Lyman The area around San Antonio was established in the early 1700’s. Its early history centers around several Spanish missions built during that period. The most famous of these missions, the Alamo, served as a fortress in the Texas Revolution at the Battle of the Alamo. Centrally located between the settlements of Texas and the interior of … Read more
Settled in 1716, Nacogdoches claims to be the oldest town in Texas. It was then that Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches was established as one of a series of Spanish missions in the area. The mission and the town were named for the Nacogdoches Indians, who originally inhabited the area. The missions were … Read more
Located on Matagorda Bay at the mouth of the Colorado River, the town of Matagorda lies near the site where French explorer LaSalle landed with some 200 colonists in February of 1685. It was there that LaSalle established the short-lived settlement of Fort St. Louis. The present town of Matagorda was founded in the late 1820’s following … Read more
La Grange is perhaps best known today as the home of the “Chicken Ranch” that provided the inspiration for the screenplay and movie “The Best Little Whore House in Texas.” The town got its start, however, because it was located at the crossing of the Colorado River and an old buffalo trail known as La … Read more
The above map shows the major settlements in Texas that date from the time of the Republic. Additional background information is available for each town by selecting the desired point on the map, or by selecting the name of the settlement from the alphabetical list below. Austin Bastrop Brazoria Columbia El Paso Galveston Goliad Gonzales … Read more
For millennia, various tribes of Native Americans occupied the region that is now Texas. They were as diverse in culture as the geography of Texas itself. The following is a very brief overview of the major tribes that existed at the time of the first European exploration: The Caddos in the east and northeast Texas … Read more
Carved out of a portion of the Austin colony grant of Richardson Harris, the town of Harrisburg was laid out in 1826. Located on Buffalo Bayou near present day Houston, it became an important trading center before the Texas Revolution. Before it was burned by Santa Anna a few days before the Battle of San … Read more
The USS Texas is now a shrine moored at the site of the San Jacinto battlefield about 20 miles east of Houston. Perhaps better known as the Battleship Texas, she remains as an icon of a noble past. Although thousands of sightseers visit the memorial each year, few realize that her heritage extends back more than 100 … Read more
Several sets of some of the earliest baseball cards ever issued depict players from the Texas League or were issued and distributed by sponsors in the Lone Star state. Among these were two sets issued in 1910: the “Old Mill” and the “Mello-Mint” sets. Each of these sets is described in more detail below. 1910 … Read more
Financing the public debt and implementing a stable currency system were among the many challenges facing the government of the Republic of Texas. Although the Constitution of 1836 gave Congress the power to “coin money [and] regulate the value thereof,” no coins were ever minted. Initially, the chief means of bartering for goods were the … Read more