1.
Austin, Texas
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Austin is the capital of the U. S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County. It is the 11th-most populous city in the U. S. and it is the fastest growing large city in the United States and the second most populous capital city after Phoenix, Arizona. As of the U. S. Census Bureaus July 1,2015 estimate and it is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 2,056,405 as of July 1,2016. In the 1830s, pioneers began to settle the area in central Austin along the Colorado River, in 1839, the site was officially chosen to replace Houston as the new capital of the Republic of Texas and was incorporated under the name Waterloo. Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to Austin in honor of Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas and the republics first secretary of state. The city subsequently grew throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the construction of the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin. After a lull in growth from the Great Depression, Austin resumed its development into a city and, by the 1980s, it emerged as a center for technology. A number of Fortune 500 companies have headquarters or regional offices in Austin, including Amazon. com, cisco, eBay, Google, IBM, Intel, Oracle Corporation, Texas Instruments, 3M, and Whole Foods Market. Dells worldwide headquarters is located in nearby Round Rock, a suburb of Austin, residents of Austin are known as Austinites. They include a mix of government employees, college students, musicians, high-tech workers, blue-collar workers. The city also adopted Silicon Hills as a nickname in the 1990s due to an influx of technology. In the late 1800s, Austin was known as the City of the Violet Crown because of the glow of light across the hills just after sunset. Even today, many Austin businesses use the term Violet Crown in their name, Austin is known as a clean-air city for its stringent no-smoking ordinances that apply to all public places and buildings, including restaurants and bars. The FBI ranked Austin as the second-safest major city in the U. S. for the year 2012, U. S. News & World Report named Austin the best place to live in the U. S. in 2017. Austin, Travis County and Williamson County have been the site of habitation since at least 9200 BC. When settlers arrived from Europe, the Tonkawa tribe inhabited the area, the Comanches and Lipan Apaches were also known to travel through the area. Spanish colonists, including the Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre expedition, traveled through the area for centuries, in 1730, three missions from East Texas were combined and reestablished as one mission on the south side of the Colorado River, in what is now Zilker Park, in Austin. The mission was in area for only about seven months
2.
Historic preservation
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The term tends to refer specifically to the preservation of the built environment, and not to preservation of, for example, primeval forests or wilderness. In England, antiquarian interests were a familiar gentlemans pursuit since the mid 17th century, Fellows of the Royal Society were often also Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries. Another early preservation event also occurred at Berkhamsted, in 1866, Lord Brownlow who lived at Ashridge, tried to enclose the adjoining Berkhamsted Common with 5-foot steel fences in an attempt to claim it as part of his estate. In England from early Anglo-Saxon times, Common land was an area of land which the community could use as a resource. Across England between 1660 and 1845,7 million acres of Common land had been enclosed by land owners by application to parliament. In 1870, Sir Robert Hunter and the Commons Preservation Society succeed in legal action that ensured protection of Berkhamsted Common, in 1926 the common was acquired by the National Trust. By the mid 19th century, much of Britains unprotected cultural heritage was being slowly destroyed, even well-meaning archaeologists like William Greenwell excavated sites with virtually no attempt at their preservation, Stonehenge came under increasing threat by the 1870s. Tourists were chipping off parts of the stones or carving their initials into the rock, the private owners of the monument decided to sell the land to the London and South-Western Railway as the monument was not the slightest use to anyone now. John Lubbock, an MP and botanist emerged as the champion of the national heritage. Soon, he began campaigning in Parliament for legislation to protect monuments from destruction and this finally led to the legislative milestone under the Liberal government of William Gladstone of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882. The first government appointed inspector for this job was the archaeologist Augustus Pitt-Rivers, the Act only covered ancient monuments and explicitly did not cover historic buildings or structures. The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 had only given legal protection to prehistoric sites, the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1900 took this further by empowering the governments Commissioners of Work and local County Councils to protect a wider range of properties. Further updates were made in 1910, Tattershall Castle, Lincolnshire, a medieval manor house had been put up for sale in 1910 with its greatest treasures, the huge medieval fireplaces, still intact. However, when an American bought the house they were ripped out, the former viceroy of India, George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, was outraged at this cultural destruction and stepped in to buy back the castle and reinstall the fireplaces. After a nationwide hunt for them they were found in London. He restored the castle and left it to the National Trust on his death in 1925 and his experience at Tattershall influenced Lord Curzon to push for tougher heritage protection laws in Britain, which saw passage as the Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act 1913. The new structure involved the creation of the Ancient Monuments Board to oversee the protection of such monuments, powers were given for the board, with Parliamentary approval, to issue preservation orders to protect monuments, and extended the public right of access to these. The term monument was extended to include the lands around it, the National Trust was founded in 1894 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Canon Rawnsley as the first organisation of its type in the world
3.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
4.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
5.
Downtown Austin
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Downtown Austin is the central business district of Austin, Texas. Downtown is located on the bank of the Colorado River. It is where the citys buildings are located, as well as being the center of government. Downtown Austin is currently experiencing a boom, with many condos. The story of Downtown Austin began with the Republic of Texas, Lamar tapped Edwin Waller to direct the planning and construction of the new town. Waller chose a site on a bluff above the Colorado River, Waller laid the new city in a simple grid pattern on a 640-acre with 14 blocks running in both directions. Much of this design is still intact in downtown Austin today. One grand avenue, which Lamar named Congress, cut through the center of town from Capitol Square down to the Colorado River, the streets running north-south were named for Texas rivers with their order of placement matching the order of rivers on the Texas state map. The east-west streets were named after trees native to the region, the citys perimeters stretched north to south from the river at 1st Street to 15th Street, and from East Avenue to West Avenue. Waller reserved key spots for public buildings and four public squares, three of Wallers original squares survive to this day, Wooldridge Park, Republic Square and Brush Square. Edwin Waller, the first mayor of Austin, designed Congress Avenue to be Austins most prominent street, planned as the widest street in the original 1839 Austin plan, the 120-foot wide Congress Avenue initially ran from the Colorado River north to the State Capitol. Not coincidentally, Congress was the most important street in Austin city life during the 19th century, early structures along Congress Avenue included government buildings, hotels, saloons, retail stores and restaurants. By the late 1840s The Avenue formed a business district. The mid-1870s introduced gaslight illumination and mule-driven streetcars as well as construction of a new Travis County courthouse at Eleventh Street, stretching from First Street north to Eleventh Street, the Congress Avenue Historic District was created on August 11,1978. Stylistically, the structures of significance reflected general Victorian form and detailing, tempered by local materials. Sixth Street is a street and entertainment district in Downtown Austin. Sixth Street itself stretches from Mopac Expressway in Old West Austin across to Interstate 35, the area around nearby 4th Street and 6th Street has been a major entertainment district since the 1970s. Many bars, clubs, music venues, and shopping destinations are located on E. 6th Street between Congress Avenue and Interstate 35 and many live music at one time or another during the week
6.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
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The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is a Texas state agency that oversees and protects wildlife and their habitats. In addition, the agency is responsible for managing the states parks, the agency maintains its headquarters at 4200 Smith School Road in Austin. In 1895, the Texas Legislature created the Fish and Oyster Commission to regulate fishing, the legislature added the Game Department to the commission in 1907. The Legislature created the State Parks Board as an entity in 1923. In 1963, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department was formed through merger of the State Parks Board, in 1983, the Texas legislature passed the Wildlife Conservation Act, giving the department the authority for managing fish and wildlife resources in all Texas counties. The department operates 95 state parks and historic sites,51 wildlife management areas, eight fish hatcheries, on January 1,2008, TPWD transferred management of several historic sites to the Texas Historical Commission. The agency employs more than 3,500 permanent employees, and 300 interns every summer, intern programs vary but are typically 12 weeks long and go from May until August. Game wardens and Park Police Officers undergo a 30-week course at TPWDs Texas Game Warden Training Center in rural Hamilton County, legal State Parks - includes Park Police Officers Wildlife TPWD publishes Texas Parks and Wildlife, a monthly magazine available both in print and online editions. The magazine features articles and full-color photos on topics such as birding, boating, camping, fishing, hunting, state parks, travel, wildlife, Texas Parks and Wildlife has been in publication since 1942. Texas Parks & Wildlife is a weekly, half-hour television series aired on Texas PBS stations, viewers can stream episodes on the PBS website and on the TPWD YouTube channel. Originally titled Made in Texas, the series production in 1985 as a magazine style show. For several years, the focused on one topic each week. In 1991, the name of the changed to Texas Parks & Wildlife. Beginning in June 2016 TPWD Game Wardens were featured in a new reality series on Animal Planet. Passport to Texas is a series broadcast on radio stations throughout Texas, as well as available as downloadable podcasts. The series includes 90 second radio spots on topics, including wildlife, state parks, founded in 1991, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation is the nonprofit funding partner of TPWD. List of Texas state parks Texas State Railroad Texas Parks & Wildlife Department website Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation website Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine Passport to Texas website
7.
