Category Archives: Today in Texas History

Today in Texas History December 8

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From the Annals of Intercollegiate Athletics –  In 1914, the Southwest Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was formed at a meeting at the Rice Hotel in Houston.  The name was changed to the Southwest Conference in 1925 and it existed as a major college conference until its dissolution in 1996.   The inaugural members were Arkansas, Rice, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma A&M, Southwestern, Texas A&M and Texas. Southwestern was a member for only one year and the Oklahoma schools were gone in less than a decade.  Major additions were SMU in 1918, TCU in 1923, Texas Tech in 1956 and Houston in 1972.  With the inception of the Cotton Bowl Classic at Fair Park in Dallas, the SWC Champion was the host team and the CBC featured several games that determined the then “Mythical” National Champion.

The death came quickly with Arkansas leaving in 1991 and Texas, A&M, Tech and Baylor breaking off to join the schools of the Big 8 in forming the Big 12 (now featuring 10 schools).

Red has always blamed the break up of the SWC on the scandalous Pony Express program at SMU largely orchestrated by former Poor Idiot Governor Bill Clements – a notorious scuzzbag of a businessman. After getting a death penalty sanction from the NCAA in 1987, SMU hung around the neck of the SWC like a dead chicken.  Red believes that if the conference had had the juevos to kick out the Mustangs and attempt to get a good replacement (like LSU or Oklahoma) the conference would be alive and well today.  Red suspects the specter of Clements kept that from happening.  Thanks for nothing Bill!

Red always thought that the SWC logo made it look like Texas had wings.

Today in Texas History – December 7

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From the Annals of the Curators –  In 1955, the board of trustees of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts proclaimed that the museum would “exhibit and acquire works of art only on the basis of their merit as works of art.”  The proclamation was in response to what was known as the “Red Art” controversy.  In March 1955 the Public Affairs Luncheon Club, a local women’s group, had accused DMOFA and its director, Jerry Bywaters, of the dreadful sin of exhibiting the work of artists with communist affiliations and neglecting the work of Dallas artists.  The PALC reflected the incredibly conservative thinking of Dallas’ power elite.  In response, DMOFA removed works by acclaimed artists such as Pablo Picasso and Diego Rivera. The attempt at censorship generated a strong response from the artistic community and the trustees’ statement and the support of the Dallas Morning News helped quell the controversy. .

Today in Texas History – December 6

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From the Annals of the Gridiron – In 1896, Texas Christian University played its first football game.  It was an 8-6 victory over Toby’s Business College of Waco.  At the time, the school was called the AddRan Male & Female College and was located near Waco.  The school changed its name to TCU in 1902 and relocated to Waco in 1910.  The storied program has had its ups and downs, but the Horned Frogs are ranked as the 5th best private college football program of all-time behind such notables as Notre Dame, USC and Miami.  TCU has won two National Championships (both in the 1930s), numerous conference championships and has played in all of the major bowl games.

Today in Texas History – December 5

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BEXAR, SIEGE OF | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)

From the Annals of the Revolution – In 1835, the Texas revolutionary army launched their first major assault on the Mexican Army units encamped at San Antonio de Bexar under the command of Gen. Martin Perfecto de Cos.  Cos had gathered his troops at Bexar following the defeat at Gonzales and was cut off from the coast.  By early December, the siege of Bexar had been under way for several weeks with action at the Espada Mission and elsewhere.  Morale was low on the Texian side with winter approaching.  However, reports from a captured Mexican soldier and escaped Texian prisoners alerted Maj. Gen. Edward Burleson of the Texian Volunteer Army that Mexican morale was just as low.  Burleson ordered a two-column attack. One attack was to be carried out by troops under the command of Ben Milam, and the other was to be carried out by those of Colonel Francis W. Johnson. On December 5, Milam and Johnson launched a surprise attack and seized two houses in the Military Plaza (one of the houses seized belonged to the in-laws of Jim Bowie). The Texians were unable to advance any further that day, but they fortified the houses and remained there during the night, digging trenches and destroying nearby buildings.  The Battle for Bexar continued with house-to-house fighting until December 10 when the besieged Mexican troops surrendered.

Map of Siege of Bexar from The Handbook of Texas Online.

Today in Texas History – December 4

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From the Annals of the Wildcatters –  In 1928, Carl G. (the Big Swede) Cromwell drilled the world’s deepest oil well.  Cromwell was the drilling superintendent of the Texon Company.  Texon was working the rapidly expanding field on University of Texas land in Reagan County. He also acquired his own leases and became known as an honest, generous, free-spirited wildcatter. In association with company engineer Clayton W. Williams, Cromwell experimented in drilling deeper than the average 3,000 feet. In 1926 Williams located a site and Cromwell’s crews began work. In late November 1928, because of mounting expenses and problems, Cromwell was directed to shut down. Instead, he disregarded orders, went into hiding, and kept drilling. On December 4, the well came in at 8,525 feet.  It was the deepest oil well in the world for another three years.

