Topic · Page 9
History & Culture
Local Notes
History & Culture notes
Jefferson County · Oil Discovery
Spindletop Turned Beaumont Into an Oil Boomtown
On January 10, 1901, the Lucas Gusher erupted on a salt dome south of Beaumont and flowed an estimated 100,000 barrels a day until workers capped it nine days later.
Jefferson County · Regional Identity
Two Points of the Golden Triangle Sit in Jefferson County
Beaumont and Port Arthur make two points of the Golden Triangle; Orange completes the three-city name just across the county line.
Jim Hogg County · County Seat
Hebbronville: A Town Built Around a Railroad Stop
Hebbronville began in 1883 as a railroad stop and became the county seat when Jim Hogg County was formed in 1913.
Jim Hogg County · Oil and Gas History
Oil Changed Jim Hogg County in 1921
The first commercial oil well in Jim Hogg County came in on April 17, 1921, and set off an economic shift that still shapes the county today.
Jim Wells County · County Seat History
Alice took three names before the post office made one stick
The railroad junction was called Bandana and then Kleberg before an 1888 post office fixed the name Alice on the map.
Jim Wells County · Political History
Alice's Box 13 sits inside an 87-vote Senate story
The disputed Jim Wells returns known as Box 13 became part of Lyndon Johnson's 87-vote Senate victory in 1948.
Jim Wells County · Early History
Jim Wells County was created and organized eight weeks apart
Texas created Jim Wells County on March 11, 1911, and organized it on May 6 with Alice as the county seat.
Johnson County · Historic Farm
A Widow's 1877 Farm Is Now Burleson's Art Center
Russell Farm Art Center in Burleson grew out of a three-room farmhouse a widow built in 1877, and two of those original rooms are still standing inside the home today.
Johnson County · Burleson Museum
Burleson's Museum Sits in the Old Interurban Depot
On Ellison Street in Old Town Burleson, the city's museum fills the historic interurban depot, with a restored rail car parked right next door.
Johnson County · City History
Cleburne Grew Fast After the Railroad Arrived in 1881
Cleburne became Johnson County's permanent county seat in 1867 and boomed after the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad arrived — the repair shops nearly doubled the city's population.
Johnson County · Courthouse
Cleburne's Courthouse Rose From the Ashes of a 1912 Fire
The pink-granite courthouse on Cleburne's square is Johnson County's sixth, built after fire destroyed the previous one in April 1912 and finished the next year.
Johnson County · Local Museum
Cleburne's Layland Museum Lives in a 1905 Carnegie Library
The Layland Museum on Caddo Street fills Cleburne's old Carnegie library, built in 1905 with $20,000 from Andrew Carnegie that the town had to match dollar for dollar.
Johnson County · Local Archive
Cleburne's Old Newspapers Are Going Online, 1918 Onward
A Cleburne archive project has digitized decades of the city's newspapers (1918 to 1990 so far) so anyone can search Johnson County's past from a laptop instead of a microfilm reel.
Johnson County · Railroad Museum
Cleburne's Railroad Museum Keeps the Santa Fe Shops Alive
For nearly a century the Santa Fe railroad shops were Cleburne's biggest employer; the Railroad Museum on Main Street keeps that story in front of people who've never seen the shops run.
Johnson County · County History
Johnson County Was Organized in 1854 from Three Older Counties
Johnson County was carved from parts of Ellis, Navarro, and Hill counties in 1854 and has grown from a small frontier settlement to over 150,000 people.
Johnson County · Old Town
Old Town Burleson Was Planned Into a Real Downtown
The walkable heart of Burleson didn't just happen. It's the result of two decades of planning and more than $12 million in city money, centered on a plaza at 141 W. Renfro Street.
Johnson County · New Deal History
The CCC Built Cleburne State Park During the Great Depression
Local residents donated the land for Cleburne State Park in 1934, and Civilian Conservation Corps workers constructed the dam, roads, and stone structures still in use today.
Johnson County · County Museum
There's a County Museum Tucked Inside the Cleburne Courthouse
Down a hallway in the Cleburne courthouse, Room 139 holds the Johnson County Courthouse Museum and a little county-history stop hiding in plain sight.
