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History & Culture
Local Notes
History & Culture notes
Grimes County · A Name That Stayed
Bedias Kept Its Name When the Railroad Came Through
A 1903 rail branch shifted the townsite, but residents rejected a railroad official's name; Bedias also gave its name to Texas tektites.
Grimes County · Historic site
Fanthorp Inn Shows the Full Cost of Anderson's Stagecoach Years
Fanthorp Inn grew from an 1834 dogtrot cabin into a busy stage stop, post office, store, and farm sustained in part by enslaved labor.
Grimes County · County History
Grimes County Was Named for a Signer of Texas Independence
Grimes County was formed in 1846 and named after Jesse Grimes, who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence and represented the area in the first state senate.
Grimes County · Music history
Navasota's Blues Capital Name Begins with Mance Lipscomb
The Legislature's 2005 Blues Capital designation tied Navasota directly to Mance Lipscomb, the local festival, and a high-school scholarship.
Guadalupe County · Oil History
Darst Creek's Discovery Well Arrived During an Oil Glut
Darst Creek's first producing well came in on July 18, 1929, then sat shut for 90 days because the crude market was already flooded.
Guadalupe County · Immigration History
German Settlers Shaped the County's Early Character
German immigrants began arriving in Guadalupe County in the mid-1840s and made up a large share of the population by the late 1800s.
Guadalupe County · County History
How Guadalupe County Was Created
Guadalupe County was established in 1846, carved from parts of Bexar and Gonzales counties after Texas joined the United States.
Guadalupe County · City History
Seguin: Named for a Tejano Hero of the Republic
Seguin was founded in 1838 and renamed in 1839 to honor Juan N. Seguín, a Tejano leader who fought for Texas independence.
Guadalupe County · Education & Culture
Texas Lutheran University Has Called Seguin Home Since 1912
Texas Lutheran University relocated to Seguin in 1912, anchoring the city as an education center in South Central Texas.
Guadalupe County · Agricultural History
The Railroad Turned Cotton Into a Countywide Bet
After the railroad reached Seguin in 1876, cotton spread across more than 100,000 acres and peaked at 38,960 bales in 1900.
Hale County · Archaeology
A 9,000-year-old spear point found near Plainview changed American archaeology
In 1941, workers near Plainview found ancient bison bones and a uniquely shaped spear point that showed people lived here thousands of years ago.
Hale County · Agriculture & Economy
Cotton and irrigated farming built Hale County's economy
Hale County became one of Texas's leading farming counties, built on cotton, grain sorghum, wheat, corn, and Ogallala-fed irrigation.
Hale County · County History
Hale County was carved from open range in 1876 and organized in 1888
The county is named for a soldier who died at San Jacinto, and its seat Plainview was named for the vast treeless landscape its founders saw.
Hale County · Education & Culture
Wayland Baptist University has anchored Plainview since 1909
Wayland Baptist University is a four-year private university in Plainview that has shaped the town's identity for over a century.
Hall County · Music History
Bob Wills and the Town of Turkey
Bob Wills, the king of Western Swing music, grew up in Hall County near the town of Turkey, which still holds an annual tribute event in his honor.
Hall County · Historic Landmark
The 1922 Courthouse in Memphis
The Hall County Courthouse in Memphis was built in 1922 and is designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Hamilton County · Historic Landmark
Hamilton County Courthouse and Its History
The Hamilton County Courthouse was built in 1887. It blends three architectural styles and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Hamilton County · County History
How Hamilton County Got Its Start
Hamilton County was founded in 1856 and named for a South Carolina governor who put his own money into Texas independence.
Hansford County · County History
How Spearman Became the County Seat
Hansford County was organized in 1889 with one town as its seat, but a railroad town founded in 1917 eventually took over that role.
Hardeman County · County History
How Quanah Became the County Seat
Quanah replaced Margaret as the Hardeman County seat in 1890 after the railroad arrived and drew new settlers.
Hardeman County · History & Place
Medicine Mounds: A Comanche Sacred Site Near Quanah
Four cone-shaped hills about 10 miles east of Quanah were considered sacred by the Comanche people for generations.