Archaeology
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites
8.
Architecture
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Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings and other physical structures. Architectural works, in the form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements, Architecture can mean, A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures. The art and science of designing buildings and nonbuilding structures, the style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures. A unifying or coherent form or structure Knowledge of art, science, technology, the design activity of the architect, from the macro-level to the micro-level. The practice of the architect, where architecture means offering or rendering services in connection with the design and construction of buildings. The earliest surviving work on the subject of architecture is De architectura. According to Vitruvius, a building should satisfy the three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas, commonly known by the original translation – firmness, commodity. An equivalent in modern English would be, Durability – a building should stand up robustly, utility – it should be suitable for the purposes for which it is used. Beauty – it should be aesthetically pleasing, according to Vitruvius, the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three attributes as well as possible. Leon Battista Alberti, who elaborates on the ideas of Vitruvius in his treatise, De Re Aedificatoria, saw beauty primarily as a matter of proportion, for Alberti, the rules of proportion were those that governed the idealised human figure, the Golden mean. The most important aspect of beauty was, therefore, an inherent part of an object, rather than something applied superficially, Gothic architecture, Pugin believed, was the only true Christian form of architecture. The 19th-century English art critic, John Ruskin, in his Seven Lamps of Architecture, Architecture was the art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by men. That the sight of them contributes to his health, power. For Ruskin, the aesthetic was of overriding significance and his work goes on to state that a building is not truly a work of architecture unless it is in some way adorned. For Ruskin, a well-constructed, well-proportioned, functional building needed string courses or rustication, but suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say, This is beautiful, le Corbusiers contemporary Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. The notable 19th-century architect of skyscrapers, Louis Sullivan, promoted an overriding precept to architectural design, function came to be seen as encompassing all criteria of the use, perception and enjoyment of a building, not only practical but also aesthetic, psychological and cultural
9.
History
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History is the study of the past as it is described in written documents. Events occurring before written record are considered prehistory and it is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. Scholars who write about history are called historians and their works continue to be read today, and the gap between the culture-focused Herodotus and the military-focused Thucydides remains a point of contention or approach in modern historical writing. In Asia, a chronicle, the Spring and Autumn Annals was known to be compiled from as early as 722 BC although only 2nd-century BC texts survived. Ancient influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history which have evolved over the centuries, the modern study of history is wide-ranging, and includes the study of specific regions and the study of certain topical or thematical elements of historical investigation. Often history is taught as part of primary and secondary education, the word history comes ultimately from Ancient Greek ἱστορία, meaning inquiry, knowledge from inquiry, or judge. It was in that sense that Aristotle used the word in his Περὶ Τὰ Ζῷα Ἱστορίαι, the ancestor word ἵστωρ is attested early on in Homeric Hymns, Heraclitus, the Athenian ephebes oath, and in Boiotic inscriptions. History was borrowed from Latin into Old English as stær, and it was from Anglo-Norman that history was borrowed into Middle English, and this time the loan stuck. In Middle English, the meaning of history was story in general, the restriction to the meaning the branch of knowledge that deals with past events, the formal record or study of past events, esp. human affairs arose in the mid-fifteenth century. With the Renaissance, older senses of the word were revived, and it was in the Greek sense that Francis Bacon used the term in the sixteenth century. For him, historia was the knowledge of objects determined by space and time, in an expression of the linguistic synthetic vs. analytic/isolating dichotomy, English like Chinese now designates separate words for human history and storytelling in general. In modern German, French, and most Germanic and Romance languages, which are synthetic and highly inflected. The adjective historical is attested from 1661, and historic from 1669, Historian in the sense of a researcher of history is attested from 1531. Historians write in the context of their own time, and with due regard to the current dominant ideas of how to interpret the past, in the words of Benedetto Croce, All history is contemporary history. History is facilitated by the formation of a discourse of past through the production of narrative. The modern discipline of history is dedicated to the production of this discourse. All events that are remembered and preserved in some authentic form constitute the historical record, the task of historical discourse is to identify the sources which can most usefully contribute to the production of accurate accounts of past. Therefore, the constitution of the archive is a result of circumscribing a more general archive by invalidating the usage of certain texts and documents
10.
Texas Department of Transportation
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The Texas Department of Transportation is a government agency in the U. S. state of Texas. The agency has been headquartered in the Dewitt C, greer Building at 125 East 11th Street in downtown Austin, Texas, since 1933. The Texas Legislature created the Texas Highway Department in 1916 to administer federal highway construction, in 1975, its responsibilities increased when the agency merged with the Texas Mass Transportation Commission, to form the State Department of Highways and Public Transportation. In 1986, the department started using Dont Mess with Texas as its slogan to reduce littering on Texas roadways, the phrase was prominently shown on road signs on major highways, as well as in television, radio, and print advertisements. The slogan is still in use and remains very popular, in 2009, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles was created by the state legislature, taking over some functions from TxDOT. The executive director is currently James Bass, previously Bass served as chief financial officer since 2005. He is assisted by one deputy director and four assistant executive directors, the current interim Deputy Executive Director is Marc Williams. The department is organized into 25 geographical districts and 34 divisions, TxDOT is one of the states largest departments in terms of the number of subordinate offices – it maintains 25 geographical districts throughout the state. The large number of departments is needed due to the size of the state, the widely varying climate and soil conditions affecting public roads. In 2010, TxDOT was reorganized into four regions, North, South, East, the regions are designated as Regional Support Centers. The number of districts remained the same, each district, managed by a district engineer, is responsible for the design, location, construction, and maintenance of its area transportation systems. Local field offices within districts are known as area offices, and many also have separate maintenance offices. Functional divisions and offices headquartered in Austin provide administrative and technical support to the districts, TxDOT also publishes the annual Texas Travel Guide, which offers points of interests for all regions of Texas. Horizon is a quarterly journal focusing on policy issues and financing in particular
11.
World's fair
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A worlds fair, world fair, world exposition, or universal exposition is a large international exhibition designed to showcase achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in varying parts of the world, the next world Expo is Expo 2020 and is to be held in Dubai, UAE. Since the 1928 Convention Relating to International Exhibitions came into force, bIE-approved fairs are of three types, universal, specialized and horticultural. They usually last from three weeks to six months, Worlds fairs originated in the French tradition of national exhibitions, a tradition that culminated with the French Industrial Exposition of 1844 held in Paris. This fair was followed by other exhibitions in continental Europe. The best-known first World Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. The Great Exhibition, as it is called, was an idea of Prince Albert, Queen Victorias husband. It influenced the development of aspects of society, including art-and-design education, international trade and relations. This expo was the most obvious precedent for the international exhibitions, later called worlds fairs. Since their inception in 1851, the character of world expositions has evolved, three eras can be distinguished, the era of industrialization, the era of cultural exchange, and the era of nation branding. The first era could be called the era of industrialization and covered, roughly, in these days, world expositions were especially focused on trade, and were famous for the display of technological inventions and advancements. World expositions were the platforms where the state-of-the-art in science and technology from around the world were brought together, inventions such as the telephone were first presented during this era. An important part of the image of worlds fairs stems from this first era, the 1939–40 New York Worlds Fair diverged from the original focus of the worlds fair expositions. From then on, worlds fairs adopted specific cultural themes, they forecasted a future for society. Technological innovations were no longer the primary exhibits at fairs, the fairs encouraged effective intercultural communication for the exchange of innovation. The 1967 International and Universal Exposition in Montreal was promoted under the name Expo 67, event organizers retired the term worlds fair in favor of expo. From Expo 88 in Brisbane onwards, countries started to use world expositions more widely, finland, Japan, Canada, France and Spain are cases in point. A large study by Tjaco Walvis called Expo 2000 Hanover in Numbers showed that improving national image was the primary goal for 73% of the countries at Expo 2000
12.
