This Day in Texas History: Tejana Superstar Shot and Killed by Fan March 31, 1995 Tejana superstar Selena Quintanilla Perez was born April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson. She won the first of eight Tejano Music Awards as female entertainer of the year in 1987. Her 1992 album Entre a Mi Mundo made her the…
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This Day in Texas History: First Train Crosses the Pecos High Bridge March 30, 1892 On March 30, 1892, The first train to cross the Pecos High Bridge was a Special carrying C. P. Huntington, president of the Southern Pacific. Trains on the Sunset Route of the Southern Pacific lines have crossed the Pecos River…
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This Day in Texas History: Infamy at Goliad March 27, 1836 On this day in 1836, which happened to be Palm Sunday, at least 342 Texans were executed by firing squad at Goliad. The Texans considered these men prisoners of war, whereas General Santa Anna thought them “perfidious foreigners.” The Mexican dictator had decreed that…
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This Day in Texas History: Mexican Raiders Attack Nuecestown March 26, 1875 On this day in 1875, a party of Mexican raiders attacked Nuecestown. The raid can best be explained as part of a cycle of violence among Mexican citizens, Hispanic Texans, and Anglo Texans. By 1875 raids and murder were common on the part…
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On Oct. 3, 1930, in a Rusk County pasture, 70-year-old Columbus M. “Dad” Joiner brought in the Daisy Bradford 3 and unknowingly tapped into the world’s largest pocket of oil. The resulting oil boom brought thousands of producers and drillers into East Texas, turned the quiet little communities into raucous boom towns and made millions…
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This Day in Texas History: Texas Force Decimated After Black Bean Lottery March 25, 1843 On this day in 1843, seventeen Texans were executed at Salado, Tamaulipas, Mexico. As the members of the defeated Mier expedition were being marched from Mier to Mexico City, they attempted a mass escape on February 11. Some 176 were…
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This Day in Texas History: Fort Worth Stockyards Incorporated March 23, 1893 On this day in 1893, the Fort Worth Stock Yards were officially incorporated. The Fort Worth livestock market became the largest in Texas and the Southwest, the biggest market south of Kansas City, and consistently ranked between third and fourth among the nation’s…
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Toward the end of a 2,500 mile Route 66 road trip, we were headed north out of Marfa, en route to San Angelo. Traveling through the sun-baked wilderness of south-central Texas, we saw a lot of scenic, yet desolate beauty like the image you see here. Vast expanses of The Lone Star State have been…
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