmericas Center, a large industrial redevelopment.
Bowie County · History / Local government
Bowie County's legal county seat is Boston, but the courthouse is in New Boston
Bowie County, established in 1840 and named for Alamo defender James Bowie, has had its county seat moved more than once. The legal seat is still Boston, but county offices have operated in New Boston since a new courthouse was built there in 1986.
Bowie County · History
Texarkana's Federal Building straddles the Texas-Arkansas state line
The United States Post Office and Courthouse in downtown Texarkana was built in 1933 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the only federal building in the country that sits in two states at once.
Brazoria County · County Museum
Angleton Has County History in an Old Courthouse
The Brazoria County Historical Museum fills Angleton's 1897 courthouse with county collections and research tools, including Old 300 and cemetery databases.
Brazoria County · County Park
Angleton's Austin-Munson Park Has a Giant Austin Statue
A 76-foot statue of Stephen F. Austin towers over a 10-acre county park west of Angleton, the largest figure of the man who started Anglo Texas in the county where his colony began.
Brazoria County · History
Brazoria County Is Where the Republic of Texas Was Born
Brazoria County was settled by Stephen F. Austin's first authorized colonists in 1821, hosted the treaties that ended the Texas Revolution, and served as the site of the Republic of Texas's first capital.
Brazoria County · History / Industry
Lake Jackson Grew as a Dow-Planned Company Town During World War II
Lake Jackson began as a planned town for Dow's wartime Brazosport workforce, with construction starting on December 8, 1941 and the city incorporating in 1944.
Brazoria County · Historic Site
Levi Jordan's Archeology Reaches Beyond the Main House
This state historic site uses buildings and artifacts to interpret people who were enslaved and others who lived on a San Bernard River plantation.
Brazoria County · History / Industry
Oil and Sulfur Mining Shaped Brazoria County's Economy Before Petrochemicals Arrived
Brazoria County had significant oil production beginning in 1901 and became a leading sulfur-producing county in the early 20th century, laying the groundwork for the later petrochemical industry.
Brazoria County · Historic Site
Varner-Hogg Shows Sugar, Cattle, and Oil
Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site puts Brazoria County's sugar, cattle, labor, and oil history on one West Columbia property.
Brazoria County · Texas Revolution
Velasco Is Where Two Texas Treaties Were Signed
The two Treaties of Velasco (the papers that ended the fighting after San Jacinto) were signed at Velasco, near today's Freeport, in Brazoria County.
Brazoria County · History
West Columbia Served as the First Capital of the Republic of Texas
The town of Columbia, present-day West Columbia in Brazoria County, was the seat of Texas's first elected government in 1836, where Sam Houston took the presidential oath and Stephen F. Austin died.
Brazos County · History
A Presidential Archive and Family Gravesite Share the A&M Campus
The Bush Library joined the National Archives in 1997; outside, a Cold War monument, pond, garden, and family gravesite carry the story across the grounds.
Brazos County · History
Brazos County: from Stephen F. Austin's colony to county seat at Bryan
Brazos County was created in 1841, originally named Navasota County, and moved its county seat from Boonville to Bryan in 1866 to follow the railroad.
Brazos County · History
Bryan's Trolley Sometimes Needed a Push to Reach A&M
From 1910 to 1923, a four-mile trolley linked Bryan and Texas A&M, and a crowded early car sometimes had to be pushed up Hillcrest.
Brazos County · History
Downtown Bryan's National Register Historic District
Downtown Bryan was added to the National Register of Historic Places in February 2026. It is known for its railroad-era buildings and its unusual diamond-shaped street grid.
Brazos County · History
Hall's Town: Bryan's Freedman community after the Civil War
Newly freed Black residents began buying land in Bryan's Hall's Addition as early as 1867, forming one of the county's first Freedman communities on the northeast edge of town.
Brazos County · History
Millican: the railroad town that boomed and faded in Brazos County
Millican was briefly one of the largest towns in Texas during the Civil War era when it was the Houston and Texas Central Railroad's northern end point, but it faded after the rails pushed north.
Brazos County · History
Texas A&M: Brazos County's land-grant university
Texas A&M University opened in College Station in 1876 on land donated by Brazos County residents. It was the first public college in Texas.
Brewster County · History / Historic District
Alpine's downtown was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2026
Alpine's downtown was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in spring 2026. The district spans about 40 blocks and includes nearly 300 buildings and sites near the Union Pacific tracks.
Brewster County · History / Mining
Terlingua's mercury mines drove Brewster County's early economy
The Chisos Mining Company at Terlingua was once a major U.S. mercury producer. When it collapsed, it left behind what is now called Terlingua Ghost Town.
Briscoe County · History
Tule Canyon and the End of the Comanche Era
Tule Canyon in Briscoe County was the site of a key 1874 military campaign. That campaign ended Comanche and Kiowa control of the Southern Plains and opened the door to the ranching and farming era that shaped the county.
Brooks County · History
How Brooks County Was Built: Ranching, Railroad, and Tejano Roots
Brooks County was formed from Starr County in 1911. It grew from a ranching tradition that goes back to Spanish and Mexican land grants from the late 1700s.
Brown County · Railroad history
Brownwood's Depot Block Still Shows the Railroad Boom
The Santa Fe Passenger Depot and the Harvey House on East Depot Street tell the story of Brownwood as a rail junction, wartime stop, and traveler town.
Brown County · History
Camp Bowie: Brown County's World War II Training Center
During World War II, a massive military training camp covering about 120,000 acres south of Brownwood trained more than a quarter million soldiers and housed German prisoners of war.