San Antonio
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San Antonio, officially the City of San Antonio, is the seventh-most populated city in the United States and the second-most populous city in the state of Texas, with a population of 1,409,019. It was the fastest growing of the top 10 largest cities in the United States from 2000 to 2010, the city straddles South Texas and Central Texas and is on the southwestern corner of an urban megaregion known as the Texas Triangle. San Antonio serves as the seat of Bexar County, recent annexations have extended the citys boundaries into Medina County and, though for only a very tiny area near the city of Garden Ridge, into Comal County. Due to its placement, the city has characteristics of other urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas. San Antonio is the center of the San Antonio–New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area, growth along the Interstate 35 and Interstate 10 corridors to the north, west and east make it likely that the metropolitan area will continue to expand. San Antonio was named for Saint Anthony of Padua, whose feast day is on June 13, the city contains five 18th-century Spanish frontier missions, including The Alamo and San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, which were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2015. Other notable attractions include the River Walk, the Tower of the Americas, the Alamo Bowl, the city is home to the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and hosts the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, one of the largest such events in the country. The U. S. Kelly Air Force Base operated out of San Antonio until 2001, the remaining portions of the base were developed as Port San Antonio, an industrial/business park and aerospace complex. San Antonio is home to six Fortune 500 companies and the South Texas Medical Center, at the time of European encounter, Payaya Indians lived near the San Antonio River Valley in the San Pedro Springs area, calling the vicinity Yanaguana, meaning refreshing waters. In 1691, a group of Spanish Catholic explorers and missionaries came upon the river and Payaya settlement on June 13 and they named the place and river San Antonio in his honor. It was years before any Spanish settlement took place, father Antonio de Olivares visited the site in 1709, and he was determined to found a mission and civilian settlement there. He directed Martin de Alarcón, the governor of Coahuila and Texas, differences between Alarcón and Olivares resulted in delays, and construction did not start until 1718. The families who clustered around the presidio and mission formed the beginnings of Villa de Béjar, on May 1, the governor transferred ownership of the Mission San Antonio de Valero to Fray Antonio de Olivares. On May 5,1718 he commissioned the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar on the west side of the San Antonio River, one-fourth league from the mission. On February 14,1719, the Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo proposed to the king of Spain that 400 families be transported from the Canary Islands, Galicia, or Havana to populate the province of Texas. By June 1730,25 families had reached Cuba, and 10 families had sent to Veracruz before orders from Spain came to stop the re-settlement. Under the leadership of Juan Leal Goraz, the group marched overland from Veracruz to the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, due to marriages along the way, the party now included 15 families, a total of 56 persons. They joined the community established in 1718
13.
HemisFair '68
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HemisFair 68 was the official 1968 Worlds Fair held in San Antonio, Texas, from April 6 through October 6,1968. The theme of the fair was The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas, the fair was held in 1968 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio in 1718. More than thirty nations and fifteen corporations hosted pavilions at the fair, the Bureau International des Expositions which oversees Worlds Fairs and Expositions, awarded HemisFair 68 with official Fair status on November 17,1965. The theme character of the fair was a dragon named Luther created by Sid and Marty Krofft, the main premise of the show was taken from their production for the Coca-Cola pavilion at the fair. The venture, which had an announced cost of million, was financed by a combination of public. Public funding included $12.2 million from the U. S, although HemisFair 68 attracted 6.3 million visitors and brought international attention to San Antonio and Texas, attendance never matched predictions, and the fair lost $7.5 million. The fair was built on a 96. 2-acre site on the edge of Downtown San Antonio. The site was acquired mainly through eminent domain, many structures in what was considered a blighted area were demolished and moved to make room for the fair. The project was developed with federal urban renewal funds. Overall, only 24 structures were saved, in addition, as a part of the overall HemisFair project, the city extended its River Walk one-quarter of a mile into the site in order to link the River Walk and the HemisFair grounds in 1968. In 2001, the River Walk was extended again under the new Convention Center Expansion and is now connected to a small lagoon inside HemisFair Park. HemisFair began on April 6,1968, with the opening at 9, 00am and official ceremonies beginning at 10. However, with the opening just two days after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, VIPs including U. S, first Lady Lady Bird Johnson and Texas Governor John Connally, both of whom received death threats, were escorted around the site under heavy security. Just like the United States the year before at Expo 67 in Montreal, Japan had the privilege of promoting the next BIE sanctioned event Expo 70 held in Osaka. Other pavilions at the included, the LDS Church, the Southern Baptist pavilion. A monorail, named Mini-Monorail, connected pavilions together, the monorail was manufactured by Universal Design Limited and constructed by H. C. P. After HemisFair, much of the ownership was transferred to the State of Texas. Today, the City of San Antonio owns approximately 50 acres of the site,30 of which the Convention Center occupies, many of the improvements were concentrated near the base of the Tower of the Americas
14.
Texas Forts Trail
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The Texas Forts Trail is a nonprofit organization chartered in 1999 which promotes heritage tourism, economic development, and historic preservation. It is one of 10 driving trail regions which make up the award-winning Texas Heritage Trails Program of the Texas Historical Commission, the driving trail is 650 miles long. In 1968, Texas hosted the Worlds Fair, known as HemisFair 68, in San Antonio, in connection with this boost in international attention, the Texas Department of Transportation designated ten 650-mile circular driving regions that encompassed the entire state of Texas. These trails saw little attention after their creation until in the late 1990s when the Texas Historical Commission adopted these trails as their Heritage Trail Program, the Texas Forts Trail was the first of the 10 trails to be reinstated. The 29-county Forts Trail Region historically is known for such as Robert E. Lee, John Butterfield, Buffalo Hump, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday. Famous movies such as Lonesome Dove and Old Yeller were based in this region, the region is named for the eight forts and Spanish presidio, some of the best preserved Civil War-era frontier military posts in Texas. Presidio de San Saba Fort Belknap Fort Phantom Hill Fort Chadbourne Fort Mason Fort McKavett Fort Richardson Fort Griffin Fort Concho Buffalo Gap Historic Village The Grace Museum Frontier Texas
15.
Texas Brazos Trail
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The Texas Brazos Trail is a non-profit organization which promotes heritage tourism, economic development, and historic preservation. It is one of ten regions which make up the Texas Heritage Trails Program of the Texas Historical Commission, in 1968 Texas hosted the Worlds fair, known as HemisFair 68, in San Antonio, Texas. In connection with this boost in international attention, the Texas Department of Transportation designated ten 650-mile circular driving regions that encompassed the state of Texas. These trails saw little attention after their creation until in the late 1990s when the Texas Historical Commission adopted these trails as their Heritage Trail Program. A largely rural area of the U. S. state of Texas, the 18-county Brazos Trail Region historically was dependent on cotton, the region is named for the Brazos River which flows through the area, and is still a vital water source. The areas primary industries are cotton, cattle and sugar cane, the railroads connected the region to the Gulf of Mexico for shipment throughout the United States and Europe. In frontier times many European groups settled in the area including, Norwegians, Germans, Scots, Czech, many examples of these cultures are still alive today and can be explored in local museums, and are celebrated in various festivals
16.
Texas Forest Trail
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The Texas Forrest Trail is a non-profit organization which promotes heritage tourism, economic development, and historic preservation. It is one of ten driving trail regions which make up the award-winning Heritage Trails Program of the Texas Historical Commission, in 1968 Texas hosted the Worlds fair, known as HemisFair 68, in San Antonio, Texas. In connection with this boost in international attention, the Texas Department of Transportation designated ten 650-mile circular driving regions that encompassed the state of Texas. These trails saw little attention after their creation until in the late 1990s when the Texas Historical Commission adopted these trails as their Heritage Trail Program, the Texas Forts Trail was the first of the ten trails to be reinstated. The 35-county Forest Trail Region historically is known for such as the Caddo Indians. The region has been called the gateway to Texas, with borders with Oklahoma, Arkansas, the region is named for the four national and five state forests located in this region. Angelina National Forest Sam Houston National Forest Sabine National Forest Davy Crockett National Forest I. D, fairchild State Forest Jones State Forest John Henry Kirby State Forest Masterson State Forest E. O. Siecke Rate Forest Texas Forest Trail
17.
Texas Hill Country Trail
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The Texas Hill Country Trail is a non-profit organization which promotes heritage tourism, economic development, and historic preservation. It is one of ten regions which make up the Texas Heritage Trails Program of the Texas Historical Commission, in 1968 Texas hosted the Worlds fair, known as HemisFair 68, in San Antonio, Texas. In connection with this boost in international attention, the Texas Department of Transportation designated ten 650-mile circular driving regions that encompassed the state of Texas. These trails saw little attention after their creation until in the late 1990s when the Texas Historical Commission adopted these trails as their Heritage Trail Program, Texas Heritage Trails Program Texas Hill Country Trail
18.
Texas Independence Trail
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The Texas Independence Trail is a non-profit organization which promotes heritage tourism, economic development, and historic preservation. It is one of ten regions which make up the Texas Heritage Trails Program of the Texas Historical Commission, in 1968 Texas hosted the Worlds fair, known as HemisFair 68, in San Antonio, Texas. In connection with this boost in international attention, the Texas Department of Transportation designated ten 650-mile circular driving regions that encompassed the state of Texas. These trails saw little attention after their creation until in the late 1990s when the Texas Historical Commission adopted these trails as their Heritage Trail Program, the Texas Independence Trail, as the name would suggest, follows the locations of the historical events leading up to Texas Independence. San Felipe, Texas Gonzales, Texas Washington-on-the-Brazos Alamo Mission in San Antonio Goliad, Texas San Jacinto Monument Texas Heritage Trails Program Texas Independence Trail
19.
Texas Lakes Trail
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The Texas Lakes Trail is a non-profit organization which promotes heritage tourism, economic development, and historic preservation. It is one of ten regions which make up the Texas Heritage Trails Program of the Texas Historical Commission, in 1968 Texas hosted the Worlds fair, known as HemisFair 68, in San Antonio. In connection with this boost in international attention, the Texas Department of Transportation designated ten 650-mile circular driving regions that encompassed the entire state. These trails received little notice after their creation, until in the late 1990s when the Texas Historical Commission adopted these trails as their Heritage Trail Program, Texas Heritage Trails Program Texas Lakes Trail
20.
