Texas Facts and Trivia

  1. Texas is popularly known as The Lone Star State.
  3. The lightning whelk is the official state shell.
  12. Texas boasts the nation's largest herd of whitetail deer.
  15. Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state.
  16. The first offensive action of the Texas Revolution occurred in Goliad on October 9, 1835 when local colonists captured the fort and town.
  17. On December 20, 1835 the first Declaration of Texas Independence was signed in Goliad and the first flag of Texas Independence was hoisted.
  18. The Hertzberg Circus Museum in San Antonio contains one of the largest assortments of circusana in the world.
  20. Austin is considered the live music capital of the world.
  26. The capitol in Austin opened May 16, 1888. The dome of the building stands seven feet higher than that of the nation's Capitol in Washington, D.C.
  27. Texas comes from the Hasinai Indian word tejas meaning friends or allies.
  28. The armadillo is the official state mammal.
  32. The first word spoken from the moon on July 20, 1969 was Houston.
  33. Texas' largest county is Brewster with 6,208 square miles.
  34. Texas possesses three of the top ten most populous cities in the United States. These towns are Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio.
  35. El Paso is closer to Needles, California than it is to Dallas.
  36. Texas includes 267,339 square miles, or 7.4% of the nation's total area.
  37. The state's cattle population is estimated to be near 16 million.
  38. More land is farmed in Texas than in any other state.
  39. More species of bats live in Texas than in any other part of the United States.
  40. Laredo is the world's largest inland port.
  41. Port Lavaca has the world's longest fishing pier. Originally part of the causeway connecting the two sides of Lavaca Bay, the center span of was destroyed by Hurricane Carla in 1961.
  43. Amarillo has the world's largest helium well.
  44. The world's first rodeo was held in Pecos on July 4, 1883.
  47. Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other comparable area in North America.
  48. The Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America's only remaining flock of whooping cranes.
  49. Jalapeno pepper jelly originated in Lake Jackson and was first marketed in 1978.
  50. Thanks to: San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau, Rebecca Edinger, Brien Segers, Hill DeWolfe, Cari Murtagh, Eric Gomez, Valorie75, Mary Chastain, pkimbrel