Nobody asked for them, but here are some little known Texas facts:
Beaumont to El Paso: 742 miles
Beaumont to Chicago: 770 miles
El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas .
World's first rodeo was in Pecos.. July 4, 1883.
The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water.
The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full time coach for
Rice University in Houston.
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.
Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978.
The worst natural disaster in US. history was in 1900 caused by a Hurricane in which over 8000
lives were lost on Galveston Island.
The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was "Houston."
King Ranch is larger than Rhode Island (Bill Greene flew over it in 1955 zooming cattle!)
Tropical Storm Claudette had a US. rainfall record of 43" in 24 hours around Alvin July 1979.
Texas is the only state to enter the U.S. by TREATY, instead of by annexation. (This allows the
Texas flag to fly at the same height as the US flag.)
A live Oak tree near Fulton 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 after Dr in Dr Pepper.
Texas has had six capital cities:
1. Washington-on-the-Brazos
2. Harrisburg
3. Galveston
4. Velasco
5 West Columbia
6. Austin The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the U.S. which is taller than the
Capitol Building in Washington D.C. (by 7 feet).
The name Texas comes from the Hasini Indian word "tejas" meaning friends. Tejas is not Spanish
for Texas.
The State animal 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.)
The first domed stadium in the U.S. was the Astrodome in Houston.