Today in Texas History – December 1

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From the Annals of Baseball –  In 1964, the Houston Colt .45s changed their name to the Houston Astros.  The name change coincided with the move to the Astrodome (officially the Harris County Domed Stadium) beginning with the 1965 season.  The word “Astro” does not appear in the English language and is Greek prefix.  The name honored Houston’s position as the center of the nation’s space program with NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Clear Lake. The name change and relocation to the Astrodome did little to improve results on the field.   Attendance increased dramatically – but not because of the Astros.  Fans from around the country came to see the phenomenon of baseball being played indoors.

Today in Texas History – November 30

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From the Annals of the Southern Rebellion – In 1864, Rebel commander Hiram B. Granbury was killed at the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.  The battle was a near-complete disaster for the Rebel forces under the command of John Bell Hood and they lost more soldiers in that battle than in any other one-day battle of the entire war.  The loss was not quite the end for Rebel forces in Tennessee as that came shortly afterwards at Nashville.

Granbury was born in Mississippi and graduated from Oakland College. In the 1850’s Granbury moved to Waco where he was admitted to the Texas State Bar and served as chief justice of McLennan County.  After secession, Granbury recruited the Waco Guards and was elected by the troops as Major.

On February 15, 1862, he was captured with his command at the Battle of Fort Donelson – one of U.S. Grant’s first brilliant victories.   He surrendered and was taken as a POW.  Later that year, the Rebel officers were paroled as part of an officers exchange from prison. Granbury was given an early parole to take care of his terminally-ill wife Fannie.  Granbury returned to service after his parole and was ultimately commissioned brigadier general.

The city of Granbury in Hood County is named for him and a statute of the Rebel leader sits on the Courthouse square.

So is Red honoring Granbury by relating this history?  No, he is stating the known facts.  Are Hood County and the State of Texas honoring Granbury by continuing to have a city named after him and a statute on the Courthouse lawn?  Yes, and Red fully supports taking down such monuments to traitors.  Renaming entire cities is a more difficult proposition that will take some time to deal with.

Today in Texas History – November 29

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From the Annals of the Methodists –  In 1838, Rev. Jesse Hord entered Texas at Gaines Ferry on the Sabine River.  Hord had volunteered for service in Texas and was assigned to the Texas Mission District by the Methodist Church in October of 1838. In October he traveled by horseback with his fellow missionary Isaac Strickland to Texas.  The day after entering Texas he preached his first sermon at San Augustine.  Hord had converted to Methodism at age 17.  Four years later he was admitted on trial into the Tennessee Conference where he was ordained him a deacon in 1836 and an elder in 1837.  He was charged with forming a circuit in the Houston area and he established the first Methodist congregations at Richmond, Matagorda, Brazoria, Bay Prairie, DeMoss, Texana, Velasco, East Columbia, and Houston. His 500-mile circuit included twenty congregations. He is considered the founder of Methodism in Texas.

Today in Texas History – November 27

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Major Land & Water Features - Louisiana

From the Annals of the Borders –  In 1941, the State of Louisiana lost its legal challenge to the eastern border of Texas.  Louisiana claimed that its western boundary extended not to the middle of the Sabine River but to the western bank.  The exact boundary has been the subject of much legal wrangling.

Price Daniel Sr. wrote an informative if somewhat dull history of the boundary dispute for the Southwestern Law Journal.

Today in Texas History – November 16

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From the Annals of the Treaties –  In 1845, the Republic of Texas signed its final Indian treaty. The agreement came at the end of the Tehuacana Creek Councils, which had commenced in the spring of 1843.  Pioneer Jesse Chisholm had worked to convince a number of Indian groups, including the Caddos, Tawakonis, Delawares, Lipan Apaches, and Tonkawas, to meet on the Tehuacana Creek near the Torrey Brothers trading post south of Waco.

The next council met at Fort Bird on the Trinity River in the fall of 1843. These councils resulted in a peace treaty between the Republic and the Wacos and Caddos.  The failure to reach an accord with the Comanche caused President Sam Houston to call another council to meet at Tehuacana Creek in April 1844.  The Comanche were yet again missing.  In October 9, 1844, Houstonnegotiated a treaty with a part of the southern Comanche, Kichais, Waco, Caddos, Anadarkos, Hainais, Delawares, Shawnees, Cherokees, Lipan Apaches, and Tawakonis. At the November 1845 council the Wacos, Tawakonis, Kichais, and Wichitas agreed to the treaty of October 9, 1844.  The Comanche continued fighting for another 30 years.