Name: Fort Worth
Brand: Dawn Youngblood
SKU: 9781467103848
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Fort Worth

9781467103848

$24.99

Fort Worth exudes a vivacious Western spirit founded upon a rich history. In 1849, four years after the Republic of Texas became the 28th state, the Army built a fort to keep native tribes west of the Trinity. That fort grew into a focal stop on the Chisholm Trail and later became the western terminus of the railroad. In World War I, Fort Worth housed one Army and three aircraft training bases, while Fort Worth Stockyards, which became one of the largest in the nation, provided multitudes of horses and mules. From pianos on dirt floors to the Van Cliburn Competition, from the earliest portraits by itinerant French artists to world-class art museums, Fort Worth has always been home to high culture. Groups such as the Woman’s Wednesday Club made sure art and libraries stood in the old fort town once more famous for its saloons. No matter the era, and no matter the many reasons, Fort Worth will always be “where the West begins.”

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Bryan

9780738579573

$24.99

Cotton was king during Bryan's early history. Many prominent planters and farmers lived on the high ground between the Brazos and Navasota Rivers in the market town of Bryan, and the cotton crop thrived in the fertile Brazos River Bottom. The railroad's arrival after the Civil War provided a link to textile mills in other parts of the world via the nearby ports of Houston and Galveston. Land availability and economic opportunity attracted settlers not only from the southeastern United States, but also from Italy and Eastern Europe. When cotton's economic dominance began to wane, other agricultural crops, livestock, a strong commitment to education, and oil and gas production diversified the local economy. As the seat of county government, and with its close proximity to Texas A&M University, Bryan today is a vibrant community strategically located in the heart of the Texas Urban Triangle.

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Wicked San Antonio

9781467137072

$23.99

Delve into San Antonio's wicked past, from the lawless lore of the Spanish settlement through the criminal misdeeds of the modern metropolis.

Residents of the Alamo City tolerated scores of cockfighting pits, gambling joints, opium dens, around-the-clock saloons and other places of ill-repute. Some disturbers of San Antonio's peace, like Judge Roy Bean, left town to achieve greater notoriety elsewhere. Others, like the thief who stole the McFarlin diamond, seemed to vanish into thin air. But all of them left a page-turning story behind. Mike Cox catalogues San Antonio's most infamous incidents and miscreants.

Marfa

9780738558554

$24.99

In the rugged High Chihuahua Desert of West Texas, Marfa lies in the northeast corner of Presidio County, 60 miles from the Mexico border. Originally established as a water stop for the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio Railroad in 1883, it soon became the county seat and heart of a thriving commercial center built around ranching. Marfa's Fort D. A. Russell, first known as Camp Albert and later Camp Marfa, has been home to numerous military units from the early 1900s through the end of World War II. This military presence, combined with the development of the famous Highland Hereford that propelled local cattle ranching to a nationally recognized level, provided the economic and social base for the community well into the 1950s. Marfa's proximity to Mexico contributes tremendously to a remarkable blend of cultures, and today the once remote frontier town has established itself as a sophisticated arts and cultural mecca.

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Marvels of the Texas Plains

9781467152808

$23.99

Assemble a composite portrait of the Texas plains through these historic tales.

Many thousands of years ago, Clovis Man hunted huge mammoths here. More recently, Waylon Jennings drew his musical inspiration here. In the intervening time, the Texas prairie has been the backdrop for the wildest of Wild West shootouts, landmark legal battles and epic achievements in sports, music and medicine. Familiar icons like Roy Orbison and Dan Blocker, as well as forgotten characters like Charlie “Squirrel-Eye” Emory and John “the Catfish Kid” Gough all helped shape the colorful history of the Texas Plains. Who shot the sheriff? Who was the earliest American? Who invented the slam dunk? Author Chuck Lanehart answers these questions and many more in a wide-ranging collection of stories.

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Nacogdoches in World War II

9780738579733

$24.99

Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, has a long and colorful history starting in 1716, when the first mission, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches, was founded. The people of this rich area have since come together countless times to survive challenges. During World War II, patriotism brought everyone closer as the young men of the area left to fight for their country. College enrollment declined drastically until a masterstroke by its president brought the nation's first WAC school to the campus. An unexpected ice storm killed valuable timber, bringing Nazi POWs to the area to harvest the pine trees. On the home front, everyone got involved in the war effort. They knitted, rolled bandages, collected scrap metal, bought war bonds, grew victory gardens, and participated in rationing and blackouts; but most of all they sacrificed their sons. They came together during those years and still come together today to celebrate the historic town's past and to honor its veterans of all wars.

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Texas Women First

9781626197145

$21.99

American history is teeming with unconventional, trailblazing Lone Star women with big, unprecedented achievements—outstanding, outrageous, outré women who know all about being Texas Big and being first. Texas's own Bessie Coleman was the first black person in the world to earn a pilot's license. Students and typists the world over breathed a sigh of relief when San Antonio–born Bette Nesmith Graham released Mistake Out, now known as Liquid Paper®. Way ahead of the curve, University of Texas graduate Aida Nydia Barrera saw the need for bilingual educational programming and in 1970 started Carrascolendas, the first television show of its kind in the country. In 1981, El Paso's Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the United States Supreme Court. Join author Sherrie McLeRoy for an introduction to the exceptional women of Lone Star history.

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Hidden History of Plano

9781467142946

$21.99

Did you know that Plano once had a winning semipro baseball team? And its own university, boasting a pagoda imported from Malaysia? Or that the city once proudly proclaimed itself the "Mule Capital of the World'?? Meet the Native American Planoite who walked in space, the African American entrepreneur who prospered in Jim Crow Texas and the man behind the "mystery stone'? uncovered in the Collinwood House. Visit a military tank, a five-hundred-year-old tree and the pioneer cemetery started by a smallpox epidemic. From the town's contributions to World War II to the secrets lurking beneath Collin Creek Mall, unlock the astonishingly large storehouse of Plano's hidden history.

Austin in the Jazz Age

9781626199187

$24.99

Though renowned, Austin's contemporary music scene pales in comparison with the explosion of creative talent the city spawned during the Jazz Age. Dozens of musicians who started out in the capital city attained national and international fame--but music was just one form of artistic expression that marked that time of upheaval. World War I's death and destruction bred a vehement rejection of the status quo. In its place, an enthusiastic adherence to life lived without question or consequence took root. The sentiment found fertile soil in Austin, with the University of Texas at the epicenter. Students indulged in the debauchery that typified the era, scandalizing Austin and Texas at large as they introduced a freewheeling, individualistic attitude that now defines the city. Join author Richard Zelade in a raucous investigation of the day and its most outstanding and outlandish characters.

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Denton

9780738578545

$24.99

Founded in 1857 as the fourth county seat of Denton County, the city of Denton is situated at the top of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex triangle. After the first trains from the Texas and Pacific Railroad and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway (the Katy) rolled into town in 1881, Denton developed from a frontier community into a vibrant city. Establishing itself as a center of education in 1890 with the founding of the Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute (now the University of North Texas), the creation of the Girls' Industrial College (now Texas Woman's University) in 1901 further enhanced this image. The city's 150-year history, forged by so many talented people, has provided a strong foundation for its growing economic environment. Today Denton's community spirit resonates through the energy of the city's many diverse events and its lively music scene.