Preserve America
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As of August 2008, more than 500 communities, representing all 50 states and the U. S. Virgin Islands, had been designated as Preserve America Communities. By July 2010, the number had increased to 843 communities, designated communities become eligible to apply for Preserve America grants to enhance heritage tourism and the use of community historic and cultural sites. Federal budget allocations for Preserve America grants totaled approximately $5 million in fiscal year 2007, in addition, it directs the Secretary of Commerce to assist in development of local and regional heritage tourism programs. Legislation providing permanent authorization for the Preserve America program was passed by the U. S. Congress, the Preserve America program is jointly administered by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and Department of the Interior in partnership with the U. S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Housing and Urban Development, laura Bush, former First Lady of the United States, was the Honorary Chair of Preserve America from the programs inception. Her successor as First Lady, Michelle Obama, continues that tradition by serving a role in supporting and promoting Preserve America. List of Preserve America Communities Official Preserve America website
21.
Fort Griffin
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Fort Griffin, now a Texas State Historic Site, was a US Cavalry fort established 31 July 1867 by four companies of the Sixth Cavalry, U. S. Army under the command of Lt. Col. S. D. Sturgis, in the part of West Texas, specifically northwestern Shackelford County, to give settlers protection from early Comanche. The original intent was to build permanent stone buildings, but throughout its 14-year existence, log houses called “picket” huts, tents, and rough frame structures were constructed as temporary shelter. The scarcity of materials, shortage of funds, and daily demands of military duty allowed for six of the more than 90 buildings of the fort to be built completely of stone. Although considerable time was spent building and maintaining the fort, the majority of the time was spent defending and patrolling the frontier, capt. Adna Chaffee fought the Comanche in a successful engagement in March 1868. Companies F, I, K, and L of the Sixth Cavalry were augmented when Lt. Col. S. B, haymans 17th Infantry arrived on 3 June 1868. It is northeast of Abilene, the seat of Taylor County, by 1870, a very rough town called The Flat sprang up just north of Fort Griffin, which eventually became a stop-off point for cattle drives headed north to Dodge City, Kansas. During that time, several characters and gunfighters of the Old West drifted through, including Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Dave Rudabaugh. John Selman, who became known for killing outlaw John Wesley Hardin, worked there. General William Tecumseh Sherman and Inspector General Randolph B, marcy visited the fort on 15 May 1871. Following the Red River War of 1874, the Comanche and Kiowa threat on the prairies waned, irvine, commanding Company A, Twenty-Second Infantry lowered the flag for the last time and marched to Fort Clark on 31 May 1879. On January 1,2008, Fort Griffin was transferred from the Texas Parks, during the last two weekends of June, the Fort Griffin Fandangle, a Western musical production, is presented by residents of Albany in the Prairie Theater. The program, the content of which is changed each year, in addition, a portion of the official state herd of Texas Longhorns is maintained at Fort Griffin. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers, according to the Köppen climate classification system, Fort Griffin has a humid subtropical climate, Cfa on climate maps. Texas Forts Trail Forts of Texas List of Texas state historic sites List of ghost towns in Texas Fort Griffin State Historic Site, Fort Griffin and the Prairie-Plains Frontier
22.
Glenwood Cemetery (Houston, Texas)
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The Glenwood Cemetery is located at 2525 Washington Avenue in Houston, Texas. It was the first cemetery in Houston to be designed and opened in 1871. The cemetery is situated between Washington Avenue on the North side and Memorial Drive on the South side, the latter overlooking Buffalo Bayou, buried in the cemetery is William P. Hobby, after whom Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, is named. This is also the location of pioneering heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooleys family gravesite, anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, is also buried here. This historic cemetery is the resting place of a number of individuals who were citizens of the short-lived Republic of Texas. The grave sites of those individuals have been designated with metal markers and are decorated with the flag of the Republic. Keith Rosen, a Houston area history professor quoted in the San Antonio Express-News, in 2003 the Houston Press ranked it as the Best Cemetery. Wiess, Co-founder, Humble Oil Company Margaret Kinkaid, founder of The Kinkaid School in Houstons Piney Point area Ray Miller, iconic Houston journalist William G
23.
Republic of Texas
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The Republic of Texas was an independent sovereign country in North America that existed from March 2,1836, to February 19,1846. The citizens of the republic were known as Texians, the Mexican province of Tejas declared its independence from Mexico during the Texas Revolution in 1836. The United States recognized the Republic of Texas in March 1837, the Republic-claimed borders were based upon the Treaties of Velasco between the newly created Texas Republic and Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico. The republics southern and western boundary with Mexico continued to be disputed throughout the republics existence, Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its southern boundary, while Mexico insisted that the Nueces River was the boundary. However, the United States again inherited the southern and western border dispute with Mexico, Texas had been one of the Provincias Internas of New Spain, a region known historiographically as Spanish Texas. Though claimed by Spain, it was not formally colonized by them until competing French interests at Fort St. Louis encouraged Spain to establish permanent settlements in the area. Sporadic missionary incursions occurred into the area during the period from the 1690s–1710s, in 1762, France ceded to Spain most of its claims to the interior of North America, including its claim to Texas, as well as the vast interior that became Spanish Louisiana. During the years 1799 to 1803, the height of the Napoleonic Empire, Spain returned Louisiana back to France, starting in 1810, the territories of New Spain north of the Isthmus of Panama sought independence in the Mexican War of Independence. Many Americans fought on the side of Mexico against Spain in filibustering expeditions, one of these, the Gutiérrez–Magee Expedition consisted of a group of about 130 Americans under the leadership of Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara. Gutierrez de Lara initiated Mexicos secession from Spain with efforts contributed by Magee, bolstered by new recruits, and led Samuel Kemper, the expedition gained a series of victories against soldiers led by the Spanish governor, Manuel María de Salcedo. Their victory at the Battle of Rosillo Creek convinced Salcedo to surrender on April 1,1813, on April 6,1813, the victorious Republican Army of the North drafted a constitution and declared the independent Republic of Texas, with Gutiérrez as its president. Soon disillusioned with the Mexican leadership, the Americans under Kemper returned to the United States, the ephemeral Republic of Texas came to an end following the August 18,1813 Battle of Medina, where the Spanish Army crushed the Republican Army of the North. Since Mexican independence had been ratified by Spain shortly thereafter, Austin would later travel to Mexico City to secure the support of the new country in his right to settle. The establishment of Mexican Texas coincided with the Austin-led settlement, leading to animosity between Mexican authorities and ongoing American settlement of Texas, the First Mexican Empire was short lived, being replaced by a republican form of government in 1823. Following Austins lead, additional groups of settlers, known as Empresarios, in 1830, Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante outlawed American immigration to Texas, following several conflicts with the Empresarios over the status of slavery in the region. Angered at the interference of the Mexican government, the Empresarios held the Convention of 1832, on the eve of war, the American settlers in the area outnumbered Mexicans by a considerable margin. Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna revoked the 1824 Constitution of Mexico, the Texian leadership under Austin began to organize its own military, and hostilities broke out on October 2,1835 at the Battle of Gonzales, the first engagement of the Texas Revolution. In November,1835 a provisional government known as the Consultation was established to oppose the Santa Anna regime, on March 1,1836 the Convention of 1836 came to order, and the next day declared independence from Mexico, establishing the Republic of Texas
24.
Anson Jones
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Anson Jones was a doctor, businessperson, member of Congress, and the fourth and last President of the Republic of Texas, sometimes called the Architect of Annexation. Jones was born on January 20,1798, in Great Barrington, there is no information between his birth and 1820. In 1820, Jones was licensed as a doctor by the Oneida, New York, Medical Society, however, his practice did not prosper, and he moved several more times before finally being arrested in Philadelphia by a creditor. He stayed in Philadelphia for a few years, teaching and practicing medicine. Later, Jones returned to Philadelphia, earned an M. D. and he never had much success as a doctor, and in 1832 he renounced medicine and headed for New Orleans, where he entered the mercantile trade. Once again, though, Joness dreams were thwarted, though he safely weathered two plagues, his business efforts never met with any success and within a year he had no money. He was a member and Past Master of the Masonic Harmony Lodge #52 of Philadelphia and he was a Past Grand of Independent Order of Odd Fellows Washington Lodge no.2 and Philadelphia Lodge no.13 in Pennsylvania and a Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. In 1833, Jones headed west to Texas, settling eventually in Brazoria, here, at last, he met with success, establishing a medical practice that prospered quickly. Jones himself presented a resolution at the Consultation calling for a convention to be held to declare independence, during the Texas Revolution, Jones served as a judge advocate and surgeon to the Texas Army, though he insisted on holding the rank of private throughout the conflict. After the war, Jones returned to Brazoria and resumed his medical practice, upon his return to Brazoria, Jones found that James Collinsworth, a fellow Texas patriot and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Brazoria, had set up a law practice in Joness office. Jones evicted Collinsworth and challenged him to a duel, in December, when the lodge was set to labor, Jones was elected its first Master. The charter for Holland Lodge No.36 arrived during the days of the revolution. At the formation of the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas in December 1837 and he also became the first Grand Master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Texas. On May 17,1840, he married Mary Smith Jones, Jones and Collinsworth would spar again. Collinsworth was instrumental in starting the Texas Railroad, Navigation, and Banking Company and he also helped draw up legislation to regulate medical practice, and called for the establishment of an endowment for a university. During this time, while many Texans hoped to encourage eventual annexation by the United States, the United States, in the late 1830s, was hesitant to annex Texas for fear of provoking a war with Mexico. Jones was recalled to Texas by new president Mirabeau Lamar in 1839, back at home, he found himself elected to a partial term in the Senate, where he quickly became a critic of Lamars administration. He retired from the Senate in 1841, declining the opportunity to serve as Vice President in favor of returning to his medical practice
25.