Hardin County · County History
Kountze became the county seat by a close vote after a courthouse fire
Kountze is the county seat of Hardin County, a title it won only after losing the first vote by eleven ballots and winning a rematch after the original courthouse burned.
Hardin County · Sour Lake
Sour Lake Drew Health Seekers Before It Drew Oil Drillers
Mineral springs, pitch, bottled water, hotels, and a healer called Dr. Mud shaped Sour Lake before the July 1902 oil boom.
Hardin County · Oil History
The 1903 Batson oil discovery helped launch the Texas Gulf Coast oil industry
The Batson-Old oilfield, discovered in southwestern Hardin County in 1903, was one of the fields that established Southeast Texas as the birthplace of the modern Texas oil industry.
Hardin County · Timber History
Timber shaped Hardin County long before oil arrived
Logging and sawmills drove Hardin County's first economic boom in the late 1800s, and commercial timber production continues in the county today.
Harris County · WWII History
Four Railcars Opened a Wartime Depot on the Ship Channel
The San Jacinto Ordnance Depot got its first load in 1942, turning nearly 5,000 acres by the Ship Channel into a wartime supply point.
Harris County · Oil History
Harris County Had One of Texas's Early Oil Discoveries
The Goose Creek Oil Field near Baytown in Harris County was one of the early Texas oil discoveries that helped fuel the county's industrial growth.
Harris County · Size and Scale
Harris County Is One of the Largest Counties in the U.S.
Harris County covers about 1,778 square miles and has grown to be one of the most populous counties in the United States.
Harris County · Demographics / Culture
Harris County Is One of the Most Diverse Counties in the U.S.
Harris County has grown through successive waves of immigration and migration, making it one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse large counties in the country.
Harris County · County History
Harris County Was Founded in 1836 and Named After an Early Settler
Harris County was established by the First Congress of the Republic of Texas and named after John R. Harris, who built an early port town on Buffalo Bayou.
Harris County · Industrial History
Houston Opened Its Ship Channel With a Whistle, Roses, and a Cannon
Harris County voters helped pay to bring deep water inland, then marked the 1914 opening with a dredge whistle, white roses, and a cannon fired by remote signal.
Harris County · City History
Houston Was Founded in 1836 and Named After Sam Houston
The city of Houston was founded in 1836 by two brothers who bought land on Buffalo Bayou and named it after the hero of San Jacinto.
Harris County · Space History
NASA Chose Clear Lake While Hurricane Debris Was Still on the Ground
The future Johnson Space Center began on coastal prairie where NASA's first visitors found cattle, a windmill, and debris left by Hurricane Carla.
Harris County · State Historic Site
San Jacinto's Battle Lasted 18 Minutes; Recognition Took Years
Sam Houston's army won a surprise victory in 18 minutes, but the agreements that followed were rejected and did not bring immediate Mexican recognition.
Harris County · Industrial Heritage
The Ship Channel's Industrial Scale Is Part of the Home-Search Map
Refineries, chemical plants, storage terminals, neighborhoods, and schools share the Houston Ship Channel corridor, so broad regional air labels do not tell the whole local story.
Harrison County · County History
How Harrison County Got Its Name and County Seat
Harrison County was created in 1839 by the Republic of Texas and named for Jonas Harrison, a leader in the Texas independence movement.
Harrison County · Historic Home
Maplecroft Changed With the Starr Family
Maplecroft began as a Greek Revival house, then accumulated additions, collections, and four generations of Starr family life on West Travis Street.
Harrison County · Music History
Marshall's Boogie-Woogie Story Runs on Rails and Timber
A historical marker at the Ginocchio Hotel traces Marshall's boogie-woogie story through rail work, East Texas logging camps, and Black working life.
Harrison County · Civil War History
Railroads and the Civil War Shaped Marshall
Marshall was a major railroad town and a Confederate military center during the Civil War. That history still shapes the town today.
Harrison County · Higher Education
Wiley College: A Historic HBCU in Marshall
Wiley College was founded in Marshall in 1873 and remains a historically Black college with deep East Texas roots.