Houston Beer

9781609495374

$21.99

From the early days, and long before Americans had ever heard the term "craft beer," settlers in the Bayou City excelled in the art of ales, stouts and lagers. In 1913, it was a Houston brewery that claimed the distinction of "the world's finest bottled beer" after winning an international competition in Belgium. The unfortunate rise of Prohibition put the industry on hold, but recent years have seen a strong resurgence. At the beginning of 2008, Saint Arnold Brewing Company was the only craft brewery in Houston. Just a few years later, there are five and counting within an hour's drive of downtown. Journalist and "Beer, TX" blogger Ronnie Crocker chronicles Houston's long and surprising history of brewing, tracing everything from the grand legacy of Anheuser-Busch to the up-and-coming craft beer makers and those brewing it right at home.

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South Plains Army Airfield

9781467131339

$24.99

South Plains Army Airfield in Lubbock, Texas, was a major training base for US Army Air Force glider pilots during World War II. Approximately 80 percent of the roughly 6,000 pilots trained to fly the combat cargo glider received their advanced training and were awarded their G Wings at SPAAF, as it was known. The base was conceived, built, used, and then closed in a short five-year period during World War II. Today, little remains to remind one of the feverish and important military training program that once took place on the flat, featureless South Plains of Texas. During World War II, American military strategy and tactics included a significant airborne component. Major invasions, such as D-Day at Normandy, were preceded by huge aerial fleets carrying paratroopers and their equipment. These airborne invasion fleets sometimes exceeded well over 1,000 Allied gliders. The American airborne forces depended upon an ungainly looking aircraft, the CG-4A glider, to carry the vehicles, munitions, and reinforcements needed to survive. The pilots who flew them learned their trade at South Plains Army Airfield.

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Stake in West Texas, A

9781626193802

$21.99

In 1950, Ann was eighteen and Bob D twenty when he asked her to marry him and hit the road for West Texas. They packed their station wagon, left home and began a life of adventure together on Conoco's West Texas survey crew during the 1950s oil boom. Five kids, twenty-one towns and thirteen years on the road--Bob D and Ann's travels along the highways of West Texas are a portrait in a landscape of oilfields, railroads and ranches. Layering local history with family memoir, author Rebecca D. Henderson reveals a glimpse of mid-century West Texas through her grandparents' adventures as a young couple raising children on the road..

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University of Texas at Arlington

9781467132312

$24.99

In 1895, seventy-five students enrolled at Arlington College, an elementary and secondary institution located on the North Texas prairies. Over the next 120 years, the school changed into a military school, a vocational college, a two-year college in the Texas A&M System, and finally, a full-fledged university with more than 34,000 students from across the globe. Throughout its history, UT Arlington has benefitted from strong leadership and strong community commitment to education. During the low-enrollment period of the Great Depression, Dean E.E. Davis went into the cornfields of East Texas to recruit students. In World War II, art professor Howard Joyner switched from teaching fine art to teaching the art of camouflage painting. The turbulent 1960s saw students clashing over the school's rebel flag theme, the resolution of which paved the way for the university to become one of the most diverse in the nation today.

North Texas State Fair and Rodeo

9781467134934

$24.99

The predecessor to the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo was reported in the October 15, 1885, Denton Doings as consisting of horse races sponsored by the Denton County Fair and Blooded Stock Association (DCFBSA). The next mention was 1890, when the association stockholders had the opportunity to purchase shares of the fairgrounds, thus ending the fair until five years later. The DCFBSA was reorganized in 1895 to host a fair and horse race near North Texas Normal College. The next race was held in 1896, and the association was incorporated. The fair has operated continuously since except for the years during World War II. These early events evolved into one of the largest fairs and rodeos in Texas, drawing more than 150,000 fairgoers annually.

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Ghosts of Houston's Market Square Park

9781467141307

$21.99

Visitors to Market Square Park can pause on their stroll through the downtown centerpiece for a palpable experience of its past. Houston's first four city halls laid their foundations here, and relics of the square's heritage remain embedded in the sidewalks of the park. Chalk up a chance sneeze on Milam Street to the final ghostly gasp of dust from Robert Boyce's sawpits. Step from Congress Street into La Carafe, Houston's oldest commercial building, for the kind of atmosphere that even deceased bartenders are reluctant to leave. From the phantom tailors above Treebeard's to the forgotten mysteries of the town's founding, Sandra Lord and Debe Branning resurrect the history humming through the four blocks surrounding Market Square Park.

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Unforgettable Texans

9781467137737

$21.99

History books burst at the seams with stories about Houston, Travis, Crockett and other icons of Texas history. Yet many of the Lone Star State's fascinating figures—well known in life but forgotten in death—remain obscure by omission. This scintillating company includes a World War I spy who became a movie star, the first gringo matador, a West Texas tent showman and the husband-and-wife trick-shot act that amazed audiences for forty years. Some characters cut across the common narrative, like the admiral whose advice might have prevented the attack on Pearl Harbor, the one and only Republican congressman in the first half of the twentieth century, the Klansman Texans elected to the U.S. Senate and the businessman who wrote the longest English-language novel in complete secrecy. Popular columnist and author Bartee Haile brings to life some of the most intriguing Texans who ever slipped through the cracks of history.

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Haunted Old Town Spring

9781625859228

$21.99

Old Town Spring's historic streets may set the scene for a quaint shopping village, but they also serve as byways for one of the most haunted towns in Texas. A perfectionist past the end, Uncle Charlie still fusses around the historic Wunsche Brothers Café, the oldest commercial structure in the area. The spirit of a girl who died in a barn still plays with her group of friends in Doering Court, while a headless switchman runs after phantom trains trying to prevent a collision. Her path lit by unknown lights in the sky, author Cathy Nance leads the way through Old Town Spring's spookiest sites.

Legendary Locals of Lake Worth

9781467101585

$24.99

During the early 1900s, a large reservoir built to provide water for Fort Worth, Texas, also opened up opportunities for businesses to develop. Casino Beach, Casino Ballroom, and a large bathhouse became popular spots for thousands. A nearby village, with increasing population, soon had a small school, churches, and other establishments. With nearby Jacksboro Highway running from downtown Fort Worth past the beach area, gambling increased, as did gangster activity. After a long while, with much intervention, these unlawful situations became history. Legendary Locals of Lake Worth spotlights the founders of the small village and features individuals who impacted the area--many for the better, others for the worst. Some may never have received proper recognition until this book's acknowledgment of them.

Austin Murder & Mayhem

9781626199170

$23.99

Beneath Austin's shiny veneer lies a dark past, filled with murder, lechery and deceit. Legislators, lawmen and lawyers killed, robbed and lied just as well and just as often as the drifters and grifters preying on newcomers. The nation's first known serial killer made his debut in Austin in the form of the Servant Girl Annihilator, who is still rumored to be Jack the Ripper. After the Willis brothers murdered their neighbors over rumored buried gold, a lynch mob hanged the boys from live oaks on present-day Sixth Street. Freshman representative Louis Franke died after he was robbed and beaten on the steps of the statehouse. Author Richard Zelade delivers a fascinating look at the seedier side of Austin history.

