This Day in Texas History
July
Day in Texas History
July 1, 1879 – Birthday of John Atz, who served as manager for the Fort Worth Cats baseball team for 18 years.
July 2, 1798 – Birthday of Angelina Eberly, who prevented the removal of documents from the capital by firing a cannon in 1842 in what became known as the Archive War.
July 3, 1964 – Natural Bridge Cavern opened to the public. Located midway between New Braunfels and San Antonio, it is the largest known cave in Texas.
July 4, 1963 – Fort Davis National Historic Site in West Texas was established as part of the national park system. The site depicts the fort as it was in the 1880s.
July 5, 1848 - The U.S. Congress passed an act allowing Texas to move its eastern boundary from the west bank of the Sabine River to the middle of the river.
July 6, 1933 – The town of Tomball was incorporated. In 1935, town residents were given 90 years of free water and natural gas in exchange for oil drilling rights.
July 7, 1960 – A dedication ceremony was held for the new Big Bend National Park in West Texas.
July 8, 1925 – The San Antonio Conservation Society was incorporated. The group supported efforts to create the Riverwalk and restore the Spanish Governor’s Palace.
July 9, 1857 - A stage coach carrying mail left San Antonio for San Diego in what was said to be the first transcontinental mail and passenger service, known as the “San-San.”
July 10, 1882 – Ima Hogg, daughter of Texas governor James Stephen Hogg, was born in Minola, Texas. An arts supporter, she helped found the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
July 11, 1949 – Texas Governor Beauford Jester dies while traveling to Houston. He is the first Texas governor to die in office.
July 12, 1917 – Central Texas celebrated “Mebane Day” in honor of Alexander Mebane, who cross-bred cotton to create a hardy, high-yield “Mebane Triumph” cottonseed.
July 13, 1903 – The Texas Legislature offered $50,000 to anyone who could devise a way to eradicate the boll weevil, which had been destroying cotton crops in Texas.
July 14, 1805 – Birthday off “the mother of Houston” Charlotte Allen, who, along with her brothers, bought land along Buffalo Bayou to establish the town in 1836.
July 15, 1839 – The Battle of Neches, one of the major battles of the Cherokee War, was fought along the Neches River near the present-day town of Tyler, Texas.
July 16, 1969 – From mission control at the LBJ Space Center in Houston, NASA launched the mission to land the first man on the moon.
July 17, 1941 – The Midland Army Air Field was leased by the U.S. government for $1 a year while being used as a training ground during WWII.
July 18, 1917 – Camp Bowie was established near present-day downtown Fort Worth. Named for the Alamo hero Jim Bowie, the camp served as an army base in WWI.
July 19, 1876 – The Texas and Pacific Railway completed a rail line that linked Fort Worth, Texas, to San Diego, California.
July 20, 1969 – Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, guided by the Manned Spacecraft Center near Houston.
July 21, 1988 – Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission purchased Big Bend Ranch in Presidio County to form Big Bend State Natural Area, the largest park in the state system.
July 22, 1887 – The Panhandle Herald, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Panhandle was established in Panhandle, Texas.
July 23, 1803 – Birthday of Texas land baron Samuel Maverick, whose free-roaming cattle on Matagorda Island gave rise to the term “maverick” for an unbranded calf.
July 24, 1893 – Josephine Lucchese, daughter of bootmaker Sam Lucchese, was born in San Antonio. An acclaimed opera singer, she was known in Europe as the “American Nightingale.”
July 25, 1999 – Nolan Ryan was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
July 26, 1887 – The Union Stock Yards were chartered in Fort Worth, which had earned the nickname “Cowtown” for its commerce in livestock.
July 27, 1940 – Lonnie Smith of Houston was denied a ballot to vote in a Democratic primary because he was black. A legal battle ensued, resulting in a Supreme Court decision granting all eligible Texans the right to vote in primary elections.
July 28, 1908 – Harper Lee of Ysleta, Texas, first made his first appearance in a bullring in Guadalajara. Two years later, he became the first American matador de toros.
July 29, 1958 – Pres. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which formed NASA and led to the establishment of the space center near Houston in 1961.
July 30, 1867 – Texas Governor James Throckmorton was removed from office for siding with the Confederacy during the Civil War.
July 31, 1867 – Fort Griffin was established on the Brazos River in Shackelford County in Texas when four companies of the 6th U.S. Cavalry arrived at the site.
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For more information about Texas history, explore the Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas Online.
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