| Entered the Union: December 29, 1845 (28) |
Capital: Austin |
| State Nicknames: Lone Star State |
State Motto: Friendship |
| State Mammal: Texas Longhorn |
State Tree: Pecan |
| State Small Mammal: Armadillo |
State Bird: Mockingbird |
| State Song: “Texas, Our Texas” |
State Flower: Bluebonnet |
| Origin of Name: from a Hasinai Indian word, "Tejas," which means friends or allies. |
| State Forests: 5 • State Parks: 120 |
| Famous for: Houston Space Center, Gulf Coast resorts, The Alamo, oil, rodeos |
| Famous Texans: Gene Autry (singer/actor), George W. Bush (President and Governor), Dwight David Eisenhower (President and general), General Sam Houston (president of Texas), Howard Hughes (industrialist), Lyndon B. Johnson (President), George Jones, Janis Joplin, Buck Owens, Tex Ritter (singers), Tommy Lee Jones (actor), Scott Joplin (composer), Sandra Day O'Connor (US Supreme Court), Stevie Ray Vaughan (blues) |
Native Animals and Birds: Click on photos of the animals and birds on
this page to find out more about them and to hear the sounds they make. |
| State Fair: Dallas |
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| Texas State Forests & Parks |
| Texas Historic Sites |
| Texas Attractions |
| Texas Rodeos |
| NASA - Houston |
| Six Flags Amusement Park - Arlington |
| Dallas Cowboys (NFL) |
| Dallas Mavericks (NBA) |
| Dallas Stars (NHL) |
| Houston Astros (MLB) |
| Houston Rockets (NBA) |
| Houston Texans (NFL) |
| San Antonio Spurs (NBA) |
| Texas Rangers (MLB) - Arlington |
| Fishing in Texas |
| Hunting in Texas |
| Texas Homeschooling |
| Listen to Mockingbird's Song |
| Texas Wildlife |
| Texas Photo Galleries-1 |
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3 |
| Texas Butterfly Gallery |
| Texas Wildflower Gallery |
| Texas Resorts |
| Texas RV Parks |
| Texas Hotels |
| Texas Restaurants & Reviews |
| Several groups of Native Americans lived in Texas. The largest of these was the Caddo. |
| In 1519, Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Piñeda was the first European to visit Texas. Myths of the golden “Seven Cities of Cibola” brought many Spaniards from Mexico into Texas. Spanish missionaries built the first two missions near El Paso in 1682. By the late 1730s, missions and forts were built throughout central, east, and southwest Texas. |
| In 1820, American Moses Austin was granted land in Texas from Spanish officials. In 1821, his son, Stephen Austin, brought 300 families to farm along the Brazos River in Texas. Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, extended the boundaries of Austin’s colony and granted other Americans land in Texas. |
| Tension grew between Mexico and large numbers of American settlers in Texas. By 1835, the Texas Revolution had begun. When Texas troops captured San Antonio, Mexican General Santa Anna brought over 4,000 troops to regain control of the mission. Less than 200 Texan rebels withdrew into a chapel called the Alamo. Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and others fought to their deaths. Following the Alamo, more than 300 Texan prisoners from the battle at Goliad were also executed. On April 21, 1836, Texans took the Mexico army by surprise, capturing Santa Anna and defeating his army. They shouted “Remember the Alamo” while they fought. |
| Texas was an independent nation from 1836 to 1845. Texas is the only state to enter the United States by treaty instead of territorial annexation. |
Six flags have flown over Texas:
• Spanish 1519-1685
• French 1685-1690
• Spanish 1690-1821
• Mexican 1821-1836
• Republic of Texas 1836-1845
• United States 1845-1861
• Confederate States 1861-1865
• United States 1865 to present |
| The Texas Rangers were organized in 1835 to protect the growing settlements from Indians and dangerous outlaws. |
| In the 1860s, many Texans established huge cattle ranches. Cattle drives ended during the 1880s with expansion of the railroad. |
| Texas is called the Lone Star State because of the state flag's design: a broad vertical blue stripe at left, centered by a single white star, with horizontal bars of white and red on the right. Red means courage, White means liberty and Blue stands for loyalty. The star has five points, one for each letter of the state's name. |
| In 1962, NASA began building a Manned Spacecraft Center near Houston. Workers there directed the Apollo 11 flight with the first astronauts to land on the moon. |
| The 1850 census recorded 213,000 people in Texas. In 1900, there were three million people, and by 1990, the population was more than 16 million. Today, approximately 18 million people live in Texas, only slightly outnumbering its 15 million cattle. Texas's population is now the second largest in the country after California. |
| Texas is the country's biggest producer of oil, cattle, sheep, minerals, cotton and wool. |
| Texas is second in size only to Alaska. |
| Austin is considered the live music capital of the world. |
| Texas possesses three of the top ten most populous cities in the United States – Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. |
| Texas is home to Dell and Compaq computers and central Texas is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of the south. |
| In Texas, it's illegal to put graffiti on someone else's cow. |
| In Texas, it is still a "hanging offense" to steal cattle. |
| Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state. |
| The Amarillo airport has the 3rd largest runway in the world and is designated as an alternate landing site for the space shuttle. |
| Forty percent of the farm-grown catfish in the United States is consumed by Texans. |
| On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade through downtown Dallas. Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas was sworn in as president aboard the presidential airplane at Dallas' Love Field airport that same day. |
"You'all can go to hell. I am going to Texas." -- Davy Crockett after serving three terms as a Tennessee congressman. Davy Crockett died defending the Alamo. |
| Sam Houston, arguably the most famous Texan, was actually born in Virginia. Houston served as governor of Tennessee before coming to Texas. |
| The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. |
| More land is farmed in Texas than in any other state. |
| Rodeo is the official state sport of Texas. |
| The world's first rodeo was held in Pecos on July 4, 1883. |
| Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period after the Dr in Dr Pepper. |
| The hamburger was created in Athens, Texas. |
| Texas had the first domed stadium in the country. The structure was built in Houston and opened in April 1965. |
| Texas has a total of 6,300 square miles of inland lakes and streams, second only to Alaska. |
| There are stalactites and stalagmites in the breezeway at the University of Texas Law School. |
| Seventy-five percent of the world's Snickers bars are made in Waco at the M&M/Mars plant. |
| The World’s largest parking lot is located at DFW Airport. |
| Laredo is the world's largest inland port. |
| Of the nation's ten largest cities, three are in Texas (Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio). |
| The first word spoken from the moon on July 20, 1969 was "Houston". |
| The official dish of Texas is chili. |
| Amarillo has the world's largest helium well. |
| The Heisman trophy is named for John William Heisman the first full-time coach and athletic director at Rice University in Houston. |
| Texas has 624 miles of coastline running along the Gulf of Mexico. |
| Tyler Municipal Rose Garden is the world's largest rose garden with 38,000 rose bushes of 500 varieties in a 22-acre garden. |
| Texans Ethnic Roots: Mexican 25.3%, German 10.9%, African 10.5%, English 7.2%, Scots-Irish 7.2%. |
| Texas has approximately 1.2 million illegal immigrants. |
| Religion in Texas: 83.3% Christian (55.3% Protestant, 28% Catholic), 11% No Religion, 0.7% LDS, 0.6% Judaism, 0.6% Islam |
| The worst natural disaster in United States history was caused by a hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900. Over 8000 deaths were recorded. |
| During the period of July 24-26, 1979, the Tropical Storm Claudette brought 45 inches of rain to an area near Alvin -- producing the United States 24-hour rainfall record of 43 inches. |
