Texas Timeline of Events

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Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas...

Timeline of Events

1528

11.6.1528

Shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca becomes the first known European to set foot in Texas.

1685

2.18.1685

Fort St. Louis is established by a Frenchman at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.

1823

1.3.1823

Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico.

1836

3.1.1836

A convention of delegates from 57 Texas communities convenes in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico.

5.14.1836

The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.

1845

10.13.1845

A majority of voters in the Republic of Texas approve a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the U.S. Congress, will make Texas a U.S. state.

12.29.1845

According with International Boundary delimitation, U.S.A annexes the Mexican state of Texas, following the Manifest Destiny doctrine. For others, the Republic of Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.

1846

4.25.1846

Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.

1850

9.9.1850

The Compromise of 1850 transfers a third of Texas's claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) to federal control in return for the U.S. federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt.

9.9.1850

1855

2.14.1855

Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.

1861

2.1.1861

American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.

3.16.1861

Edward Clark becomes Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.

1865

6.19.1865

Over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in Galveston, Texas, United States, are finally informed of their freedom. The anniversary is still officially celebrated in Texas and 13 other contiguous states as Juneteenth.

1870

3.30.1870

Texas is readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction.

1873

5.17.1873

El Paso, Texas is established by charter from the Texas Legislature.

1876

10.4.1876

Texas A&M University opens as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, becoming the first public institution of higher education in Texas.

1901

1.10.1901

The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.

1917

2.24.1917

World War I: The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.

1947

4.9.1947

The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

1956

4.26.1956

First container ship left Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas.

1961

9.15.1961

Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 miles per hour.

1963

11.22.1963

In Dallas, Texas, US President John F. Kennedy is killed and Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded by Lee Harvey Oswald, who is later captured and charged with the murder of police officer J. D. Tippit. That same day, US Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States.

1982

12.7.1982

In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr. becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.

1983

8.18.1983

Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over USD $1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).

1989

8.7.1989

U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.

1991

10.16.1991

Luby's massacre: George Hennard runs amok in Killeen, Texas, killing 23 and wounding 20 in Luby's Cafeteria.

1992

2.20.1992

Texas industrialist Ross Perot's U.S. presidential campaign begins after he opened up the possibility of running as an independent candidate while appearing on the talk show ''Larry King Live''.

1994

7.3.1994

The deadliest day in Texas traffic history, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Forty-six people are killed in crashes.

1998

2.3.1998

Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.

2001

6.5.2001

Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm caused $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.

2007

4.20.2007

Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.

2008

4.4.2008

In a raid on the FLDS's YFZ Ranch in Texas, 401 children and 133 women are taken into state custody.

9.13.2008

Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.

2009

11.5.2009

US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 and wounded 30 at Fort Hood, Texas in the largest mass shooting ever at a US military installation.