Brown County · Community history
Early Keeps the East-Bank Side of Brownwood's Story
Early sits east of Brownwood on Pecan Bayou, where the older Brownwood settlement, a post office, and a school-centered community all left traces.
Brown County · Cemetery
Greenleaf Cemetery Holds a Long Brownwood Memory
Greenleaf Cemetery began with five acres donated in 1868 by Greenleaf Fisk and now holds more than 22,000 graves under native trees.
Brown County · College town
Howard Payne Makes Brownwood a College Town
Howard Payne began in 1889 with Pecan Valley Baptist roots, then grew into the Brownwood university that absorbed Daniel Baker College.
Brown County · Rail museum
Lehnis Railroad Museum Keeps Brownwood's Rail Story Moving
Brownwood's city-run Lehnis Railroad Museum sits across from the old depot and turns a family rail collection into a local visitor center.
Brown County · Courthouse
The 1917 Courthouse Gives Brownwood Its Square
Brown County's 1917 courthouse is a Henry T. Phelps design with red brick, limestone detail, and an older 1884 vault still inside.
Burleson County · History / Czech heritage
Czech settlers shaped Burleson County towns, and the Caldwell Kolache Festival keeps that heritage alive
Czech immigrants who arrived in Burleson County in the 1880s founded several communities still recognizable today. Caldwell celebrates that heritage every September with its Kolache Festival.
Burnet County · County History
Burnet County began with a namesake, a new government, and a short-lived colony
Created in 1852 and named for Texas's first president, the county organized the same year a Mormon settlement was building mills nearby.
Burnet County · Local Industry & History
Granite Mountain's owners gave Texas the stone for its Capitol
After Austin limestone discolored, donated Sunset Red Granite and a special railroad tied a Burnet County hill to the Capitol walls.
Caldwell County · County Origins
Caldwell County carries Mathew Caldwell's name
Caldwell County was organized in 1848 and named for Mathew Caldwell, a Texas Ranger and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Caldwell County · Historic Preservation
Lockhart's 1894 courthouse and downtown are on the National Register
Lockhart's 1894 courthouse anchors a nine-block historic district with sandstone walls, a mansard roof, and a small forest of towers.
Caldwell County · Oil History
Luling still wears its 1922 oil story in plain sight
Edgar B. Davis's 1922 discovery turned Luling into an oil boomtown, and decorated working pump jacks still carry that history through town.
Calhoun County · Coastal geography
Calhoun County Is Bay Country Before It Is Road Country
Lavaca Bay, Matagorda Bay, Espiritu Santo Bay, and San Antonio Bay make Calhoun feel more like a chain of water edges than a simple county map.
Calhoun County · Lighthouse history
Halfmoon Reef Lighthouse Brought Bay History Ashore
The Halfmoon Reef Lighthouse once marked Matagorda Bay, then moved to Port Lavaca after its working life on the water ended.
Calhoun County · History
Indianola: The Calhoun County Port That Two Hurricanes Erased
Indianola was once one of the busiest ports in Texas, serving as a gateway for immigrants and frontier supply lines, before back-to-back hurricanes in 1875 and 1886 destroyed the town and pushed the county seat to Port Lavaca.
Calhoun County · Coastal industry
Point Comfort Began as an ALCOA Company Town
ALCOA began building Point Comfort as planned worker housing in 1949, with streets and utilities laid out before the first homes.
Calhoun County · Coastal community
Port O'Connor Faces the Bays Like a Fishing Porch
Port O'Connor grew on the edge of Matagorda Bay, where rail plans, seafood work, storms, and later tourism all left marks.
Calhoun County · Coastal community
Seadrift Carries Storm Drift in Its Name
Seadrift took its name from debris that heavy Gulf storms blew onto the shore.
Callahan County · Landform
A low ridge sends Callahan County rain two ways
The Callahan Divide is a low ridge, but it splits the Brazos and Colorado river basins and gives Clyde a place between the two.
Callahan County · Local History
Baird became the county seat because of the railroad
Callahan County had two earlier county seats before Baird, and the railroad decided which town survived and which one faded away.
Cameron County · Economic History
A Railroad Arrived in 1904 and Transformed Cameron County's Economy
The St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway reached the Rio Grande Valley in 1904, triggering a land boom and the rise of commercial agriculture.
Cameron County · City History
Brownsville Grew Up Around a U.S. Army Fort on the Rio Grande
Brownsville was founded in 1848 by merchant Charles Stillman near Fort Brown, the U.S. Army post built opposite Matamoros, Mexico.
Cameron County · County History
Cameron County Is Named for a Soldier of the Mier Expedition
Cameron County was created in 1848 and named for Captain Ewen Cameron, a Scottish soldier killed in Mexico during the ill-fated Mier Expedition.
Cameron County · National Historic Site
Palo Alto Battlefield Is a National Historical Park Near Brownsville
Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park preserves the site of the first major battle of the Mexican-American War, fought in Cameron County in 1846.
Cameron County · Tejano Heritage
Spanish and Mexican Land Grants Shaped Cameron County's Land History
Much of Cameron County's land was first granted under Spanish and Mexican rule. Fights over those land grants shaped life here for decades after the Mexican-American War.
Cameron County · Civil War History
The Last Land Battle of the Civil War Was Fought in Cameron County
The Battle of Palmito Ranch, fought in May 1865 near Brownsville, is recognized as the final land engagement of the American Civil War.