Abilene, Texas
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Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in West Texas, United States. The population was 117,063 according to the 2010 census and it is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2011 estimated population of 166,416. It is the county seat of Taylor County, Dyess Air Force Base is located on the west side of the city. Abilene is located off Interstate 20, between exits 279 on its edge and 292 on the east. Abilene is 150 miles west of Fort Worth, Texas, the city is looped by I-20 to the north, US 83/84 on the west, and Loop 322 to the east. A railroad divides the city down the center north and south. The historic downtown area is on the side of the railroad. Many developments have begun in these three areas within the last few years, established by cattlemen as a stock shipping point on the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1881, the city was named after Abilene, Kansas, the original endpoint for the Chisholm Trail. The T&P had bypassed the town of Buffalo Gap, the county seat at the time, eventually, a landowner north of Buffalo Gap, Clabe Merchant, known as the father of Abilene, chose the name for the new town. According to a Dallas newspaper, about 800 people had begun camping at the townsite. The town was out by Colonel J. Stoddard Johnson. By the end of the first day,139 lots were sold for a total of $23,810, and another 178 lots were sold the next day for $27,550. Abilene was incorporated soon after being founded in 1881, and Abilenians began to set their sights on bringing the county seat to Abilene, in 1888, the Progressive Committee was formed to attract businesses to the area, which later became the Board of Trade in 1890. By 1900,3,411 people lived in Abilene, and in that decade, however, this committee failed when the population only hit 9,204 in 1910. Replacing it was the Young Mens Booster Club, which became the Abilene Chamber of Commerce in 1914, the cornerstone was laid for the first of three future universities in Abilene, called Simmons College, in 1891, which later became Hardin-Simmons University. Childers Classical Institute followed in 1906, currently Abilene Christian University, in 1923, McMurry College was founded and later became McMurry University. Much more recently, Abilene succeeded in bringing Cisco Junior College and Texas State Technical College branches to Abilene, with the Cisco Junior College headquarters being located in Abilene. In 1940, Abilene raised the money to land for a U. S. Army base, southwest of town, named Camp Barkeley
26.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
27.
University of Texas at Austin
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Founded in 1881 as The University of Texas, its campus is in Austin, Texas—approximately 1 mile from the Texas State Capitol. The institution has the nations seventh-largest single-campus enrollment, with over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students and over 24,000 faculty, UT Austin was inducted into the American Association of Universities in 1929, becoming only the third university in the American South to be elected. It is a center for academic research, with research expenditures exceeding $550 million for the 2014–2015 school year. J. Pickle Research Campus and the McDonald Observatory, among university faculty are recipients of the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, the Wolf Prize, the Emmy Award, the Turing Award, and the National Medal of Science, as well as many other awards. UT Austin student athletes compete as the Texas Longhorns and are members of the Big 12 Conference and its Longhorn Network is the only sports network featuring the college sports of a single university. The first mention of a university in Texas can be traced to the 1827 constitution for the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. Although Title 6, Article 217 of the Constitution promised to establish education in the arts and sciences. On April 18,1838, An Act to Establish the University of Texas was referred to a committee of the Texas Congress. On January 26,1839, the Texas Congress agreed to set aside fifty leagues of land towards the establishment of a publicly funded university, in addition,40 acres in the new capital of Austin were reserved and designated College Hill. In 1845, Texas was annexed into the United States, interestingly, the states Constitution of 1845 failed to mention higher education. On February 11,1858, the Seventh Texas Legislature approved O. B,102, an act to establish the University of Texas, which set aside $100,000 in United States bonds toward construction of the states first publicly funded university. The legislature also designated land reserved for the encouragement of railroad construction toward the universitys endowment, Texas secession from the Union and the American Civil War delayed repayment of the borrowed monies. At the end of the Civil War in 1865, The University of Texas endowment was just over $16,000 in warrants, the more valuable lands reverted to the fund to support general education in the state. The legislature additionally appropriated $256,272.57 to repay the funds taken from the university in 1860 to pay for frontier defense, the 1883 grant of land increased the land in the Permanent University Fund to almost 2.2 million acres. Under the Act of 1858, the university was entitled to just over 1,000 acres of land for every mile of railroad built in the state. On March 30,1881, the legislature set forth the structure and organization. By popular election on September 6,1881, Austin was chosen as the site, galveston, having come in second in the election was designated the location of the medical department. On November 17,1882, on the original College Hill, smite the earth, smite the rocks with the rod of knowledge and fountains of unstinted wealth will gush forth
28.
History of Texas
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The recorded History of Texas begins with the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors in the region now known as Texas in 1519, who found the region populated by numerous Native American tribes. Native Americans ancestors had been there for more than 10,000 years as evidenced by the discovery of the remains of Leanderthal Lady, in 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle established a French colony, Fort Saint Louis, near Matagorda Bay. The colony was killed off by Native Americans after three years, but Spanish authorities felt pressed to establish settlements to keep their claim to the land, several missions were established in East Texas, they were abandoned in 1691. Twenty years later, concerned with the French presence in neighboring Louisiana, over the next 110 years, Spain established numerous villages, presidios, and missions in the province. A small number of Spanish settlers arrived, in addition to missionaries, Spain signed agreements with colonizers from the United States. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexican Texas was part of the new nation. To encourage settlement, Mexican authorities allowed organized immigration from the United States, Santa Annas invasion of the territory after putting down the rebellion in Zacatecas provoked the conflict of 1836. The Texian forces fought and won the Texas Revolution in 1835–36, although not recognized as such by Mexico, Texas declared itself an independent nation, the Republic of Texas. Attracted by the lands for cotton plantations and ranching, tens of thousands of immigrants arrived from the U. S. In 1845, Texas joined the United States, becoming the 28th state, only after the conclusion of the Mexican-American War, with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, did Mexico recognize Texan independence. Texas declared its secession from the United States in 1861 to join the Confederate States of America, only a few battles of the American Civil War were fought in Texas, most Texas regiments served in the east. When the war ended, the enslaved African Americans were freed, Texas was subject to Reconstruction, a process that left a residue of bitterness among whites. Blacks were excluded from the political system until after passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. Cotton, ranching, and farming dominated the economy, with construction after 1870 a major factor in the development of new cities away from rivers. Toward the end of the 19th century, timber became an important industry in Texas as well, in 1901 a petroleum discovery at Spindletop Hill, near Beaumont, was developed as the most productive oil well the world had ever seen. The wave of oil speculation and discovery that followed came to be known as the Oil Boom, agriculture and ranching gave way to a service-oriented society after the boom years of World War II. Segregation ended in the 1960s due to federal legislation, politically, Texas changed from the virtually one-party Democratic state achieved following disenfranchisement, to a highly contested political scene, until 2000 when it was solidly Republican. The economy of Texas has continued to rapidly, becoming the second-largest state in population in 1994
29.