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San Antonio's Historic Hotels

9781467102476

$24.99

Recognized as the oldest continuously operating hotel west of the Mississippi, the Menger Hotel opened its doors in 1859. Business-minded men and women followed suit, establishing inns, lodges, motels, and hotels for tourists, businessmen, and passers-through that offered a wide range of amenities. The Crockett Hotel has overlooked the Alamo since 1909. The St. Anthony Hotel was the first luxury hotel in the state of Texas and often hosted celebrities, politicians, and other elite society. The Gunter Hotel was called the first million-dollar hotel in Texas by the Austin American Statesman and was deemed to have the largest hotel lobby in the South by the San Antonio Light and Gazette. The Fairmount Hotel drew acclaim after being moved five blocks in April 1985, when it was honored with an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the heaviest hotel ever moved. The evolution of San Antonio from military post and Texas's oldest municipality to the fastest-growing large US city, told through the lens of the city's hotels, is filled with unique historical perspective.

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The Bolivar Peninsula

9781467133869

$24.99

The Bolivar Peninsula is a quirky coastal community consisting of Port Bolivar, Crystal Beach, Caplen, Gilchrist, and High Island. "The peninsula," as locals call it, is a 27-mile-long barrier formation. Bounded on one side by the Gulf of Mexico and on the other by the Intracoastal Waterway, it is a short ferry ride from Galveston, Texas. The history of the peninsula includes filibusterers, pirates, fierce natives, and headstrong settlers. A spirit of independence survives to this day, providing a continuation of the story of this unique landmass and its people. An unlikely conglomeration of cowboys and farmers, third- and fourth-generation landowners, retired executives and professors, fishermen, shrimpers, and birding enthusiasts comes together with weekenders and tourists to enjoy the beauty and bounty of the Gulf Coast. Its beautiful setting and wild, storied past make the Bolivar Peninsula a fascinating place to explore.

The 1913 McKinney Store Collapse

9781467139502

$21.99

A powerful vibration, a deafening noise and a swell of thick dust brought residents of McKinney pouring into the public square on the afternoon of January 23, 1913. What they saw was horrifying—an entire building had collapsed, demolishing two popular retailers, the Cheeves Mississippi Store and Tingle Implement Store. Their contents, including many shoppers and clerks, spilled out into the streets, where layer upon layer of debris settled into a massive, ragged pile. In spite of a herculean rescue effort, eight people perished. Carol Wilson sifts through the disaster and its aftermath, dredging up some troubling facts about how the tragedy might have been prevented.

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Deadly Dallas

9781467148498

$21.99

With dynamite on grocery shelves and livestock rampaging through the streets, Dallas was a dangerous place in its formative years.

Spring 1904. An inexperienced automobile driver jumps the curb and drives into the lobby of the St. George Hotel. The mayor orders a roundup of unlicensed dogs due to a city-wide outbreak of rabies. An elevator crushes the head of a young man as he retrieves a half-dollar he had dropped down the shaft. Embers from a wood burning stove transform a sleeping house into a funeral pyre. A ten-year-old boy in City Park has a spike driven into his temple by a playmate with a fence picket. All this in just a few days.From airships falling from the sky to pestilence floating in on the Trinity, Rusty Williams catalogues the heartbreaking and bizarre forms in which death stalked Dallas at the turn of the twentieth century.

Galveston Seawall Chronicles

9781467137898

$21.99

Along Galveston's Gulf Coast runs a seventeen-foot-high, ten-mile-long protective barrier—a response to the nation's all-time deadliest natural disaster. The seawall remains a stoic protector more than a century later, shielding the island from much more than physical destruction. As the foundation of Seawall Boulevard, this structure created an entirely new tourism industry that buoyed the city's economy through war, the Great Depression and hurricanes. Adapting to the cultural trends and political movements that defined the past century, the seawall represents the unbreakable spirit of Galveston's resilient population and provides a fascinating glimpse into bygone times.

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The Ghostly Tales of Dallas

9781467197274

$12.99

Ghost stories from Dallas, Texas have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!

Welcome to the spooky streets of Dallas!

Stay alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms.

Did you know that the Sammons Center for the Arts is said to have a haunted elevator? Or that sounds of music and laughter sometimes drift up and down the halls of the Adolphus Hotel... even when no one is there? Can you believe the friendly ghost at Catfish Plantation has been known to make coffee for its hosts?

Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see Dallas and have you sleeping with the light on!

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Texas Singularities

9781467140867

$21.99

Texas, that most singular of states, conceals an entire parade of peculiar events and exceptional people in the back pages of its history books. A Lone Star man once (and only once) tried to bulldog a steer from an airplane. One small Texas town was attacked by the Japanese, while another was “liberated” from America during the Cold War. Texan career choices include goat gland doctor, rubbing doctor, striking cowboy and singing cowboy, not to mention swatter, tangler and dunker. From gunslinger Sally Skull to would-be rainmaker R.G. Dyrenforth, Clay Coppedge collects the distinctive odds and ends of Texan lore.

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Fort Stockton

9780738584942

$24.99

In 1859, the US military established Fort Stockton to gain control of Comanche Springs, which formed an oasis in the midst of arid West Texas. In the town that grew up beside the fort, a colorful mix of hardy pioneers--Peter Gallagher, Cesario Torres, Frank Rooney, Father Jose Ferra, Annie Frazier Johnson Riggs, and others--struggled (and sometimes fought) to construct a viable farming and ranching community in the vast, isolated terrain of Pecos County. Later, railroads, highways, air bases, oil, natural gas, and wind farms joined water as forces shaping the city's history. A century and a half after its founding, Fort Stockton is an innovative city with high-tech dreams, yet the traces and tales of its Old West heritage remain vividly alive along the banks of Comanche Creek.

Tragedy and Triumph on the Texas Plains

9781467149037

$21.99

Out on the Texas Plains, wrangling with history resembles taking in the sunset--a stampede of splendor and shadow all at once. Roam an Ohio-sized patch of prairie and take stock of the heroic tasks and moral dilemmas facing the unforgettable characters who called West Texas home. Ben Hogan sinks a putt with the focus of the Clovis man who hunted mammoth in the same spot thousands of years before. Lubbock's largest lawsuit runs its interminable course. And a starving Roy Rogers makes a quick meal of jackrabbit on the Llano Estacado. Chuck Lanehart gathers statesmen and journalists, outlaws and entertainers, in these profiles of the Texas Plains.

