Texas history from the Texas State Historical Association
10/15/1853: First state Sängerfest held in New Braunfels
On this day in 1853, the first state Sängerfest, or singers’ festival, began in New Braunfels. After a successful Fourth of July celebration in 1853, the New Braunfels Germania male singing society invited similar organizations from Austin, San Antonio, and Sisterdale to a two-day festival held in New Braunfels on October 15 and 16, 1853. Each group sang a cappella separately and joined together for works by Felix Mendelssohn and Heinrich Marschner. At the second Sängerfest, held in San Antonio in May 1854, when the societies formed the Texas State Sängerbund (Deutsch-Texanischer Sängerbund or German Texan Singers’ League), participation extended to singers from Coletoville, La Grange, Indianola, and Victoria. Succeeding Sängerfeste were held in New Braunfels and Fredericksburg and brought added members or increased musical sophistication. Despite interruptions caused by the Civil War and World War I, the Sängerfeste survived and continue to this day. Wherever held, the festivals became the impetus for expanded musical activity on the purely local level, while they themselves ceased to be the sole property of the Germans as progressively more outsiders participated in the concerts and attended them.
10/17/1935: Texans found first black police organization in the country
On this day in 1935, black police officers in South Texas organized the Texas Negro Peace Officers Association, the first black police organization in the United States. Its early efforts included overcoming hostility toward black peace officers, providing burial and defense funds for its members, and promoting the hiring of black officers. Improvement in race relations and the formation of local black police associations have allowed the organization to concentrate on scholarships and assistance to the needy. In 2001 state headquarters of the organization, now called the Texas Peace Officers Association, were in Dallas.
10/19/1919: League of Women Voters of Texas organized in San Antonio
On this day in 1919, the League of Women Voters of Texas, a nonpartisan political organization, was formed at San Antonio, when the Texas Equal Suffrage Association was dissolved to reorganize for a new purpose. Under the forceful leadership of its first president, Jessie Daniel Ames of Georgetown, the LWVT focused its efforts on educating the newly enfranchised women voters of the state. The permanent offices of the LWVT are located in Austin.
10/21/1822: First bank in Texas founded
On this day in 1822, the Banco Nacional de Texas, or Texas National Bank, was established as a bank of issue–the first in Texas–by Governor José Félix Trespalacios in San Antonio. Shortly after arriving in Texas in August, Trespalacios hit upon the idea of issuing paper money, to be backed by the specie due from the central government, as wages to the province’s demoralized soldiers. Members of the city council were made officers in the bank, and four soldiers were given the task of hand-producing the notes. Just under 12,000 pesos was issued in two installments on November 1 and December 1, 1822, before the bank was suspended. The short-lived experiment in emergency financing proved costly to most noteholders, who had to wait until 1830 for redemption of the Texas money by the Mexican government. Despite its failure, this institution claims the title of the “first chartered bank west of the Mississippi.”
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