Jones County · Rail Towns
A Railroad Put Hamlin Six Miles From Neinda
The railroad bypassed Neinda in 1902 and created Hamlin six miles away, leaving two very different town stories along FM 126.
Jones County · County Seat
Anson Outlived the Railroad Bet That Put It There
Jones City won the county seat in 1881 on land offered for an expected railroad; the tracks went to Abilene, but the town stayed.
Jones County · Agricultural Heritage
Cotton, Cattle, and the Land: Jones County's Agricultural Roots
Jones County's economy was built on cattle ranching in the 1870s and cotton farming by the early 1900s, land use that still shapes the county today.
Jones County · Local Tradition
Cowboys' Christmas Ball: An Anson Tradition Since the 1880s
Anson hosts one of Texas's oldest continuing Western dances, most often traced to December 1885 at a local hotel.
Jones County · Historic Site
Fort Phantom Hill Still Stands in Stone North of Hawley
Fort Phantom Hill is a frontier army post from 1851 where stone buildings, chimneys, and foundations still stand north of Hawley.
Jones County · Ranch Tradition
Stamford Built Its Cowboy Reunion for Working Hands
Thirteen Stamford businessmen started the Texas Cowboy Reunion in 1930 for working ranch hands rather than professional rodeo riders.
Karnes County · History
Helena Was Once the County Seat — Then the Railroad Bypassed It
The original county seat of Karnes County was Helena, a town that declined after the railroad passed it by in 1886.
Karnes County · Courthouse
Karnes City's Clock Tower Vanished for Nearly a Century
A 1920 modernization removed the courthouse clock tower and turret roofs, covered its brick with stucco, and closed the south entrance; a 14-year effort reversed the changes.
Karnes County · History
Karnes County Is Home to Panna Maria, Texas's First Polish Settlement
The small community of Panna Maria, founded in 1854, is documented as the first Polish colony in the United States.
Kaufman County · Agricultural Innovation
A $1,000 Bet on a Terrell Cotton Field Paid Off
In 1903, Kaufman County neighbors backed Walter Porter's farm experiment with $1,000, then watched the new cotton methods nearly double production.
Kaufman County · County Origins
Before Kaufman, There Was King's Fort
An 1840 fort on North Clay Street grew into Kingsboro, the settlement that became Kaufman and gave the new county its seat.
Kaufman County · Growth & Change
Kaufman County Crossed 200,000 in the 2025 Estimate
The Census Bureau's 2025 estimate put Kaufman County at 209,235 people, about 44 percent above its 2020 estimates base.
Kaufman County · Historic Institution
Terrell State Hospital is rebuilding on its nineteenth-century campus
The state hospital opened in Terrell in 1885, and Texas began building its replacement on the old campus in 2024.
Kaufman County · Railroad History
Terrell's Depot Was Written Into the Land Deal
Terrell began with a railroad bargain: local land for the Texas and Pacific, provided the company put a permanent depot there.
Kaufman County · Community History
Terrell's HBCU Gave an Older School Campus a New Life
Southwestern Christian College began with about 45 students in 1948, then made a Terrell campus with its own long school history its permanent home.
Kendall County · Local History
Boerne was founded by German immigrants in the 1850s
German settlers laid out Boerne in 1852 and named it after a German writer. The town became the county seat of Kendall County in 1862.
Kendall County · Historic Courthouse
Kendall County's 1870 courthouse is one of Texas's oldest still in use
The limestone courthouse built in Boerne in 1870 is still standing and has served the county for more than 150 years.
Kenedy County · County History
How Kenedy County Got Its Name — and Why Ranching Still Shapes It
Kenedy County was formed in 1921 and named for rancher Mifflin Kenedy, and just a handful of large ranching families have held most of the land ever since.
Kent County · Local History
Jayton Became the County Seat in 1954
Kent County's original county seat was Clairemont, but Jayton won a contested election in 1954 and has been the seat of government ever since.
Kerr County · Camp Verde
Camp Verde's Store Keeps the Camel Post Story on the Roadside
The Camp Verde General Store and Post Office grew beside the old Army post tied to the 1850s camel experiment on Verde Creek.
Kerr County · Local Origins
H-E-B Started as a One-Room Kerrville Grocery
H-E-B began in Kerrville in 1905 when Florence Thornton Butt opened Mrs. C. C. Butt's Staple and Fancy Grocery.