Mexican American Baseball in Houston and Southeast Texas

9781467126359

$24.99

Mexican American Baseball in Houston and Southeast Texas pays tribute to the baseball and softball players and teams from Houston, Sugar Land, Texas City, Richmond, and other surrounding communities in the region. Since the early 1900s, this game has had an important role in the lives of area Mexican Americans. In the Houston barrios, when entrenched discriminatory practices obstructed city unity, the diamond brought people together. In the Sugar Land region, Mexican Americans, African Americans, and Anglos worked and played together, blurring racial lines. Baseball and softball built community pride and connected generations of Mexican American families. The wonderful stories and breathtaking images in this book help resurrect the rich and little-known history of Mexican American baseball and softball in this key part of Texas.

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The San Marcos 10

9781467141277

$24.99

On November 13, 1969, ten students at Texas State University were suspended for participating in a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War. They had kept vigil in front of the Huntington Mustangs, bearing signs that read, “Vietnam Is an Edsel” and “44,000 U.S. Dead, For What?” while an increasingly hostile anti-protest crowd chanted, “Love it or leave it!” and “Let’s string ’em up!” It was a day after news of the My Lai massacre broke. Part of a coordinated, nationwide Vietnam Moratorium effort that confounded and infuriated the Nixon White House, the “San Marcos 10” challenged their suspension, taking their case all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Author E.R. Bills offers this fascinating glimpse into the 1960s antiwar movement in Texas, the extraordinary measures to quell it and the broader social activism in which it participated.

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Texas Entertainers

9781467141512

$21.99

In keeping with its reputation for size and spectacle, Texas has produced a staggering number of stars. Although many hailed from towns too small to have a post office, they occupied the spotlight on the largest of stages. Roger Miller's songs made him the "King of the Road,'? and Howard Hughes stretched his vision across the skies of the silver screen. Gene Autry won fame as a singing cowboy and Van Cliburn wore a tuxedo to international piano competitions, but both hailed from the Lone Star State. Texans penned Old Yeller and voiced Daffy Duck. From Buddy Holly to Ginger Rogers and Joan Crawford to Jimmy Dean, Bartee Haile charts the brightest constellations of Texas entertainers.

Details at Ten:

9781609494155

$21.99

As broadcast news came of age in the turbulent decades of the 1950s and '60s, North Texas reporter Bert Shipp was on the front lines. While television changed the way Texas and the world witnessed history, Shipp's Dallas/Fort Worth coverage reported stories of both national and local importance. Whether in the media race to cover the Kennedy assassination, on a mission to Laos to help recover a secret list of prisoners of war while on a mission in Laos or highlighting the boy who had no shoes for Christmas, Shipp's accounts of chronicling the news are fascinating and often hilarious. Join this award-winning journalist as he recalls harrowing, humorous and true behind-the-scenes stories of those early days in Texas television news.

Braniff Airways

9781467134408

$24.99

Braniff Airways: Flying Colors takes readers on a magical flight through the history of Braniff International Airways, beginning with its small-town Oklahoma roots to its high-flying and stylish span of the globe. Braniff brought together the mystery of aviation with the glamorous fields of fashion, art, and design, and taught the flying world how to fly with style and beauty. It is this remarkable joining of forces that has made Braniff as popular today as it was when flying in style across the Atlantic and Pacific.

Around San Antonio

9780738503110

$24.99

Around San Antonio provides readers with an incisive history, not only of the city itself--its missions, festive traditions, schools, military bases--but also of the surrounding Hill Country and ranches. Covering a time span from the early 1900s to the 1960s, this book provides a concise background of local folklore and traditions to visitors and other interested persons who wish to gain a deeper insight and appreciation of San Antonio and the surrounding area.

Texas Hill Country Wineries

9781467132732

$24.99

The Texas Hill Country wineries have roots as old as any around. Texas grapes grow in soils made from ancient sea deposits, similar to the grape-growing regions of Europe. Texas wine culture arrived in the 1600s with Spanish missionaries who settled and planted vineyards in El Paso del Norte. The 1800s brought German and Italian immigrant farmers to Texas; they considered wine a staple of everyday life. In what is now America's No. 5 wine-producing state, the Texas Hill Country was named by Wine Enthusiast magazine to its 2014 list of best international wine destinations. It may surprise some, but not the wine aficionados who have visited the Texas Hill Country's 50 or more wineries, that wine-and-culinary tourism is currently the Texas Hill Country's fastest growing sector. This book is your guide to the Texas Hill Country winery experience. It is time to sip and savor Texas for yourself.

Legendary Locals of Oak Cliff

9781467100779

$24.99

Since its earliest days, Oak Cliff, a rolling, tree-covered section of Dallas, has generated outstanding personalities in all fields of American society and business and continues to do so today. In a high school history class, future US Speaker of the House Jim Wright caught his political vision; two years later, future Olympic champion and LPGA founder Babe Didrikson began her training at Lake Cliff Park. The legendary Stevie Ray Vaughan, along with contemporaries Michael Martin Murphy and Ray Wylie Hubbard, began his music career in Oak Cliff, while sports legends like Jerry Rhome and Harvey Martin paid their dues on local fields of play. Hollywood successes Belita Moreno and Stephen Tobolowsky first trained in their high school drama classes, decades after pioneer Oak Cliff girl Sarah Horton Cockrell became Dallas's first millionaire. Although a presidential assassin once lived in the community, two of America's largest mega-churches now call Oak Cliff home, as did the Father of the Texas Sesquicentennial.

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Galveston's Tree Carvings

9781467133050

$24.99

On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike made landfall in Galveston with a 12-foot storm surge that flooded most of the island. The salt water then killed between 40,000 and 50,000 trees in Galveston. After they died, the trees were cut down. A local citizen made the suggestion to carve the stumps into sculptures. Three different professional artists and one amateur artist carved all of the carvings on the island. The first carving was completed in 2009, and the stumps continue to be carved as of 2014. They have become a must-see tourist attraction in Galveston.

Midlothian

9780738579450

$24.99

Denton

9780738585185

$24.99

Founded in 1857 as Denton County's fourth county seat, Denton, Texas, has changed from a frontier community to a thriving city at the apex of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. This book documents the historical landmarks that remain and those that exist only in photographs and in the hearts and minds of citizens.

Argyle

9780738584966

$24.99

With its large trees and rolling hills, the small town of Argyle is nestled between the Grand Prairie and the Blackland Prairie. In the 1850s, settlers found Argyle's natural resources perfect for growing crops and raising cattle. In 1881, when the Texas and Pacific Railroad built tracks through Denton County, Argyle became a town. Those who led the way to bring modern conveniences and provide protection for the people of Argyle are pointed out in this book, which tracks Argyle's history from a farming community to a modern town. Through the years, Argyle's citizens have worked together to benefit the community through local charitable organizations that include the Argyle Food Pantry, the Argyle Seniors' Activities Center, the Communities Civic League, Inc., and the Argyle Education Foundation.

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San Antonio in the Great War

9781467131759

$24.99

San Antonio, Texas, has been called Military City USA for many years. It earned this sobriquet not only by virtue of its major military installations but also because of its close and cordial relationship with the US Armed Forces. But in 1916, the year before America entered the Great War, all of that was still in the future. Fort Sam Houston was the largest US Army post in the country, but its attention was focused on the border with Mexico. This changed on April 6, 1917, as the United States needed to quickly raise an expeditionary army of three million men with its attendant air service and send it overseas. This volume portrays the growth of military facilities and infrastructure in San Antonio during World War I that started the Alamo City on the road to becoming Military City USA.