French colonization of Texas
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The French colonization of Texas began with Fort Saint Louis in present-day southeastern Texas. It was established in 1685 near Arenosa Creek and Matagorda Bay by explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle. He intended to found the colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River, the present-day town of Inez is near the forts site. The colony faced difficulties during its brief existence, including Native American raids, epidemics. From that base, La Salle led several expeditions to find the Mississippi River and these did not succeed, but La Salle did explore much of the Rio Grande and parts of east Texas. During one of his absences in 1686, the colonys last ship was wrecked, as conditions deteriorated, La Salle realized the colony could survive only with help from the French settlements in Illinois Country to the north, along the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. His last expedition ended along the Brazos River in early 1687, although a handful of men reached Illinois Country, help never made it to Fort St. Louis. Most of the members of the colony were killed during a Karankawa raid in late 1688. Although the colony lasted only three years, it established Frances claim to possession of the region that is now Texas, the United States later claimed, unsuccessfully, this region as part of the Louisiana Purchase because of the early French colony. Spain learned of La Salles mission in 1686, the unsuccessful expeditions helped Spain to better understand the geography of the Gulf Coast region. When the Spanish finally discovered the remains of the French colony at Fort Saint Louis in 1689, they buried the cannons, years later, Spanish authorities built a presidio at the same location. When the presidio was abandoned, the site of the French settlement was lost to history, Fort Saint Louis was rediscovered by historians and excavated in 1996, and the area is now an archaeological site. In 1995, researchers located the ship La Belle in Matagorda Bay and they constructed a cofferdam, the first to be used in North America to excavate the ship as if in dry conditions. In 2000, excavations revealed three of the structures of the fort, as well as three graves of Frenchmen. By the late 17th century, much of North America had been claimed by European countries, Spain had claimed Florida as well as modern-day Mexico and much of the southwestern part of the continent. The northern and central Atlantic coast was claimed by Britain, the French feared that their territory was vulnerable to the expansionist aims of its neighbors. In 1681, French nobleman Robert Cavelier de La Salle launched an expedition down the Mississippi River from New France, instead, La Salle found a route to the Gulf of Mexico. Unless France established a base at the mouth of the Mississippi, Spain would have an opportunity to control the entire Gulf of Mexico, La Salle believed that the Mississippi River was near the eastern edge of New Spain
30.
Spanish Texas
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Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the Spanish colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Spain had claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of the present-day U. S, in 1690, Alonso de León escorted several Catholic missionaries to east Texas, where they established the first mission in Texas. When native tribes resisted the Spanish invasion of their homeland, the returned to Mexico. Two years later in 1718, the first civilian settlement in Texas, the new town quickly became a target for raids by the Lipan Apache. The raids continued periodically for almost three decades, until in 1749 when Spanish settlers and the Lipan Apache peoples made peace, but the treaty angered the enemies of the Apache, and resulted in raids on Spanish settlements by the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai tribes. Fear of Indian attacks and the remoteness of the area from the rest of the Viceroyalty discouraged settlers from moving to Texas and it remained one of the least-populated by immigrants provinces. The threat of attacks did not decrease until 1785, when Spain, the Comanche tribe later assisted in defeating the Lipan Apache and Karankawa tribes, who had continued to cause difficulties for settlers. France formally relinquished its claim to its region of Texas in 1762, the inclusion of Spanish Louisiana into New Spain meant that Texas was no longer essentially a buffer province. The easternmost Texas settlements were disbanded, with the population relocating to San Antonio, however, in 1799 Spain gave Louisiana back to France, and in 1803 Napoléon Bonaparte sold the territory, known as the Louisiana Purchase, to the United States. The U. S. claims on the vast Spanish territories west of the Sabine River into Santa Fe de Nuevo México province, during the Mexican War of Independence from 1810–1821, Texas experienced much turmoil. Governor Manuel María de Salcedo was overthrown by rebels in 1810, three years later, the Republican Army of the North, consisting primarily of Indians and Americans, again overthrew the Texas government and executed Salcedo. The Spanish response was brutal, and by 1820 fewer than 2000 Hispanic citizens remained in Texas. Spain was forced to relinquish its control of New Spain in 1821, with Texas becoming a province of the newly formed nation of Mexico, the Spanish left a deep mark on Texas. Their European livestock caused mesquite to spread inland while farmers tilled and irrigated the land, the Spanish language provided the names for many of the rivers, towns, and counties that currently exist, and Spanish architectural concepts still flourish. Although Texas eventually adopted much of the Anglo-American legal system, many Spanish legal practices were retained, including the concept of a homestead exemption, Spanish Texas was a colonial province within the northeastern mainland region of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. On its southern edge, Tejas was bordered by the province of Coahuila, the boundary between the provinces was set at the line formed by the Medina River and the Nueces River,100 miles northeast of the Rio Grande. On the east, Texas bordered La Louisiane, although Spain claimed that the Red River formed the boundary between the two, France insisted that the border was the Sabine River,45 miles to the west. After Mexican independence from Spain, it was within Coahuila y Tejas from 1824 to 1835, although Alonso Álvarez de Pineda claimed Texas for Spain in 1519, the area was largely ignored by Spain until the late seventeenth century
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Mexican Texas
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Tejas, in English history books usually referred to as Mexican Texas, was a province of Mexico between 1821 and 1836. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821 in its war of independence, initially, Mexican Texas operated very similarly to Spanish Texas. However, the 1824 Constitution of Mexico set up a federal structure, the settler population was overwhelmingly outnumbered by the indigenous tribes. To increase settler numbers, Mexico enacted the General Colonization Law in 1824, the first empresarial grant had been made under Spanish control to Stephen F. Austin, whose settlers, known as the Old Three Hundred, settled along the Brazos River in 1822. The grant was ratified by the Mexican government. Twenty-three other empresarios brought settlers to the state, the majority from the United States of America, while others came from Mexico, after concerns over attitudes of US citizens in Tejas, the Law of April 6,1830 outlawed further immigration of US citizens to Texas. Several new presidios were established in the region to monitor immigration, angry colonists held a convention in 1832 to demand that US citizens be allowed to immigrate. A convention the following year proposed that Texas become a separate Mexican state, the first violent incident occurred on June 26,1832, at the battle of Velasco. On March 2,1836, Texians declared their independence from Mexico, the Texas Revolution ended on April 21,1836, when Santa Anna was taken prisoner following the Battle of San Jacinto. Although Texas then governed itself as the Republic of Texas, Mexico refused to recognize its independence, in 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain after the brutal and destructive Mexican War for Independence. Its territory included much of the former New Spain, including Spanish Texas, the victorious rebels issued a provisional constitution, the Plan de Iguala. This plan reaffirmed many of the ideals of the Spanish Constitution of 1812, initially, there was disagreement over whether Mexico should be a federal republic or a constitutional monarchy. The first monarch, Agustin I, abdicated in March 1823, in July, a new national provisional government named Luciano Garcia as the political chief of Texas. On November 27,1823, the people of Mexico elected congressional representatives, Texas was represented in congress by Erasmo Seguin. A new Mexican constitution was adopted on October 4,1824, making the country a republic with nineteen states. The constitution was modelled on the constitution of the United States of America, but the Mexican constitution made Roman Catholicism the official, because it was sparsely populated, Texas was combined with Coahuila to create the state of Coahuila y Tejas. The Congress did allow Texas the option of forming its own state as soon as it feels capable of doing so, the capital of Texas moved from San Antonio to Monclova and then to Saltillo. Along with the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, Coahuila y Tejas was under a military organization
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Texas annexation
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The Texas annexation was the 1845 incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29,1845. The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2,1836, at the time the vast majority of the Texian population favored the annexation of the Republic by the United States. Moreover, they wished to avoid a war with Mexico, whose government refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of its rebellious northern province. His official motivation was to outmaneuver suspected diplomatic efforts by the British government for emancipation of slaves in Texas, through secret negotiations with the Houston administration, Tyler secured a treaty of annexation in April 1844. Pro-Texas-annexation southern Democratic delegates denied their anti-annexation leader Martin Van Buren the nomination at their partys convention in May 1844, in alliance with pro-expansion northern Democratic colleagues, they secured the nomination of James K. Polk, who ran on a pro-Texas Manifest Destiny platform. In June 1844, the Senate, with its Whig majority, the pro-annexation Democrat Polk narrowly defeated anti-annexation Whig Henry Clay in the November 1844 presidential election. In December 1844, lame-duck President Tyler called on Congress to pass his treaty by simple majorities in each house, the Democratic-dominated House of Representatives complied with his request by passing an amended bill expanding on the pro-slavery provisions of the Tyler treaty. On March 1,1845, President Tyler signed the annexation bill, when Polk took office the next day, he encouraged Texas to accept the Tyler offer. Texas ratified the agreement with popular approval from Texans, the bill was signed by Polk on December 29,1845, accepting Texas as the 28th state of the Union. Texas formally relinquished its sovereignty to the United States on February 19,1846, first mapped by Spain in 1519, Texas was part of the vast Spanish empire seized by the Spanish Conquistadors from its indigenous people for over 300 years. When the Louisiana territory was acquired by the United States from France in 1803, the boundaries of Texas were determined within the larger geostrategic struggle to demarcate the limits of the United States extensive western lands and of Spains vast possessions in North America. Nonetheless, Texas remained an object of fervent interest to American expansionists, among them Thomas Jefferson, while a majority of southern congressmen acquiesced to the exclusion of slavery from the bulk of the Louisiana Purchase, a significant minority objected. Then-Representative John Tyler of Virginia invoked the Jeffersonian precepts of territorial and commercial growth as a goal to counter the rise of sectional differences over slavery. This doctrine would be revived during the Texas annexation controversy, colonizing empresario Stephen F. Austin managed the regional affairs of the mostly American-born population – 20% of them slaves – under the terms of the generous government land grants. A general lawlessness prevailed in the vast Texas frontier, and Mexicos civic laws went largely unenforced, Mexican authorities, perceiving that they were losing control over Texas and alarmed by the unsuccessful Fredonian Rebellion of 1826, abandoned the policy of benign rule. New restrictions were imposed in 1829–1830, outlawing slavery throughout the nation, military occupation followed, sparking local uprisings and a civil war. Texas conventions in 1832 and 1833 submitted petitions for redress of grievances to overturn the restrictions, in 1835, an army under Mexican President Santa Anna entered its territory of Texas and abolished self-government. Texans responded by declaring their independence from Mexico on March 2,1836, on April 20–21, rebel forces under Texas General Sam Houston defeated the Mexican army at the Battle of San Jacinto
