This Day in Texas History
August
August 1, 1973 – The infamous Chicken Ranch in La Grange was closed after an expose by TV reporter Marvin Zindler, inspiring the Broadway hit “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”
August 2, 1864 – Olga Kohlberg born in Westphalia, Germany. She immigrated with her husband to Texas and started the first kindergarten in Texas in El Paso in 1893.
August 3, 1942 – Harlingen Air Force Base, described as the “Paradise of the Eastern Flying Training Command,” began training operations during WWII, specializing in aerial gunnery.
August 4, 1942 – The US government signed the Mexican Farm Labor Program Agreement to legalize and control migrant labor from Mexico in Texas and other border states.
August 5, 1961 – The amusement park Six Flags Over Texas opened in Arlington. Celebrating Texas history, it was one of the first theme entertainment centers in the United States.
August 6, 1842 – Charles Eliot arrived at Galveston to take up his post as charge d’affaires for the British government to the Republic of Texas.
August 7, 1935 – Members of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union in Dallas gained notoriety when they protested low wages by stripping 10 non-union dressmakers.
August 8, 1688 – The Spanish-led Rivas-Paz expedition left Veracruz in an unsuccessful search for LaSalle’s French colony in Texas. Alonso DeLeon found the colony the next year.
August 9, 1809 – William Barret Travis, commander at the Alamo, was born in South Carolina.
August 10, 1862 – In the battle of Nueces, Hill Country Unionists were attacked and defeated by Confederate forces in Kinney County. Some survivors joined Union forces in New Orleans.
August 11, 1858 – Geologist Robert Thomas Hill was born in Nashville, Tennessee. At sixteen, he moved to Texas, where he led a surveying expedition of Big Bend in 1888.
August 12, 1860 – Sam Houston’s son, Temple Houston, was the first child to be born in the Governor’s Mansion.
August 13, 1797 – Arnot Bergmann born in present-day Czech Republic. He moved to Texas in 1850 and wrote about the plentiful, cheap land, resulting in waves of Czech immigration.
August 14, 1873 – Emma Meharg, the first woman to serve as Texas secretary of state, was born in Tennessee. She served in 1925 and 1926 under Governor Miriam A. Ferguson.
August 15, 1854 – Alonzo Sledge, one of Texas’ first black legislators, was born in Chappell Hill, Texas. He was elected in 1878, representing Washington and Burleson Counties.
August 16, 1798 – Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas, was born in Louisville, Georgia.
August 17, 1786 – David Crockett, legendary frontiersman and defender of the Alamo, was born in Tennessee.
August 18, 1813 – In the battle of Medina, Texas rebels fought against the Spanish royalist army near San Antonio in an attempt to establish Texas as a separate republic.
August 19, 1886 – A hurricane destroyed the Gulf Coast town of Indianola over a period of three days. The town was never rebuilt.
August 20, 1855 – Fort Lancaster was established on Live Oak Creek near its junction with the Pecos River.
August 21, 1879 – The first telephone exchange switchboard in Texas opened for business in Galveston.
August 22, 1750 – Vazquez Borrego, pioneer cattle rancher from Coahuila, Mexico, established the first permanent settlement at the present-day site of Dolores in South Texas.
August 23, 1916 – The first offshore drilling for oil occurred on Galveston Bay. After drilling 20 dry holes, a well near the coastline struck a gusher, creating the Goose Creek oil field.
August 24, 1904 – Jazz saxophonist Buster Smith was born in Alsdorf, Texas. Performing alongside Count Basie, and helped pioneer loud jazz with his signature “Texas Sax Sound.”
August 25, 1917 – The Ninetieth Division was activated at Camp Travis to fight in WWI. Texans and Oklahomans formed the original division, also known as the “Tough ‘Ombres.”
August 26, 1842 – In a treaty, Caddo Indians agreed to persuade other tribes to join in councils with Texas commissioners. Their efforts led to a peace treaty among nine tribes in 1843.
August 27, 1837 – The first Texas Navy came to an end when the ships Brutus and Invincible were forced aground near Galveston by two Mexican ships.
August 28, 1902 – The Texas Farmers Union was officially incorporated. The Union was created to stabilize the cotton market and bring about reforms in such areas as rural education.
August 29, 1827 – Old Station, a settlement six miles up the Lavaca River in Jackson Co., was closed in violation of Mexican laws that prohibited settlements within 10 leagues of the coast.
August 30, 1855 – A treaty settled Penateka Indians on a reservation in Throckmorton County. The reservation closed in 1859, and the Penatekas moved to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.
August 31, 1968 – Dr. Michael E. DeBakey and his team performed the first multi-organ transplant in Houston, using several organs from one donor for four patients.
For more information about Texas history, explore the Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas Online
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