Cover image for San Antonio in the Great War, isbn: 9781467131759

The Queen Isabella Causeway Collapse

9781467156813

$24.99

In the days after 9/11, the country was on high alert. So when an alarming incident occurred just off the Texas coast on the early morning hours of September 15th, authorities immediately assumed another terrorist attack had taken place. A towing vessel collided into a support pillar of the Queen Isabella Causeway, causing an 80-foot section of the bridge to tumble into the ocean. Unfortunately, the gaping hole left in the bridge was not visible to cars traveling to and from South Padre Island to the mainland city of Port Isabel, Texas. Robert Espericueta, along with his cousins, happened to be in the only other boat on the waters that night. Espericueta collaborates with author Juan Carmona to track the extraordinary events of a bewildering catastrophe and a heroic rescue.

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Haunted North Central Texas

9781467151535

$21.99

Explore the haunted lore and inexplicable tragedies of North Central Texas. North Central Texas is home to some former residents who just won’t leave. Encounter spirits of affluent families lingering in their mansions and the specters of notorious outlaws still trapped in their jail cells. Uncover the mysterious demise of Garland’s Smiley family and the grisly secrets of a Grayson County slaughterhouse. Track down the stone angel who flaps her wings when no one is watching. Learn why the elevators at the Adolphus Hotel frighten guests and plumb the ghostly currents that flow through the town of Mineral Wells. Author Teresa Nordheim ventures into the past of a region with more unnerving shadows than a North Texas Thunderstorm.

Wharton

9780738579078

$24.99

On a bend in the Colorado River where it meanders through the Bay Prairie lies the town of Wharton. Caney and Peach Creeks spill into the river nearby and mark the boundaries of this small community. Stephen F. Austin first brought settlers here in the early 1820s, and the town of Wharton was organized in 1846. Named in memory of two brothers who fought in the Texas Revolution, the town sits astride trade routes that connect larger cities like Houston and San Antonio. Steamboats made their way up the Colorado River, and the railroad bustled through in the 1880s. The town began to grow quickly by 1900, and now, a century later, Wharton honors a diverse cultural heritage passed down for six generations. Today Wharton has more than 9,000 residents who make up a diverse and thriving community, and who still appreciate their special place along the mighty Colorado River.

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Texas Sesquicentennial Wagon Train

9780738584881

$24.99

In 1986, the Texas Sesquicentennial Wagon Train joined the 150th birthday celebration that commemorated the state's independence from Mexico. The wagon train followed a jagged 3,000-mile circle around the state to bring it within approximately 100 miles of every town or city in Texas. The six-month schedule began January 2, 1986, in Sulphur Springs and was followed so closely that each town or city knew the exact day the wagon train would arrive and could make plans for welcoming it with local events. Some folks traveled the entire route; others joined for a day or a week. A total of 10,000 riders from 27 states traveled at least a part of the way during the six months. While people and wagons came and went, a core group of participants and support staff completed the entire trip, arriving at the Fort Worth Stockyards on July 3, 1986, for a final celebration.

Pflugerville

9781467130806

$24.99

When the early settlers arrived in the 1850s, the Blackland Prairie was covered with four-foot sage grass on which buffalo grazed. Land was cleared, homes were built, crops were planted in the rich fertile soil, and cattle were driven, via the Chisholm Trail, to market in Kansas. The village of Pflugerville in northeast Travis County received its name in 1893 when postal service was approved. In 1904, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad established a depot on land donated by George Pfluger. The railroad was the economic engine that spurred the growth of the town, attracting new businesses and visitors. Diligent leaders established churches, schools, and support organizations, forming the firm foundation and core values that are still visible today. The football team received national recognition in 1962 for its 55 consecutive victories. Present visionary leaders face the challenges of another explosive boom in growth, providing support, opportunities, quality of life, and excellent education for Pflugervillians.

Legendary Locals of the Big Bend and Davis Mountains

9781467100540

$24.99

"Home of the Last Frontier" is how the local radio station aptly describes the Big Bend and Davis Mountains region of West Texas, the sparsely populated area of desert and mountain close to the Mexican border. After 1848, the first settlers started to move in. They came to make a living, and a few made a fortune. Mysterious cattle baron Milton Faver ran 10,000 cattle in the 1870s. Others came for their health, like J.O. Langford, his wife, and young daughters who, seeking a dry climate, came to homestead on the Rio Grande. Today's newcomers are equally pioneering in their own way. Donald Judd was the catalyst that changed Marfa from a moribund cow town to an internationally recognized art center. Edie Elfring, an immigrant from a small island in the Baltic Sea, has picked up trash and tended Alpine's public gardens--unasked and unpaid--for years. They were drawn to what their predecessors found: a boundless landscape peopled by a few hardy, independent souls.

Legendary Locals of the Big Bend and Davis Mountains

Texas Far & Wide

9781625859181

$21.99

The sheer volume of remarkable Texan exploits creates a dizzying tally for the proudest of its citizens. So it happens that inexplicable marvels slip past an entire state of storytellers and world-famous legends live as anonymous neighbors. Ever hear the story about the escaped ape in the Big Thicket? Or the Interplanetary Capital of the Universe that sat on the Gulf Coast? Does the cowboy hat that warmed U.S.-China relations ring a bell? From the Staked Plain Quakers to the Kaiser Burnout, E.R. Bills delves into some of the most fascinating chapters of overlooked Texas lore.

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Smithville

9780738570624

$24.99

Smithville's reputation is that of a railroad town, yet it offers an even richer history. Fertile land and the Colorado River attracted pioneers with energy, dreams, and a hunger to build. After Thomas Gazley chose head-right land in Stephen F. Austin's Second Colony in 1827, area settlers joined the fray to secure a Texas free from Mexico's supremacy. Some represented Bastrop County in the new Republic of Texas's legislature. Others stayed home and built a village on the banks of the Colorado. Businessmen influenced the growth of Smithville by attracting the railroad, and soon Smithville was the largest city in the county, offering a place for businesses and families to thrive. Smithville's fortunes have risen and fallen with the railroad, the river, and the Central Texas economy, and it has again become a vital community, this time nurturing scientists, artists, filmmakers, and antique lovers.

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Stephen F. Austin State University Jacks

9780738571805

$24.99

Stephen F. Austin State University opened its doors in 1923, and its administrators instituted intercollegiate athletics almost immediately. Over the next eight decades, the Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks—team names derived from the area's predominant forest products industries—participated successfully in the Lone Star, Gulf Star, and Southland Conferences. Such outstanding Lumberjacks as James Silas, Mark Moseley, and Jeremiah Trotter have even gone on to successful careers in the NBA and NFL. This book offers readers a retrospective look at the success of SFA's athletic programs, as well as the players, coaches, and fans that led them to victory.

