Texas Fun Facts

Our time in Texas is winding down. Spring will be here soon...we hope, and we're looking forward to heading north to our summer home. I thought this would be a perfect time to share a few little known, very interesting facts about Texas:

• Port Arthur to El Paso: 889 miles. Port Arthur to Chicago: 770 miles.
• Brownsville to state line (north of Amarillo): 956 miles. The state line to Canada: 960 miles.
• El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas
• The King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island.
• The name 'Texas' comes from the Hasini Indian word 'tejas' meaning "friends". Tejas is NOT Spanish for Texas.
• 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.
• Texas has had six capital cities: Washington-on-the Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco, West Columbia and Austin.
• 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).
• The San Jacinto Monument is the tallest free standing monument in the world and it is taller than the Washington Monument.
• 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.
• Hurricane Harvey in 2017 brought 51.88 inches of rain to Texas, the highest rainfall total in any storm in the history of the United States. 
• The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water. Destroyed by Hurricane Ike – 2008!
• World's first rodeo was in Pecos, Tx July 4, 1883.
• The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
• The first domed stadium in the US was the Astrodome in Houston.
• 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.
• Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in North America.
• Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only remaining flock of whooping cranes.
• A Live Oak tree near Fulton (Rockport) is estimated to be 1500 years old.
• Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.
• Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. There is no period in Dr Pepper.
• 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.