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Texas in the American Civil War
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As with those of other States, the Declaration was not recognized by the United States government at Washington. Some Texan military units fought in the Civil War east of the Mississippi River, Texas supply role lasted until mid-1863, after which time Union gunboats controlled the Mississippi River, making large transfers of men, horses or cattle impossible. Some cotton was sold in Mexico, but most of the crop became useless because of the Union naval blockade of Galveston, Houston, in the late winter of 1860, Texan counties sent delegates to a special convention to debate the merits of secession. The convention adopted an Ordinance of Secession by a vote of 166 to 8, separately from the Ordinance of Secession, which was considered a legal document, Texas also issued a declaration of causes spelling out the rationale for declaring secession. It accuses northern politicians and abolitionists of committing a variety of outrages upon Texans, the bulk of the document offers justifications for slavery and white supremacy, saying that remaining a part of the United States would jeopardize the security of the two. By February 1861, the six states of the sub-region had separately passed ordinances of secession. However, events in Texas were delayed, largely due to the resistance of Southern Unionist governor, in early December 1860, before South Carolina even seceded, a group of State officials published via newspaper a call for a statewide election of convention delegates on January 8,1861. This election was irregular, even for the standards of the day. It often relied on voice vote at meetings, although viva voce voting for popular elections had been used since at least March 1846. Unionists were often discouraged from attending or chose not to participate and this resulted in lopsided representation of secessionists delegates. The election call had stipulated for the delegates to assemble in convention on January 28, Houston called the Legislature into session, hoping that the elected body would declare the unauthorized convention illegal. On January 21,1861, the Legislature met in Austin and was addressed by Houston, calling Lincolns election unfortunate, he nonetheless emphasized, in a reference to the upcoming meeting of the secession convention, it was no justification for rash action. However, the Texas Legislature voted the delegates expense money and supplies and—over Houstons veto—made a pledge to uphold the legality of the Conventions actions, the only stipulation was that the people of Texas have the final say in referendum. The following day, convention president Oran Roberts introduced a resolution suggesting Texas leave the Union. S, Federal government and the U. S. Constitution. In the interests of historical significance and posterity, the ordinance was written to take effect on March 2, the date of Texas Declaration of Independence. On February 1, members of the Legislature, and a crowd of private citizens, packed the House galleries. Seventy yea votes were recorded there was a single nay. One of the votes is enshrined in Texas history books
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History of Texas forests
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The forests in the U. S. state of Texas have been an important resource since its earliest days and have played a major role in the states history. The vast woodlands of the region, home to varieties of wildlife when Europeans first arrived, provided economic opportunities for early settlers. They continue to play an important role economically and environmentally in the state, the most dense forest lands lie in the eastern part of the state in the Piney Woods region. In particular the Big Thicket region, just north of Houston, the Big Thicket was mostly uninhabited until heavy settlement from the U. S. began in the mid-19th century, and was even used as a refuge by runaway slaves and other fugitives. The Rio Grande Valley in South Texas was home to a palm tree forest when Spaniards first arrived. One of the first steam sawmills in Texas was planned in 1829 in what is now modern Houston, after the Texas Revolution lumber production increased steadily such that by 1860 there were reportedly 200 saw mills in the state. The construction of railroads throughout the part of the state led to boom in lumber production starting in the 1880s. The following 50-year period in which the Texas timber industry flourished came to be known as the bonanza era, by the start of the 20th century timber was one of the leading economic engines of Texas and had become the states largest manufacturing enterprise. Lumber barons, such as John Henry Kirby, were among the wealthiest people in the state, by 1907 Texas was the third largest lumber producer in the United States. The subsequent clearing of fields for oil exploration and the demand for lumber through the first half of the 20th century destroyed much of the remaining forest lands in the state. By the 1920s lumber production was in decline and the onset of the Great Depression devastated the already flagging industry, in recent times preservation efforts, such as the creation of the Texas Big Thicket National Preserve in 1974, have helped to stabilize parts of the Texas woodlands. As of 1999 Texas remains in the top ten timber producing states in the United States, the climate in Texas varies greatly across the state. Humid, rain-soaked swamps lie toward the east and desert lands lie in the far west, woodlands, grasslands, brushland, and other ecological regions can be found in between and around the state. A prominent climatic feature of Texas is a dry line that runs north-south through its center, the forest lands, of course, mostly lie to the east of this line though pockets of woodland can be found in the mountains to the west. Texas is periodically subjected to extreme droughts that can last several years, the most severe example in modern history was the 1950s drought that reshaped the states economy. These drought periods are known to reduce the forests. The severe drought of 2011, for example, is estimated to have killed two and ten percent of the states trees. Texas forest lands can be divided into six regions, the Big Thicket, the Piney Woods, the Gulf Coast, the Edwards Plateau, the lower Rio Grande Valley
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History of the Jews in Texas
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Jewish Texans have been a part of the history of Texas since the first European explorers arrived in the region in the 16th century. In 1990, there were around 108,000 adherents to Judaism in Texas, more recent estimates place the number at around 120,000. Spanish Texas did not welcome easily identifiable Jews, but they came in any case, jao de la Porta was with Jean Laffite at Galveston, Texas in 1816, and Maurice Henry was in Velasco in the late 1820s. Jews fought in the armies of the Texas Revolution of 1836, some with James Fannin at Goliad, dr. Albert Levy became a surgeon to revolutionary Texan forces in 1835, participated in the capture of Bexar, and joined the Texas Navy the next year. The first families were conversos and Sephardic Jews, later settlers such as the Simon family, led by Alex Simon, came in the 1860s and contributed to the construction of synagogues and monuments such as the Simon Theatre. Levinson, a Jewish Texan civic leader, arrived in 1861, today the vast majority of Jewish Texans are descendants of Ashkenazi Jews, those from central and eastern Europe whose families arrived in Texas after the Civil War or later. Organized Judaism in Texas began in Galveston with the establishment of Texas first Jewish cemetery in 1852, by 1856 the first organized Jewish services were being held in the home of Galveston resident Isadore Dyer. These services would eventually lead to the founding of Texas first and oldest Reform Jewish congregation, Temple Bnai Israel, the first synagogue in Texas, Congregation Beth Israel of Houston, was founded in Houston in 1859 as an Orthodox congregation. However, by 1874 the congregation voted to change their affiliation to the fledgling Reform movement, the ensuing years were accompanied by the spread of Judaism throughout Texas. Temple Beth-El was founded in San Antonio in 1874, followed by Temple Emanu-El of Dallas in 1875, between 1907 and 1914 a resettlement program, known as the Galveston Movement, was in operation to divert Jews fleeing Russia and eastern Europe away from the crowded East Coast cities. Henry Cohen, the rabbi of Bnai Israel at the time, is credited with helping to found the Movement, Texas however suffered from antisemitism in early 20th century. During the 1920s Ku Klux Klan became influential in Houston and Texas, billie Mayfield edited a weekly Klan newspaper in Houston that regularly used anti-Semitic stereotypes to attack Jews as parasites only interested in extracting wealth from the community. He wrote in an article “there are lots of good Jews in Houston and all over Texas, you find them with tombstones over their heads. ”However most of the times the violence was against the African-Americans, KKK threat also helped unify the Houston Jewish community. By 1924, the Klan had lost much of its support and influence. Even at the time of KKK many Houston Jews were powerful in its economy, by the 1920s, big department stores in Houston, such as Foley’s and Battlestein’s, were owned by Jews. Brothers Simon and Tobias Sakowitz left Russia as young children, in 1915, they opened a clothing store in Houston that eventually became Sakowitz’s, one of the finest department stores in the city. In 1959, they built a new store on Westheimer Road. Sakowitz’s expanded too much in the 1970s and declared bankruptcy during the downtown of the 80s
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Texas oil boom