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Medina Lake

9780738585475

$24.99

Surrounded by the beautiful Texas Hill Country, Medina Lake has a rich history of fortunes rising and falling as rapidly and unpredictably as the level of the lake. Completed in 1912, Medina Dam was, at the time, the largest concrete dam in Texas. The lake was initially constructed to irrigate farmlands, but its rising waters forever altered a way of life for the ranchers and farmers who lived on the land above the dam. When ranchers and farmers were faced with condemnation of their lands, the first cries of whiskey's for drinking and water's for fighting were heard. As a testament to the resiliency of these original families, they turned their losses into a new way of life catering to the tourists, hunters, and fishermen who flocked to the newly formed lake. As continual droughts plague the semiarid desert that surrounds the lake, a never-ending tug-of-war over water resources continues. Meanwhile, the lake's pristine blue-green waters continue to attract boaters, swimmers, fishermen, revelers, and those who have made their homes on the limestone bluffs that encircle Medina Lake.

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San Antonio's Historic Market Square -- Spanish Language Edition - La Histórica Plaza del Mercado en San Antonio

9781467127363

$24.99

San Antonio fue fundada en 1718, para 1730 el virrey de Nueva EspaÃ±a emitiÃ³ Ã³rdenes de trazar mapas de plazas y parques para la llegada de los isleÃ±os de las Canarias en 1731. Las plazas con sus mercados se convirtieron en centros de negocios y entretenimiento. La primera fue Plaza de las Armas y cuando los isleÃ±os llegaron, marcaron Plaza de las Islas (Plaza Principal). Plaza del Ã lamo era el centro de comercio antes de la guerra civil; al ir creciendo San Antonio los mercados se tuvieron que relocalizar. La construcciÃ³n del Mercado Municipal empezÃ³ en 1899. Ã?ste fue construido en Plaza Paschal y demolido en los 1930s pero el anexo del Mercado Municipal, construido en los 1920s, sobreviviÃ³. Los anexos se convirtieron en El Mercado y Centro de Artes. En los 1970s, un edificio permanente para el mercado de agricultores fue construido en la Plaza de Zacate. Hoy Ã©stos, con los edificios histÃ³ricos en el Ã¡rea, son conocidos como El Mercado.

San Antonio's Historic Market Square -- Spanish Language Edition - La Histórica Plaza del Mercado en San Antonio

Greeks in Houston

9781467130295

$24.99

This history of the Greeks in Houston is really the story of individuals who worked diligently to forge new lives for themselves even as they maintained their Greek identity and their Orthodox faith. The efforts of many of the founders are immortalized in the buildings that constitute the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral complex. Their names remind us of their hard work and commitment to establishing their koinonia (communion) in Houston. There are many other names that have gone unremarked over the decades but to whom we owe just as much for their tenacity and dedication. And there are the new generations who inherited this legacy and keep it vibrant through the stewardship of their faith and culture.

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Crane

9780738595825

$24.99

Crane is the county seat and only town in Crane County, Texas. Hot, windy, and impossibly dry, save for the Pecos River and the oil bubbling below, people still have been migrating to or passing through it for hundreds of years. In 1583, Spanish explorers traversed the Pecos at a ford known as Horsehead Crossing. In 1858, the crossing became an important stop on the Butterfield Overland Mail route. Famous adventurers Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving trekked through the crossing in 1866. Castle Gap, a mountain with castle-like boulders, offered shelter to prehistoric people. Likewise, forty-niners sought protection there while migrating to California. Legend states that the Mexican emperor Maximilian once buried vast golden treasures there. Nearby, Juan Cordona Salt Lake provided salt to Native American traders. Historically, ranching has been important in Crane County, although oil is king in the region, being one of the largest oil-producing counties in Texas. Throughout the years, the city of Crane has maintained a consistent population of approximately 3,500, subsisting primarily on the oil and gas industry.

Ennis

9780738558592

$24.99

In 1871, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad reached what would soon become Ennis, Texas. A year later, the city was officially established and named for Cornelius Ennis, a Houston and Texas Central Railroad tycoon. It became home to many, including a number of Civil War veterans. Czech immigrants also made Ennis their home, adding their rich cultural heritage to this growing city. In its "Wild West" days, there were as many as 13 saloons in the city, and it became a popular train stop for as many as 10 passenger trains a day. A thriving cotton industry brought thousands to the downtown district on Trade Days. Family, tradition, and a strong sense of community have always been the foundation from which Ennis has prospered. This remains evident with yearly events such as the Bluebonnet Trails and Festival, the National Polka Festival, and the Christmas Parade of Lights.

Legendary Locals of Grand Prairie

9781467102179

$24.99

Grand Prairie is a city on the edge. Citizens have been innovators with a love for family and community. Alexander Dechmann traded land to insure a railroad depot; early settlers started schools for their families; and the police department hired one of the first women. Leaders at nonprofits such as Brighter Tomorrows not only helped the local community, but also helped develop services in surrounding communities. Business owners and volunteers have strong family traditions of giving back to Grand Prairie, and civil servants have loyalties for extended years of service, such as Ruthe Jackson and her family, who provided support for both businesses and the community. From the early settlers to today's city, Grand Prairie is built upon loyalty.

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Krum

9780738579917

$24.99

Krum is one of the crown jewels of North Texas. Located north of Fort Worth and just west of Denton, Krum was once famous for an award-winning strain of wheat. The town even established three grain mills to accommodate wheat production. Over a million pounds of grain were shipped in 1900, when Krum was known as the largest wagon grain market in the United States. The town now serves northwest Denton County as a center for agricultural, financial, and emergency services, with its citizens as Krum's major asset. Descendants of many of the original settlers are still here by preference and are proud to tell the world they live in Krum. Why go anywhere else?

Cover image for Krum, isbn: 9780738579917

Mexican American Baseball in the Alamo Region

9781467133388

$24.99

Mexican American Baseball in the Alamo Region celebrates the game as it was played in the Tejano and Tejana communities throughout Texas. This regional focus explores the importance of the game at a time when Spanish-speaking people were demanding cultural acceptance and their political and civil rights in cities like San Antonio, Corpus Christi, New Braunfels, San Diego, Kingsville, and Pleasanton. All had thriving Mexican American communities that found comfort in the game and pride in their abilities on the field. On these pages are historical images and wonderful stories that are now immortalized, taking their rightful place in the annuals of the game. ¡Viva Tejas, Viva Béisbol, y Viva los Peloteros!

The Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education

9781467130820

$24.99

For the past 40 years, the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education (TACHE) has been on the forefront of advocacy to improve opportunity in higher education for US persons of Mexican origin. Chicano faculty at the University of Texas, together with a few Chicano students, organized the group's first gatherings in 1974, and since then, TACHE has held thematic annual conferences that signal its mission and program focus and allow professional networking. Chicano faculty and students in colleges and universities have increased, but much still remains to be done. Although funding for education is drastically being cut, Chicano and Latino students are at the front door of higher education, and the number of college-ready students is reaching significant levels across the nation. The official designation of Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), for schools with Chicano and Latino student enrollment in excess of 25 percent, has become a badge of honor among colleges and universities.

