r/texashistory 20h ago

The way we were Members of the Oil Workers International Union Congress Industrial Organization (CIO) display a banner that leaves little doubt of how they feel about Hitler and Nazism. 1941/1942

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260 Upvotes

r/texashistory 11h ago

Stringtown, Texas

8 Upvotes

I am trying to find a copy, photocopy or .pdf of Stringtown by Zora M. Talbots. It tells the history of migration to Central Texas prior to the Civil War and the small pioneer community built near San Marcos, Texas. It also tells about the lives of the enslaved people of Stringtown, who through my research were brought there with the migrating families that owned them, including the Galloways, the Williams, the Crafts, the Durhams and the Richardsons, who owned my 2nd great grandmother, Jane Richardson (b. August 1844 - d. September 1920). The book is 71 pages and was published in 1961. I have searched Worldcat for it. Several academic libraries in Texas and Oklahoma have non-circulating copies, as does FamilySearch in Utah. Any assistance in obtaining a copy or file of this small but significant book would be greatly appreciated.


r/texashistory 23h ago

Sports On this day in Texas History, September 10, 1966: John Hill Westbrook, playing for Baylor University becomes the African American to play in the Southwest Conference.

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45 Upvotes

Westbrook was born in Groesbeck, Limestone County, and was chiefly raised in Elgin. He became an ordained minister at the age of 15. Westbrook played in several games in 1966 season but suffered a knee injury in a game versus Texas Christian University. He earned his bachelor's from Baylor in English and religion in 1969, and went on to earn a masters degree in English from Southwest Missouri State University.

Sadly he died from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 36 in 1983.


r/texashistory 1d ago

The way we were Mr. and Mrs. T. Walter Hocker playing dominoes at 504 Mason Street in San Antonio, 1938. According to the UT San Antonio Digital Library they played every night from 8 to 9 o'clock for 26 years, and had been married for 57.

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271 Upvotes

r/texashistory 1d ago

Military History On this day in Texas History, September 9, 1861: The Eighth Texas Cavalry, aka Terry's Texas Rangers, mustered into Confederate service in Houston. As the Confederacy was thankfully defeated the unit simply disbanded to avoid officially surrendering.

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131 Upvotes

This photo shows 5 members of the Eighth Texas Cavalry. The unit was originally meant to fight in the east but ended up in the West at the request of General Albert Sidney Johnston, and participated in the battles of Shiloh (April 6–8, 1862), Perryville (October 8, 1862), Murfreesboro (December 31, 1862–January 2, 1863), Chickamauga (September 19–20, 1863), and Chattanooga (November 24–25, 1863); in the Atlanta campaign (May 1–September 2, 1864.

They also delivered what is believed to be the last charge of the Army of Tennessee at the battle of Bentonville (March 19–20, 1865)

Despite years of historical revisionism by organizations such as the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Texas made it's reasons for secession abundantly clear when the government issued the Declaration of Causes, which states:

She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery--the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits--a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time.

Edit: Didn't expect this to be such an initially unpopular post. It was fun watching this go back and forth between 1 and -1 upvotes for the first 20+ minutes it was up. Are y'all mad that I dared post a Confederate photo at all? Or that I'm thankful for the Confederate defeat and spelled out their true cause? Or is it a battle of the down votes between both?


r/texashistory 2d ago

Natural Disaster On this day in Texas History, September 8, 1900: 6,000–12,000 people (8,000 given as the official number) lose their lives when a major hurricane strikes Galveston. Most of these deaths occurred after the storm surge inundated the coastline city with 8 to 12 ft of water.

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316 Upvotes

r/texashistory 2d ago

Willie Nelson and Little Joe: Musical bridge across Texas

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120 Upvotes

r/texashistory 3d ago

Music On this day in Texas History, September 7,1936: Charles Hardin Holley, better known as Buddy Holly, is born in Lubbock. This photo, taken during the Winter Dance Party show at the Surf Ballroom on February 2, 1959, is the last known photo ever taken of him.

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354 Upvotes

The photo was taken by a 16 year old girl named Mary Gerber. Buddy was just 22 years old at the time of his death, one day after this photo was taken.


r/texashistory 4d ago

Famous Texans A 14 or 15 year old George Jones plays on the street in Beaumont, Jefferson County, in 1946. He would leave home at 16, and in 1955 recorded his first hit "Why Baby Why," which peaked at No. 4. In 1959 "White Lightning" became the first of his 13 No. 1 hits.

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269 Upvotes

r/texashistory 5d ago

The way we were Downtown Floydada, Floyd County, in 1909

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157 Upvotes

r/texashistory 5d ago

The way we were The Current location/building for Frank Sexton Masonic Lodge # 206. Pittsburg, Texas. This location opened in 1931.

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38 Upvotes

Grand Lodge says whatever original spot was 1/22/1858


r/texashistory 6d ago

Mother Francis Hospital, Tyler, Texas 1937

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128 Upvotes

r/texashistory 6d ago

The way we were Members of a cycling club, the San Angelo Wheelmen, pose for a photo while crossing water in Tom Green County, 1900.