Hartley County · Local History
Channing Grew Out of One of the Largest Ranches in American History
The county seat of Channing was founded as a railroad stop for the XIT Ranch and was so tied to that operation that the original courthouse was moved to town by XIT cowboys.
Hartley County · Courthouse
Hartley County Moved One Courthouse, Then Built Another
After Channing won the county seat, Hartley's frame courthouse was dismantled and moved before a sandstone-based replacement rose in 1906.
Haskell County · County history
How Haskell County got its name and county seat
Haskell County was created by the Texas Legislature in 1858 but not organized until 1885, when the county seat was named for a soldier who died at Goliad in 1836.
Hays County · Depot town
Buda started as 'Du Pre' and may be named for a pair of widows
When the railroad put a depot down in 1881, the whole nearby community of Mountain City picked up and moved to it, and the new town went through two names before it settled on Buda.
Hays County · Historic Courthouse
Fire and Shifting Ground Kept Hays County Rebuilding
Hays County held court in a church-schoolhouse before a frame courthouse burned, a limestone replacement shifted, and another courthouse lost its upper story.
Hays County · County Founding
Hays County began with a borrowed courtroom
The new county took John Coffee Hays's name in 1848, then held court in a log church-schoolhouse while San Marcos took shape.
Hays County · Geography
IH-35 follows the edge between two Hays Counties
The Balcones fault zone places rocky Hill Country west of the corridor and lower, gentler country to the east.
Hays County · Railroad town
Kyle was a 200-acre railroad townsite before it was a boomtown
Long before it became one of the fastest-growing towns on the Austin-San Antonio corridor, Kyle was 200 acres of prairie two men handed to a railroad.
Hays County · City History
San Marcos has been a crossroads since before Texas was a state
People have gathered at the springs near San Marcos for thousands of years, and the city has grown into a regional hub for education and commerce.
Hays County · Higher Education & Economy
Texas State Started With One Building, Then LBJ Brought a Law Home
Old Main was the whole campus when classes opened in 1903. Six decades later, alumnus Lyndon B. Johnson returned as president to sign the Higher Education Act.
Hays County · Natural Springs
The Glass-Bottom Boats Outlived Aquarena's Swimming Pig
Spring Lake went from mill pond to theme park to water-research center, while its glass-bottom boats found a new job showing visitors the springs.
Hemphill County · Local History
Canadian Became the County Seat When the Railroad Arrived in 1887
The town of Canadian owes its existence to the railroad, which drove out the open-range cattle empires and put a permanent town on the map.
Henderson County · Settlement History
Letters from Normandy drew Norwegian families toward Brownsboro
Johan Reinert Reiersen helped found the first Norwegian colony in Texas near present-day Brownsboro in 1845.
Henderson County · Historic Building
The Athens square has carried four county courthouses
The present courthouse opened in 1914 after Henderson County rebuilt its civic center several times.
Henderson County · County History
The county name settled before the county seat did
Henderson County took its name from Texas's first governor in 1846, while its government was still moving from place to place.
Hidalgo County · County Seat History
Edinburg Was Renamed in 1911 After a Scandal
The county seat was originally called Chapin but was renamed Edinburg in 1911 after one of its founders was involved in a homicide.
Hidalgo County · Downtown Edinburg
Edinburg's 1910 Jail Marks the County-Seat Move
A Texas Historical Commission marker links the 1910 jail in Edinburg to the county-seat move from Old Hidalgo.
Hidalgo County · Demographics
Hidalgo County Has One of the Largest Hispanic Populations in Texas
About 91 percent of Hidalgo County residents are Hispanic, reflecting the region's centuries-old Spanish and Mexican ranching roots.
Hidalgo County · County Facts
Hidalgo County Is One of the Most Populous Counties in Texas
Hidalgo County covers 1,596 square miles and had a population exceeding 831,000 by 2014—making it one of the largest counties in Texas by population.
Hidalgo County · County History
Hidalgo County Was Formed in 1852 and Named for a Mexican Hero
The county was established in 1852 and named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who began Mexico's fight for independence from Spain.