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Texas Jailhouse Music

9781626198678

$21.99

Inside the Texas State Prison is a surprising story of ingenuity, optimism and musical creativity. During the mid-twentieth century, inmates at the Huntsville unit and neighboring Goree State Farm for Women captured hearts all over Texas during weekly radio broadcasts and live stage performances. WBAP's Thirty Minutes Behind the Walls took listeners inside the penitentiary to hear not only the prisonersʼ songs but also the stories of those who sang them. Captivating and charismatic, banjo player Reable Childs received thousands of fan letters with the Goree All-Girl String Band during World War II. Hattie Ellis, a young black inmate with a voice that rivaled Billie Holiday's, was immortalized by notable folklorist John Avery Lomax. Cowboys, songsters and champion fiddlers all played a part in one of the most unique prison histories in the nation. Caroline Gnagy presents the decades-long story of the Texas convict bands, informed by prison records, radio show transcripts and the words and music of the inmates themselves.

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Lancaster

9780738578767

$24.99

In 1841, the Republic of Texas was on the brink of bankruptcy, and it needed to attract new immigrants in order to survive. With this important goal in mind, in 1844 the Texas congress authorized the republic's president, Sam Houston, to contract with individuals to colonize the state. In September of that same year, one group headed by Capt. Roderick Rawlins from Illinois came to Texas and settled in what would become the town of Lancaster. Farmers grew grains and cotton, and Lancaster became a trade center with a lively town square. A commercial club organized in order to coordinate advertising for local businesses, and it also held trade days that later became town fairs. Local residents worked hard all week and enjoyed horse races, baseball, forty-two parties, music performances, and other entertainment on the weekends. By the late 1800s, Lancaster was connected to the rest of the state by the railroads, but the town still retained its independent, small-town Texas character.

Cover image for Lancaster, isbn: 9780738578767

San Antonio in Vintage Postcards

9780738508795

$24.99

Postcards are an important element of understanding our history, for they provide future generations with a rare glimpse into the past. Since the late 1800s, photographers have traveled around the nation to places such as San Antonio to capture scenes of everyday life and preserve them in this unique form. San Antonio began as a small mission village, a wild west frontier town, and starting point for huge cattle drives northward, and quickly grew into a bustling economic and cultural center for South Texas, luring residents and tourists with its colonial missions, diverse people, prominent military bases, long-standing traditions, and festive celebrations.

The SMS Ranch

9781467126830

$24.99

Few images captivate the Western imagination more than the Texas cowboy at home on the range, herding, corralling, throwing and branding cattle, bronc busting, dining from chuck wagons, and sleeping under the stars. The SMS Ranch in the early 1900s was exactly such a place. Spanning hundreds of thousands of acres and holding land in 12 Northwest Texas counties, the SMS was formed by early Swedish immigrant to the Republic of Texas Swante Magnus Swenson. Swenson, a good friend of Sam Houston, had a penchant for wise financial decisions and, by the late 1800s, lived in New York with offices on Wall Street. Swenson sent his two sons to manage his vast Texas landholdings. In 1902, they hired legendary cattleman Frank Hastings to manage the SMS Ranch, headquartered in Stamford, Texas, north of Abilene and west of Fort Worth. Hastings's wife, Laura, and daughter Ruth photographed life on the ranch, and many professional photographers visited the SMS as well, leaving a rich visual legacy.

The Quadrangle

9781467128667

$24.99

Designed by Q.M. Gen. Montgomery Meigs and built in 1876 as a quartermaster supply depot, the Quadrangle evolved into a major regional headquarters. The Quadrangle has become synonymous with Fort Sam Houston. It has been immortalized in the art of Porfirio Salinas and the jewelry of James Avery. In Texas, the Quadrangle at Fort Sam Houston stands second only to the Alamo in historical significance. Designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1974 for its military contribution to the defense of the United States through the Indian Wars, the war with Spain, and both world wars as well as Korea, Vietnam, and the global war on terrorism, the Quadrangle continues its role as an active participant in national defense as the headquarters responsible for the land defense of North America. For almost 150 years, military activities have been conducted in the Quadrangle, and many of America's greatest soldiers and airmen have served within its walls—Ranald Mackenzie, Tasker Bliss, Frederick Funston, John J. Pershing, Billy Mitchell, Walter Krueger, and Jonathan M. Wainwright.

Cover image for The Quadrangle, isbn: 9781467128667

Burnet

9780738571218

$24.99

Nestled along Hamilton Creek in the hills of Central Texas, the city of Burnet began in the mid-1800s as a settlement across the creek from Fort Croghan. Initially called Hamilton, it was a travel crossroads, making it an important trade center. Logan Vandeveer built the first commercial limestone building in 1854, and Peter Kerr, a cattle merchant, later donated 100 acres of land for the county seat. The city was eventually named after David G. Burnet, the first provisional president of the Republic of Texas. Burnet is still the progressive city it has always been, building a strong infrastructure to support its growth, and yet its modern economy continues to be boosted by its past. Every week, the Hill Country Flyer steam train brings hundreds of tourists who enjoy the charming historic district and courthouse square with its shops, cafés, and friendly people.

Lone Star Sports Legends

9781467137751

$21.99

From the clash of college to the best married shooting duo in history, the Lone Star State clears every hurdle the sports world offers. A former Texas Christian basketball player became the first tenured African American professor at Harvard Business School. Aggie football legend John Kimbrough's first professional contract required him to act in movies and serve as the stadium's handyman. For every date on the calendar, Ryan Sprayberry provides a play-by-play of 365 memorable days in the state's athletic history, beginning with the birth of the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1937, and ending with the final snap of the Ice Bowl on December 31, 1967.

Port Isabel

9780738596877

$24.99

In the 1830s, a small community known as El Fronton de Santa Isabel set roots on the banks of the Laguna Madre Bay. Official claim for the land was granted to Don Rafael Garcia as part of the Potrero ("Pasture") de Santa Isabel in 1828. Less than two decades later, Point Isabel was home to Zachary Taylor's Fort Polk and found itself a home base during the Mexican-American War. In 1853, construction was completed on the Point Isabel lighthouse, a navigational beacon with a 16-mile view. Port Isabel was incorporated in 1928, and a deep-water port shipped its first commercial load in 1937. By the 1950s, Port Isabel was the "Shrimping Capital of the World," and the first Queen Isabella Causeway connected South Padre Island to the mainland. Port Isabel continues to deepen its roots on the banks of the Laguna Madre Bay. Heritage and cultural tourism, a relaxed quality of life, and an appreciation for all things coastal are synonymous with Port Isabel.

Sweetwater

9781467130967

$24.99

From buffalo hunters and ranchers to rattlesnake hunters and wind farmers, Sweetwater has a rich and diverse history of hearty people flourishing in a harsh environment. Beginning with the Kiowa, Apaches, and Comanche, who migrated through the area following herds, and continuing with hunters after the Civil War, Sweetwater, like many West Texas towns, owes its inception to the buffalo. After the war, the demand for beef, hides, and tallow in the North escalated, requiring hunters to reduce buffalo populations, both for their prized hides and to make room for cattle. The slaughter reached its peak in the South in the 1870s, and in 1877, Billie Knight set up a small store on the banks of Sweetwater Creek to accommodate hunters and ranchers. Since the construction of this humble dugout, the town of Sweetwater has had one racetrack, two locations, three names, four courthouses, and countless snakes, wild fires, and tornadoes.

