Category: Uncategorized

  • When Congressmen Carried Guns

    by Julia Robb In 1832, Sam Houston stood in the U.S. of Representatives, on trial for attacking Ohio Representative William Stanbery. It was a headline trial. Sam Houston, a six-foot-two, good-looking Tennessean, was already famous. While Houston defended himself, a woman in the balcony threw him a bouquet of flowers and cried “I would rather…

  • Kountze ISD Rejects Court’s Decision, Appeals

    Remember the cheerleaders that won the court case against the school district that was trying to prevent them from painting Bible verses and patriotic sayings on “run-through” signs at home then bringing them to football games for the team to run through? Well, the school district lost in court. Appealed. Lost again. Now they’re back…

  • Texas Feuds flourished on the lawless frontier: The Regulators and the Moderators and The Mason County War.

    On Nov. 13, 1843, Peter Whetstone walked from a store located on the square in Marshall, Texas and met his death. Whetstone donated the land Marshall was built on. Didn’t help. A “Regulator” leader who believed Whetstone was a “Moderator,” followed him outside and shot him in the back. Whetstone–one of my multiple-great uncles–entered the…

  • The Niceties of Texas

    by Philip M Cruts . The State of Texas has always been known for her friendly people. I never knew anywhere else was different until I went to New England to see my wife. I walked into a store and asked the clerk how she was doing and I received the strangest look. I could…

  • Big Trees Have Emotional Benefits

    by Boyd Taylor . There is finally an explanation why people who live in older neighborhoods with large trees have less stress than those in new subdivisions, and it is not because people in the older areas tend to be wealthier and their neighborhoods more expensive. A City of Austin arborist says big trees have…

  • CSCOPE or C-SCAM?

    By Peggy Venable . CSCOPE is among the most controversial topics in the Lone Star State. Surprisingly, many Texans have never heard of it. . CSCOPE is a curriculum management system that has been sold to more than 850 Texas public, private and charter schools. It was developed by a division of the Texas Education…

  • HOW TEXAS WENT DOWN IN FLAMES

    by Julia Robb . Sam Houston told us not to do it. And Houston was the sitting governor when he opposed Texas joining the Confederacy, as well as hero of San Jacinto, twice President of the Republic of Texas and a former U.S. (TX) senator. Joining the Confederacy would ruin the state, Houston warned, then…

  • Everything is Bigger in Texas!

    Author Unknown There once was a blind man who decided to visit Texas. When he arrived on the plane,he felt the seats and said, “Wow, these seats are big!” The person next to him answered,”Everything is big in Texas.” When he finally arrived in Texas, he decided to visit a bar. Upon arriving in the…

  • When Are We Going to Forgive?

    by Julia Robb I’ve been writing about Texas history for the Heart of Texas Blog because it’s important for Texans to know how the past shaped our culture. If you stick with me in the coming weeks, I’ll tell you all I can about the good, the bad and the ugly. In the meantime, I’m…

  • “Dead Last” – The Label That Plagues Public Education in Texas

    by Jon Williams Every day, seemingly without exception, somebody from inside or outside of Texas sends me a message or posts to our FaceBook page the so-called “fact” that Texas is dead last in education and we need to “stop bragging” until we get that fixed. Of course “education” is a broad term, and it…

  • Texas and the Comanche Nation

    by Julia Robb Matilda Lockhart’s nose may not have started the Comanche wars in Texas, but it’s fair to say the condition of Matilda’s nose escalated the Comanche war from skirmishes to a furnace of death and destruction. And the Comanche wars created Texas culture. If we are a tough-minded people, it’s because Texans fought…