Texas history from the Texas State Historical Association
9/11/1890: Fort Sam Houston officially named
On this day in 1890, the United States War Department designated “the military post at San Antonio” as Fort Sam Houston in honor of Gen. Sam Houston. Originally established in 1845, the “Post of San Antonio” started land acquisition and construction in the 1870s, becoming the second largest in the United States Army by 1891. Fort Sam Houston has played a prominent role in the annals of military history. The First United States Volunteer Cavalry, better known as Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders,” mobilized in San Antonio and received their equipment from Fort Sam Houston’s depot. In 1910 the army’s only airplane came to Fort Sam Houston, and its flight there marked the birth of military aviation. Fort Sam Houston was even involved in the filming of several motion pictures, including Wings (1927). The post played a critical role in training and deployment throughout World War I and World War II, and Fort Sam Houston alumni make up an impressive roster of top commanders, including Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger and Brig. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
9/12/1909: Country singer born in country town
On this day in 1909, country singer Kenneth Threadgill was born in Peniel, Texas. In 1933 he moved to Austin and began working at a service station; by December, he had bought the establishment and turned it into Threadgill’s Tavern. After World War II the place became an important musical venue where eventually Janis Joplin, for instance, performed. Long a country music singer, Threadgill was quiet on the national scene until his first movie soundtrack and album in the early 1980s, when he and Willie Nelson appeared together and sang in the film Honeysuckle Rose. Some of his best-known songs were “Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” “There’s a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere,” “T for Texas, T for Tennessee,” and “It Is No Secret What God Can Do.” Threadgill died in 1987. The tavern is now Threadgill’s Restaurant.
9/12/1866: First producing oil well in Texas comes in
On this day in 1866, the first producing oil well in Texas came in at a depth of 106 feet at Oil Springs in Nacogdoches County. The Melrose Petroleum Oil Company, which had been organized in December 1865 by Lyne Taliaferro (Tol) Barret and four partners, began drilling in the summer of 1866. Taliaferro, a Nacogdoches County merchant born in Virginia in 1832, had first contracted to lease 279 acres near Oil Springs in 1859, but the Civil War put a temporary halt to his exploration. The first well produced about ten barrels a day, but the low price of oil and the political unrest accompanying Reconstruction made the development of the field unfeasible. Barret suffered extensive financial losses and returned to the mercantile business in Melrose. Later he saw the field developed with an oil boom in 1887. Barret died in 1913. Though he received little acclaim during his lifetime, in 1966 memorial markers were dedicated at his grave in Melrose and at Stephen F. Austin State University to mark the 100th anniversary of the drilling of the first producing oil well in Texas.
9/14/1919: Hospital destroyed in hurricane
On this day in 1919, the Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi was demolished by a hurricane in which a nun, two patients, and two employees were killed. Spohn Hospital (originally Spohn Sanitarium), the first hospital in Corpus Christi, is a Catholic institution founded in 1905 by Arthur Edward Spohn. When Spohn moved to Corpus Christi in 1895 and noted the lack of medical facilities, he embarked upon a campaign to raise funds for a hospital. Through the efforts of Alice King Kleberg $6,000 was collected from the residents of Corpus Christi for the project. Her husband, Robert J. Kleberg, prepared a drawing of the proposed sanitarium around 1903. The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, agreed to staff the new facility. After the 1919 hurricane the hospital was temporarily located in a private home. Henrietta C. King gave the land for the new hospital and it was back in operation by 1923.Through the succeeding years, the hospital continued to expand. In 2003, the CHRISTUS Spohn Health System consisted of six hospitals–three in Corpus Christi and one each in Alice, Beeville, and Kingsville–and thirteen clinics.
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