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…frontier More than two centuries ago, dusty soldiers stationed across the state, from Fort Gates in Central Texas to Fort Davis in far West Texas, desperately needed clean uniforms. Few soldiers…

…News that Sally Rand would come to Texas for the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial Exposition in 1936 was met with outrage by some and curiosity by many. Her reputation, gained at the 1933…

This rare, radioactive material turned out to be the most valuable mineral ever discovered in Llano County No one was exactly yelling out, “There’s yttrium in them…

Dr. James I. Lighthall’s Indian Medicine Show Dr. James I. Lighthall, a medicine show salesman who hawked his elixirs across…

Even without his condensed milk, Gail Borden Jr. would still warrant a mention in Texas history Like a lot of people known primarily for one thing, Gail Borden Jr. did a lot of…

In the midst of trying to dynamite rain from the clouds, Post Toasties inventor never gave up on…

…outlaws, Belle Starr enjoyed her reputation as the “Bandit Queen.” Although she was well known in Texas, it wasn’t until after her death in 1889 that stories of her escapades sprouted up all…

The man who said no at the Alamo Of the many mysteries surrounding the battle of the Alamo, one of the most enduring and endearing centers on the line that Texas…

…Bedichek, J. Frank Dobie and Walter Prescott Webb—Bedichek was the last one to publish a mainstream book, Adventures with a Texas Naturalist, when he was 69, and the least known of the three…

…crop Legendary Old West gambler and lawman–turned-sportswriter Bat Masterson observed, in the last column he wrote before he died in 1921, that the rich and poor get the same amount of…

New Year’s Day tradition has roots in Texas If you’re superstitious or Texan (or Southern), the odds are good that black-eyed peas…

…Armstrong Custer, to travel with her husband and thousands of his troops across the Texas frontier in 1865. Libbie, as she was known, gamely endured the hardships to be near her husband. A book she…

…Moczygemba, founder of nation’s first Polish community, never won any popularity contests Being a pioneer is not always everything it is cracked up to be. Sometimes there is a psychic price…

One extra-special song put Bob Wills on the musical map to stay Bob Wills’ records sold in the millions. But one extra-special song—“San Antonio Rose,” which later became “New San…

Almost a quarter century after being poisoned, Austin’s Treaty Oak is still standing tall The stately Treaty Oak on Baylor Avenue…

…Texas-sized hero at Waco museum If you are among the millions of Texans with a few silver strands in their hair, the call of “Hi, yo, Silver—awaaaay!” may transport you to a long-ago living…

Pioneer physician won folks over by doing things her way You may write something about me if you will,” said the lady physician to a…

…knew until shortly before kickoff where the game was to be played? That was sort of the situation in 1896 when Peter Maher and Bob Fitzsimmons agreed to fight for the world heavyweight boxing…

…a pair of six-shooters, the legendary Judge Roy Bean doled out a peculiar form of frontier justice in a lawless section of far West Texas during the last half of the 19th century. Photographs show a…

Camp Hearne museum tells the story of German POWs In the quiet little Central Texas community of Hearne, a huge part of forgotten Texas history is on…

‘I learned the meaning of freedom in a prison camp,’ says 86-year-old Heino Erichsen. When the clattering wheels of…

East Texas town helped supply U.S. Navy during World War II The city of Orange, on Texas’ eastern border, was nearly wiped out by the…

One of Texas’ most-celebrated ghost towns once lived large as coal-mining center There never was a Texas town quite like Thurber, and there probably never will be…

…The tree that nearly everybody calls cedar is really Ashe juniper, except when it’s another kind of juniper or cedar. Nearly everybody knows this, but the tree is still—and will most likely…

…was. Congresswoman Barbara Jordan racked up a bunch of firsts: First African-American to serve in the Texas Senate since Reconstruction following the Civil War. First African-American woman from…