Enjoy these Texas history excerpts from the Texas State Historical Association.
https://www.tshaonline.org/home
1/23/1863: Confederates hang former Texas senator as traitor
On this day in 1863, Confederate soldiers hanged Martin Hart in Fort Smith, Arkansas. This attorney from Hunt County had served in the Texas legislature, where he spoke out against secession. After secession, he resigned his government post and organized the Greenville Guards, pledging the company’s services “in defense of Texas” against invasion. Under color of a Confederate commission, however, he spied against the Confederacy. In Arkansas he led a series of rear-guard actions against Confederate forces, and is alleged to have murdered at least two prominent secessionists. He was captured on January 18, 1863, by Confederate forces.
1/24/1948: “Tri-Cities” finally unite as Baytown
On this day in 1948, the former “Tri-Cities” of Baytown, Goose Creek, and Pelly united to form the city of Baytown. The area had been largely undeveloped until the opening of the Goose Creek oilfield in 1916. All three communities grew up around the oilfield, thanks in large part to the promotional efforts of Ross Sterling, president of Humble Oil and Refining Company. Sterling and his associates established a refinery near the oilfield and bought 2,200 acres there, calling their site Baytown. Construction began in the fall of 1919, though Baytown remained a collection of tents and shanties until 1923, when Humble laid out streets, provided utilities, sold lots, and even furnished financing for employees’ homes. The residents of nearby Goose Creek voted to incorporate in January 1919, and the residents of neighboring Pelly, fearing that Goose Creek might absorb their town, followed suit a year later. Due to the pervasive paternalism of Humble, the community of Baytown never incorporated, and this enabled Pelly to annex the “contiguous and unincorporated” territory of Baytown in December 1945. But when Pelly and Goose Creek voted to consolidate in February 1947, the citizens selected the name Baytown for their new combined city. The voters approved a new city charter on January 24, 1948. Baytown today is a highly industrialized city of oil refineries and rubber, chemical, and carbon black plants
1/25/1834: First church meeting in Texas
On this day in 1834, the first legally organized Baptist church meeting in Texas took place at Daniel Parker’s home in present Anderson County. Parker, who came to Texas in 1833 to apply for a land grant, realized that a Baptist church could not be formally organized on Texas soil without breaking Mexican law. Therefore, he went back to Illinois, where he and seven others organized the Pilgrim Predestinarian Regular Baptist Church. The group then traveled by wagon train to Texas. In 1837 Pilgrim Church gave Parker and Garrison Greenwood authority to organize Primitive Baptist churches and ordain ministers and deacons. By 1841 they had established eight churches in Texas. Pilgrim Church had met in many different locations since 1834, and in 1848 the members voted to build a meetinghouse where Parker had been buried, at the present location of Pilgrim Church, 2.5 miles southeast of Elkhart.1/25/1839: Lone Star heraldry
On this day in 1839, the Republic of Texas Congress adopted the Texas coat of arms — a white star of five points on an azure ground encircled by olive and live oak branches. The national seal bore these arms encircled by the words Republic of Texas. In 1845 the designation was altered from Republic to State.
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