Kerr County · County History
Kerr County was carved from the Hill Country in 1856
Kerr County was established January 26, 1856, named for James Kerr, a colonist and figure in the Texas Revolution.
Kerr County · Ranching Heritage
Kerrville was once called the Mohair Capital of the World
Sheep and Angora goat ranching dominated Kerr County's economy for decades, and the county shipped over a million pounds of wool in a single year.
Kerr County · Architecture
The Schreiner Mansion Gives Downtown Kerrville a Limestone Landmark
The Capt. Charles Schreiner Mansion at 216 Earl Garrett Street is a National Register building tied to Kerrville's business and civic history.
Kimble County · County History
Kimble County: Named for an Alamo Defender, Built on Wool and Mohair
Kimble County is named for George C. Kimbell, who died at the Alamo, and grew its economy on cattle, sheep, and Angora goats on the Edwards Plateau.
King County · History
King County was built on cattle ranching, and still is
King County is one of the most rural counties in Texas and has been dominated by large cattle ranches since the 1880s, including the famous Four Sixes Ranch.
Kinney County · History
Fort Clark: From Army Post to Private Community
Fort Clark was a U.S. Army post established in 1852 that shaped the growth of Brackettville and is now a private community listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Kinney County · History
The Black Seminole Scouts and Their Cemetery Near Brackettville
The Black Seminole scouts served the U.S. Army at Fort Clark for decades, and four of them earned the Medal of Honor. Their cemetery still stands west of Brackettville.
Kleberg County · Museum
Kingsville's First History Professor Started a Museum in 1925
John Edwin Conner began collecting South Texas history during the university's first year, and his museum still lives in an old campus dining hall.
Kleberg County · Courthouse
Kleberg Avenue Points Straight at the Courthouse
Kingsville's historic main street was laid out to end at a 1914 courthouse square, giving the young county a civic front door.
Kleberg County · Bay communities
Riviera and Loyola Beach keep Kleberg County facing the bay
Riviera began along the railroad, while Riviera Beach and Loyola Beach carried settlement east to Baffin Bay and Cayo del Grullo.
Kleberg County · Ranch breed
Santa Gertrudis cattle carry an old ranch name into the pasture
King Ranch developed Santa Gertrudis cattle for South Texas, then gave the breed a name already rooted in the ranch headquarters.
Kleberg County · Campus history
Ten Thousand Texans Came Before Kingsville's College Even Opened
An estimated 10,000 people came to Manning Hall's cornerstone ceremony, then 276 students arrived for Kingsville's first college classes.
Kleberg County · Local History
The King Ranch Shaped Kleberg County
The King Ranch, founded in 1853 on a Spanish land grant, drove the settlement and growth of nearly everything in Kleberg County.
Knox County · Local History
Knox County grew from open range to cotton country
Knox County started as open cattle range in the 1880s and shifted to cotton farming by the early 1900s — a pattern that still shapes the land today.
La Salle County · Historic Connection
Lyndon Johnson Taught in Cotulla Before Becoming President
In 1928, the future U.S. president taught Mexican-American students at Welhausen School in Cotulla.
La Salle County · Local History
Ranching Built La Salle County
Cattle ranching has driven the economy of La Salle County since the 1870s and still dominates today.
Lamar County · Railroad Towns
Blossom Grew From a Prairie Post Office Into a Rail Town
Blossom began as Blossom Prairie and grew after the Texas and Pacific Railway made it a shipping point.
Lamar County · Small Civic Places
Bywaters Park Has a 1931 Peristyle Beside the Library
A small park on South Main keeps one of downtown Paris's graceful 1930s public features in everyday view.
Lamar County · Downtown Landmark
Culbertson Fountain Gives Downtown Paris a Front Porch
Culbertson Fountain anchors Downtown Plaza with a historic fountain, seating, picnic tables, and lights for evening use.
Lamar County · Cemetery History
Evergreen Cemetery Is Where Paris Keeps Its Stone Stories
Evergreen Cemetery began in 1866 and still holds vivid Paris history in stone.
Lamar County · County Origins
Lamar County Was Founded in 1840 and Named for a Republic President
Lamar County was created by the Republic of Texas in 1840 and named for Mirabeau B. Lamar, the fourth president of the Republic.