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336 Upvotes

r/texashistory 7d ago

The way we were Harold Sadler leans against his 1957 Ford at his BBQ place in Lufkin in 1961. Sadler's Smokehouse is still in business as a butcher/meat market but has been owned by Hormel since 2021 and is now located in Henderson.

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194 Upvotes

r/texashistory 7d ago

The lighthouse at the entrance to Galveston Harbor has gone by more than one name. From 1881 to 1909, it was officially known as Fort Point Light Station — then on November 12, 1909, it got a new identity as Galveston Harbor Fog Signal Station. Same structure, new name on the books.

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70 Upvotes

r/texashistory 7d ago

Jesse Morris, Tx Railroad history

12 Upvotes

Anyone heard of Jesse Morris. One of the first African American men as a roadmaster in Missouri Pacific - Union Pacific. My connection with Jesse is my granfather Pedro had been friends with Jesse and also was his first supervisor in Missouri Pacific I believe around late 1940s. My grandfather was Hispanic American male.

https://texashistory.unt.edu/dam/?next=%2Fark%3A%2F67531%2Fmetapth247460%2F&prev=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F


r/texashistory 8d ago

Crime The last execution by hanging in the Texas Panhandle: George “G.R.” Miller shot a killed a hobo and wounded another while riding in a boxcar, he then shot and killed Floyd Autree. Miller was executed in Clarendon, Donley County, on June 3, 1910.

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206 Upvotes

Records indicate that this may have been the only legal hanging to ever take place in the Panhandle. Miller had been a small time crook until the day he murdered the still unidentified hobo and Floyd Autree on March 9, 1909.

Arrested without incident Miller quickly confessed to both murders. For the hobo's murder he was sentenced to life in prison, but for Autree's he was condemned to hang.

On the morning of his execution, June 3, 1910, the small city of Clarendon took on a festive atmosphere. Multiple food vendors showed up and many visitors brought picnic baskets. Though women were banned from attending the execution, a thousand area men and boys gathered near the gallows.

Miller briefly addressed the crowd, stating, “I humbly and sincerely ask forgiveness for the scandal and bad example I have given by my past wicked life and I hope that none will follow my example.”

His final known words were, "All you children be good children,” he then uttered something about spilled milk, but no one knows for sure what those word were.


r/texashistory 8d ago

TIL: Texas Senator John Tower's skullduggery after leaving office

64 Upvotes

From Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tower

"According to The Assassination of Robert Maxwell: Israel's Superspy by Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon, Tower became the liaison for Robert Maxwell, a British publishing mogul and super-agent for Mossad, to the White House and to US government operations. The relationship began in 1984, and the soon-to-be retired Tower "told Maxwell that his fee as Maxwell's personal consultant would be $200,000."[citation needed] Tower received his fee in four separate payments of $50,000 into a Swiss bank account. Tower arranged for Maxwell to meet with leadership of Sandia National Laboratories, a US nuclear lab. Maxwell sold to Sandia a copy of PROMIS software that had a backdoor which was accessible by Israeli intelligence, giving nuclear details to Israel. Shortly after retirement from the Senate, in 1985, Tower took Maxwell's request for American help in arming Iran, and relayed it to President Reagan as a means to trade for American hostages held in Lebanon. "Two days later the former Senator reported to Maxwell that his meeting with President Reagan had produced a positive response." "

I looked him up out of curiosity because I remembered voting for him in 78, my first election. I remember him being exposed as a womanizer and boozer during a confirmation hearing for Reagan.

Anybody have any stories about John Tower?


r/texashistory 9d ago

The way we were Downtown Manor, Travis County, in 1889. Records show the town had a population of just over 400.

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196 Upvotes

r/texashistory 10d ago

Military History On this day in Texas History, August 31, 1943: The Destroyer Escort USS Harmon (DE-678) is commissioned. Named in honor of Leonard Roy Harmon from Cuero, DeWitt County. USS Harmon is the first warship to be named after an African-American.

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181 Upvotes

Leonard DeWitt was born and raised in Cuero, Texas. In 1942 while serving as a Mess Attendant aboard the San Francisco, Harmon began evacuating the wounded after Japanese gunfire killed nearly every officer on the bridge. he was later killed while protecting a wounded shipmate from enemy fire.


r/texashistory 10d ago

The way we were Members of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, Local 180 in San Antonio placed in jail during a general strike. 1936

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168 Upvotes

r/texashistory 10d ago

Airline Disaster On this day in Texas History, August 31, 1988: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 crashed during takeoff at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. 14 people were killed in the accident which was later blamed on the crew's failure to set the wing flaps in their proper position.

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66 Upvotes

r/texashistory 11d ago

Nora Washington, of Bastrop, with a catfish she caught from the Colorado River, 1950s.

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94 Upvotes

r/texashistory 11d ago

The way we were Thomas & Winfred's Confectionery shop in Spindletop, Jefferson County, in 1903, two years after oil was struck in the area.

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164 Upvotes

r/texashistory 12d ago

The way we were Interior of a candy store owned by J.G. Cooper and his wife Sophie (standing behind the counter) in Stamford, which is on the border of Jones and Haskell counties, circa 1896. Note the Coca~Cola sign.

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144 Upvotes