Some fun Texas trivia my cousin emailed me

Coach Bill Lewis · January 4, 2019

Thought you fellas would get a kick out of this!

Fun Texas Trivia:

Texas tidbits - interesting little known facts about the great state:

1. Port Arthur to El Paso: 889 miles. Port Arthur to Chicago: 770 miles

2. Brownsville to Texline (north of Amarillo 😞 956 miles. Texline to Canada : 960 miles

3. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas

4. World's first rodeo was in Pecos , Tx July 4, 1883.

5. The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North
America built over water. Destroyed by Hurricane Ike - 2008!

6. The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach at Rice University in Houston, Texas .

7. Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in North America.

8. Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only remaining flock of whooping cranes.

9. Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.

10. The worst natural disaster in US history was in 1900, caused by a hurricane in which over 8,000 lives were lost on Galveston Island.

11. The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was " Houston " but the Space Center was actually in Clear Lake City at the time.

12. The King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island .

13. Tropical Storm Claudette brought a US rainfall record of 43" in 24 hours in and around Alvin in July of 1979.

14. Texas is the only state to enter the US by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union)instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the US Flag, and Texas may choose to divide into 5 states.

15. A Live Oak tree near Fulton is estimated to be 1500 years old.

16. Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.

17. Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period in Dr Pepper.

18. Texas has had six capital cities: Washington-on-the Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco, West Columbia, and Austin

19. The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the US which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington, DC (by 7 feet).

20. The San Jacinto Monument is the tallest free standing monument in the world and it is taller than the Washington Monument.

21. The name 'Texas' comes from the Hasini Indian word 'tejas' meaning "friends". Tejas is NOT Spanish for Texas

22. The State Mascot is the Armadillo. An interesting bit of trivia about the armadillo is they always have four babies. They have one egg, which splits into four, and they either have four males or four females.

23. The first domed stadium in the US was the Astrodome in Houston

24. The Beck family ranch land grant is one days ride by horse (25 miles) in each direction from the headquarters.

25. The name of the XIT ranch in Dalhart Texas stands for "ten in texas". That means 10 counties in Texas !

GTWT · January 5, 2019

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Texas has had six capital cities: Washington-on-the Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco, West Columbia, and Austin

Seven, if you count Marshall, which was capital of Missouri during the War of Northern Aggression.

Edited January 5, 2019 by GTWT

GTWT · January 5, 2019

Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.

Formed in 1811 by a massive log-jam produced by the New Madrid earthquake, Caddo Lake is no longer strictly speaking 'natural', since the dam has been largely replaced with earth & concrete to stabilize it. Caddo Lake is our only lake if you don't count smaller bodies of water such as oxbow lakes & playa lakes.

Quoner · January 5, 2019

Coach Bill Lewis posting old man email forwards and GTWT getting downvoted for not respecting the proper name of the racist war. What an amazing corner of the internet this place is.

UNTcrazy727 · January 8, 2019

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14. Texas is the only state to enter the US by TREATY, (known as the Constitution of 1845 by the Republic of Texas to enter the Union)instead of by annexation. This allows the Texas Flag to fly at the same height as the US Flag

False