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The find was unprecedented in its size and ushered in an age of rapid regional development and industrialization that has few parallels in U. S. history. Texas quickly became one of the oil producing states in the U. S. along with Oklahoma and California. By 1940 Texas had come to dominate U. S. production, some historians even define the beginning of the worlds Oil Age as the beginning of this era in Texas. Spindletop and the Joiner strike in East Texas, at the outset of the Great Depression, were the key strikes that launched this era of change in the state and this period had a transformative effect on Texas. At the turn of the century, the state was predominantly rural with no large cities, by the end of World War II, the state was heavily industrialized, and the populations of Texas cities had broken into the top 20 nationally. The city of Houston was among the greatest beneficiaries of the boom, the city grew from a small commercial center in 1900 to one of the largest cities in the United States during the decades following the era. This period, however, changed all of Texas commercial centers and developed the Beaumont/Port Arthur area, H. Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Sid W. Richardson, and Clint Murchison were the four most influential businessmen during this era. These men became among the wealthiest and most politically powerful in the state, several events in the 19th century have been regarded as a beginning of oil-related growth in Texas, one of the earliest being the opening of the Corsicana oil field in 1894. The Spindletop strike of 1901, at the time the worlds most productive petroleum well ever found, is considered by most historians as the beginning point and this single discovery began a rapid pattern of change in Texas and brought worldwide attention to the state. As production peaked in some of smaller fields and the Great Depression lowered demand. In the major refining and manufacturing such as Beaumont, Houston, and Dallas. By the end of the war, the economies of the urban areas of the state had matured. Localized booms in West Texas and other areas, however, continued to some small communities during the post-war period. Following the American Civil War, Texass economy began to develop rapidly centered heavily on cattle ranching and cotton farming, Galveston became the worlds top cotton shipping port and Texas largest commercial center. By 1890, however, Dallas had exceeded Galvestons population, in 1900 a massive hurricane struck Galveston, destroying much of the city. That and another storm in 1915 shifted much of the focus from investors away from Galveston and toward nearby Houston, because of these events, the coming oil boom became heavily centered on the city of Houston both as a port and a commercial center. In the 1850s, the process to distill kerosene from petroleum was invented by Abraham Gesner, the demand for the petroleum as a fuel for lighting around the world quickly grew. Petroleum exploration developed in parts of the world with the Russian Empire, particularly the Branobel company in Azerbaijan
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Texas Revolution
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The Texas Revolution began when colonists in the Mexican province of Texas rebelled against the increasingly centralized Mexican government. After a decade of political and cultural clashes between the Mexican government and the large population of American settlers in Texas, hostilities erupted in October 1835. Texians disagreed on whether the goal was independence or a return to the Mexican Constitution of 1824. While delegates at the Consultation debated the wars motives, Texians, the Consultation declined to declare independence and installed an interim government, whose infighting led to political paralysis and a dearth of effective governance in Texas. An ill-conceived proposal to invade Matamoros siphoned much-needed volunteers and provisions from the fledgling Texas army, in March 1836, a second political convention declared independence and appointed leadership for the new Republic of Texas. Determined to avenge Mexicos honor, President Antonio López de Santa Anna vowed to personally retake Texas and his Army of Operations entered Texas in mid-February 1836 and found the Texians completely unprepared. Mexican General José de Urrea led a contingent of troops on the Goliad Campaign up the Texas coast, defeating all Texian troops in his path and executing most of those who surrendered. Santa Anna led a force to San Antonio de Béxar. On March 31, Houston paused his men at Groces Landing on the Brazos River, becoming complacent and underestimating the strength of his foes, Santa Anna further subdivided his troops. On April 21, Houstons army staged an assault on Santa Anna. The Mexican troops were routed, and vengeful Texians executed many who tried to surrender. Santa Anna was taken hostage, in exchange for his life, Mexico refused to recognize the Republic of Texas, and intermittent conflicts between the two countries continued into the 1840s. The annexation of Texas as the 28th state of the United States, in 1845, after a failed attempt by France to colonize Texas in the late 17th century, Spain developed a plan to settle the region. On its southern edge, along the Medina and Nueces Rivers, on the east, Texas bordered Louisiana. Following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the United States also claimed the land west of the Sabine River, following the Mexican War of Independence, Texas became part of Mexico. Under the Constitution of 1824, which defined the country as a federal republic, Texas was granted only a single seat in the state legislature, which met in Saltillo, hundreds of miles away. Texas was very sparsely populated, with fewer than 3,500 residents, and only about 200 soldiers, in the hopes that an influx of settlers could control the Indian raids, the bankrupt Mexican government liberalized immigration policies for the region. Finally able to settle legally in Texas, Anglos from the United States soon vastly outnumbered the Tejanos, most of the immigrants came from the southern United States
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History of the Texas Ranger Division
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Texas historian T. R. Fehrenbach explains the Rangers uniqueness, The Rangers were to be described many times, at first as state troops, later as a police force or constabulary. During most of the 19th century they were neither and they were apart from the regular army, the militia or national guard, and were never a true police force. They were instead one of the most colorful, efficient, and deadly band of partisans on the side of law. They were called into being by the needs of a war frontier, Texans passed in and out of the Rangers regularly, in the early years a very high proportion of all west Texans served from time to time. If they bore similarities to Mamelukes and Cossacks, they were never quite the same. By the early 1830s, the Mexican War of Independence had subsided, around August 4,1823, Austin wrote that he would. To act as rangers for the common defense, the wages I will give said ten men is fifteen dollars a month payable in property. John Jackson Tumlinson Sr. the first alcalde of the Colorado district, is considered by historians of the Texas Rangers to be the first killed in the line of duty. While there is discussion as to when Austin actually employed men as rangers. However, the Texas Rangers were not formally constituted until 1835, Austin returned to Texas after having been imprisoned in Mexico City and helped organize a council to govern the group. On October 17, at a consultation of the Provisional Government of Texas and he proposed creating three companies that would total some 60 men and would be known by uniforms consisting of a light duster and an identification badge made from a Mexican Peso. They were instituted by Texan lawmakers on November 24, on November 28,1835 Robert McAlpin Williamson was chosen to be the first Major of the Texas Rangers. Within two years the Rangers grew to more than 300 men, in their early days, Rangers performed tasks of protecting the Texas Frontier against Indian attacks on the settlers. These minor roles continued after independence, when the became the Republic of Texas under President Sam Houston. Houston, who had lived with the Cherokee for many years, favored peaceful coexistence with Indians and this situation changed radically when Mirabeau B. Lamar became president of the Republic of Texas in December 1838 and he favored the eradication of Indians in Texas—a view that he shared with Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Thomas Rusk. Lamar saw in the Rangers the perfect tool for the task, during the following three years, he engaged the Rangers in a war against the Cherokee and the Comanche and succeeded in weakening their territorial control. Sam Houston was re-elected President of Texas on December 12,1841 and he had taken note of the Rangers cost-efficiency and increased their number to 150
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History of vice in Texas
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The history of vice in the U. S. state of Texas has been an important part of the states past and has greatly influenced its development. Vice activities, such as gambling and prostitution, have historically been a significant facet of both the culture and its economy. Law enforcement organizations have traditionally defined vice as including prostitution, gambling, alcohol and narcotics and these activities, though always controversial, represented major influences in the state with some enterprises at times holding legendary status. The legal status of the individual activities has fluctuated substantially over time, before the arrival of the European settlers in Texas, the plant peyote had become a popular hallucinogenic among tribes in the Rio Grande Valley as well as parts of West Texas and Chihuahua. Tribes in the area included the Carrizo Coahuiltecan and later the Lipan and Mescalero Apache, and even the Karankawa, the plant came to be used for both recreational and ritual usage. Its hallucinogenic effects were regarded with suspicion among the Spaniards and the drug was never used outside the Native American communities. Gambling was a pastime in many parts of early Mexico including its northern territory of Texas. In some communities it was such an accepted norm that even children were known to participate with the adults, as early as 1817 records show the presence of prostitution in the Spanish region which would become Texas. Prostitution at this time met with official disapproval though it still took place. As settlers from the United States moved into the Mexican Texas, new settlements typically had saloons, the pre-Civil-War era was a period of especially liberal alcohol consumption in Texas. The city of Houston was especially well-known at this time as a center of vice with businesses that sold liquor representing one of the largest business sectors, nearby Fort Bend County for a time registered more liquor licenses than all other businesses combined. Opium had become a popular worldwide and was regarded by many as having medicinal qualities. Even after Texas was admitted to the Union in the century it remained in various ways a frontier territory throughout the 19th century. Though population centers became established early they were small, there was a steady stream of newcomers into the state with men generally outnumbering women, thus creating a demand for prostitutes. Many immigrants to the state were criminals and others fleeing the law from other parts of the U. S and this was so common, in fact, that in many communities it was considered impolite to ask too many details of ones past. The state held fast to an ideal of freedom which created a climate for the development of vice, one notable exception of this was the forbidding of a state lottery in the state constitution. Following the American Civil War, during the Reconstruction era, lawlessness took hold in many frontier outposts, smuggling operations as well as saloons and gambling houses became increasingly common. New settlements began to dot the western frontier of the state with gambling a popular form of recreation at the saloons for the numerous cowboys, professional gamblers, such as Doc Holliday and Lottie Deno, traveled circuits through these settlements preying on the unsuspecting
