Richest Little City in Texas
In 1911 Niles City occupied a little more than half a square mile and boasted a population of 508. Located three miles north of Fort Worth’s business center, Niles City included within its bounds the Fort Worth Stock Yards, Swift & Company, Armour & Company, two grain elevators, and a cotton oil company, which placed […]
Egocentric
This speaks volumes.
What Happened to the Twin Sisters?
In November 1835, three months before Texas declared its independence from Mexico, war clouds had grown into a full rebellion and the citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio, eager to lend support, began raising money to purchase two cannons for the looming battle. Since the United States remained neutral throughout the war, the two iron six-pounders were […]
The Menger Hotel, San Antonio Landmark
In 1855, German immigrants William and Mary Menger built a one-story boarding house and brewery on the dusty plaza next to the Alamo. A sheep pen (where Rivercenter Mall now stands) served as the Menger’s other neighbor. Mary’s cooking and William’s beer proved so popular that local hacks picked up guests at Main and Military […]
A Woman Who Paved the Way For Today
After Minnie Fisher graduated at the age of nineteen with a degree in pharmacy from the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston, she discovered on her first job that she did not earn half the wages of the less-educated male employees. She claimed that remembering that experience in 1901 led to her life’s work […]
Tough Victorian Lady
Lucy Ann Thornton was a bundle of contradictions—a lady ahead of her time who believed women should be educated also touted the need for women to hold home and family above all else. Born into an old southern family in Kentucky in 1839, the barely five-foot-tall Lucy enjoyed a genteel education in the classics […]
Law West of the Pecos
As the railroad spread westward across Texas, the common saying was, “West of the Pecos there is no law; west of El Paso there is no God.” Texas Rangers were called in to quell the criminal element that followed the railroad crews through the desolate Chihuahuan Desert. The rangers had to haul prisoners to the […]
Imagining a Cathedral
The first Protestant Czech-Moravian congregation in North America built its one-room church of hand-hewn logs in 1866. The tiny community, originally called Veseli meaning “joyous,” had already opened the first Czech school in Texas in 1859, soon after they settled on farmland eight miles south of Brenham. Their pastor was expected to do double-duty as […]
The Oblate Fathers of the Rio Grande
The Oblate Fathers arrived in Texas in 1849 to serve as missionaries, and soon became known to Mexican ranchers in the Rio Grande Valley as the “Cavalry of Christ.” The padres, young men from the big cities in France, wore an Oblate cross over their plain black, ankle-length, long-sleeved soutanes (cassocks). In addition to mastering […]
Immigrants Create a Seaport
In 1844, Samuel Addison White saw an opportunity to make some money and develop his barren piece of property that jutted into the waters between Matagorda and Lavaca bays––a protected area along the Central Texas coast. Prince Karl of Solms Braunfels, an aristocratic emissary representing a group of German noblemen, had shown up on the […]