April 6 is opening day for the Texas League, the minor league baseball organization that includes teams from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, and Tennessee. The Frisco Rough Riders are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, and over the years these notable players have moved up to the Texas Rangers: Elvis…Continue Reading Texas League opening day
Tender Mercies was released in American theaters forty years ago this month. The story of a troubled Texas country singer on the verge of a comeback who must choose between his career and new family was nominated for multiple Academy Awards. Although the film did not win the Academy Award for Best Picture, Horton Foote…Continue Reading Tender Mercies 40th anniversary
Baseball fans have waited all season to see who will battle for the World Series championship. The formidable Houston Astros swept the Yankees and now they are looking to beat the wildcard Philadelphia Phillies. Many of these players began their career in the…Continue Reading Texas League: we knew them when…
October and early November is chili cookoff season. The first cookoff took place at the State Fair of Texas in October 1952, where Mrs. F.G. Ventura was declared the winner. That same year one of the most essential books on chili was published. Joe E. Cooper’s With or Without Beans includes a recipe from E.L….Continue Reading Chili Cookoff
The State Fair of Texas begins its 135th year this week in Dallas. In 1886 it was originally called the Dallas State Fair and Exposition, and by 1905 the annual event at Fair Park became the State Fair of Texas. The pandemic did not allow a full fair experience in 2020, but it wasn’t the…Continue Reading 135 years of the State Fair of Texas
San Antonio was host to the World’s Fair from April to October in 1968, which was also the city’s 250th anniversary. Formal planning for this international event began in 1962, and the theme was “the confluence of civilizations in the Americas.” Major corporations, organizations and…Continue Reading HemisFair ’68
President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. However, it was two and a half years later before Texas slaves got the message when Union Major General Gordon Granger issued the order in Galveston, “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United…Continue Reading Juneteenth National Independence Day
Larry McMurtry was an author and bookseller from Archer City, Texas who wrote about Texas and the American West to worldwide acclaim. His best known works include Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, and Brokeback Mountain. In 1969 his novel,…Continue Reading Remembering Larry McMurtry, Texas author and bookseller
It’s been 184 years since the battle of the Alamo was fought between February 23 and March 6, 1836 in San Antonio, Texas. Stephen Hardin’s Handbook of Texas article explains the context of these thirteen days that eventually led to Texas’ independence from Mexico. Lon Tinkle’s papers contain manuscripts for his 1958 book, 13 Days…Continue Reading Remember the Alamo
This week the movie adaptation of Tom Pendleton’s epic 1966 novel, The Iron Orchard, opens in theaters. His book tells the story of Jim McNeely’s rise from oil roughneck to wildcatter in mid-twentieth century Texas, and is based on the author’s experience in the oil business. Tom Pendleton was a pseudonym for Edmund…Continue Reading The Iron Orchard