Cover image for Sweetwater, isbn: 9781467130967

Rains County

9780738579986

$24.99

This fourth-smallest county in Texas was created in December 1870 from parts of Wood, Hunt, Van Zandt, and Hopkins Counties. The county and the county seat are named after the founding father, Emory Rains. In the early days, cotton was king, and the towns were full of businesses that served the residents' needs. In 1902, the National Farmers Union was formed in Point, and with the decline of cotton, dairy and beef cattle are now the main industries. The Texas legislature designated Rains County as "Eagle Capital of Texas" in 1995 in order to protect and preserve the bald eagles who nest around the local lakes. Today, Emory is the home of the A.C. McMillan African American Museum, which preserves the African American culture of this area. Rains County is bordered by Lake Tawakoni for catfish fishing and Lake Fork for bass fishing. These lakes, along with annual festivals, draw thousands of visitors and outdoor enthusiasts each year. This pictorial history portrays the everyday life, influential people of the county, education, worship, and businesses from 1870 to 1950. "Come to Rains County where it rains when it wants to!"

Austin’s Flower Hill Legacy

9781467149396

$21.99

For nearly a century and a half, the Smoot family "cooperated with nature" to create the vibrant Texas wildscape of the Flower Hill Estate on West Sixth Street. But the generosity of spirit that cultivated that sanctuary extends beyond the iron fence surrounding the property. Institutions like the Central Presbyterian Church, the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the Austin American-Statesman, the Texas state capitol, The University of Texas and Travis and Austin High Schools all owe an incalculable debt to Flower Hill residents. Author Rosa Latimer traces the positive legacy of Flower Hill and the influential Austin family who lived there.

Midlothian

9780738558752

$24.99

The springs that initially attracted settlers to this area sprang from thick deposits of Balcones Escarpment limestone. The springs gave rise to Waxahachie Creek, and many settlers chose land near its headwaters to form the village of Midlothian. The black soil proved excellent for growing cotton, corn, wheat, oats, rye, and barley. When the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad came through in 1883, Midlothian was born. The town was incorporated in 1888, two years after the Houston and Texas Central Railroad reached town. Many settlers were experienced cotton growers, and gins were built alongside the railroads to process and ship the cotton. Farm animals normally kept for family use became more numerous, and several beef and dairy operations developed. Many servicemen returning from World War II, however, chose to commute to the metroplex for various jobs, decreasing the number of farmers. Soon thereafter, major corporations realized that the limestone was perfect for making cement and began operations here. Midlothian is liberally illustrated with historically rich photographs chronicling the development of this industrious region.

Gristmills of Central Texas

9781467125963

$24.99

Gristmills were once commonplace in Texas. There was hardly a river, a creek, or a stream without one. The purpose of the gristmill was to grind wheat into flour and corn into meal. Prior to the water-powered gristmill, grinding was a tedious, time-consuming task that was usually performed by hand using some type of mortar and pestle. When a gristmill began operating in an area, settlers from near and far traveled to the mill to have their grain ground. The gathering of these settlers and farmers at the mill was the beginning of many settlements that grew into the Texas towns of today. Many of these picturesque settings have become major tourist destinations.

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Coppell, Texas

9781467136617

$21.99

Coppell history is rooted in peace and community. In 1843, Sam Houston met with ten native tribes along Grapevine Springs Creek to negotiate an accord to end fighting and allow trade and settlement in the area. When Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport opened in 1974, Coppell transformed from a farming hamlet into a thriving town with expanding economic opportunity. Through firsthand accounts with longtime residents and meticulous research, authors Jean Murph and Lou Duggan unfold the contemplative story of a complex and historic community.

Historic Dallas Hotels

9780738578798

$24.99

In Dallas's infancy, accommodations for the traveler arriving by stage or horseback consisted of boardinghouses or unfurnished rooms, but within 10 years of the city's founding, Dallas could boast about what is considered to be its first hotel: Thomas Crutchfield's log cabin and livery stable. As the village evolved from town to city, these early facilities were replaced with elegantly appointed hotels that rivaled those in New York or Chicago and established Dallas as a modern city. As the 20th century progressed, many older hotels were replaced with up-to-date facilities, and the rise of the automobile following World War II saw the establishment of dozens of motels and motor courts. There were accommodations for every type of traveler, and Dallas had established itself as a hotel town.

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Legends & Lore of the Texas Capitol

9781467137584

$24.99

From its beginning as one of the most ambitious construction projects west of the Mississippi, the imposing red granite Lone Star statehouse loomed large in Texas lore. The iconic landmark rests on a foundation of election rigging, an unsolved murder, land swaps and pre-dedication blackmail. It bore witness to the first meeting between LBJ and Lady Bird, as well as a bizarre resolution honoring the Boston Strangler. Mike Cox digs up a quarry's worth of the capitol's untold history, cataloguing everything from its ghost stories to its public art and collectible tourist kitsch.

Historic Downtown Plano

9780738579023

$24.99

Historic Downtown Plano focuses on the city's main mercantile area of Mechanic (Fifteenth Street) and Main (K Avenue) and the surrounding heritage districts of Haggard Park, Old Towne, and the Douglass Community. Incorporated in 1873, downtown Plano has endured at least five major fires, the Great Depression, closure of the interurban railway, and retail and corporate development to the west of the area. In recent years, downtown Plano has benefited from ongoing redevelopment and revitalization as an urban transit village with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light rail train service to the area--taking us back to those days of old.

Murphy

9780738585383

$24.99

With a 470-percent population spike during the last decade, Murphy, Texas, is the fastest-growing city in Collin County. Citizens are still drawn to the area just as the pioneers were. Murphy, first known as Maxwell and then Decatur, was once part of the Peters Colony empresario grant issued by the Republic of Texas in 1841. Carved out of the Blackland Prairie Region, the soil was rich and black, rainfall was abundant, the temperature was moderate, and the land was carpeted with tall grasses. Native trees, wild fruit, honey, game, fish, and wild turkey were plentiful. Trees were cut for homes, and prairie soils were plowed for crops. The arrival of the railroad in 1888 made it more convenient for farmers to transport crops and for local shopkeepers to operate their businesses, which left a lasting legacy in the community.

Legendary Locals of Arlington

9781467100588

$24.99

The people of Arlington have always had a can-do spirit. There's Carrie Rogers, the society matron who became marshal; Tillie Burgin, who changed the face of social services in Arlington; and Tom Vandergriff, the boy mayor who stayed on the job for 26 years. When educational opportunities were deemed inadequate, Edward E. Rankin and other leading citizens founded and supported a school that grew into the University of Texas at Arlington. Before there was the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Jim Hayes opened the eyes of Arlington leaders to the difficulties of navigating the University of Texas at Arlington and the city in a wheelchair. Never willing to be overshadowed by Dallas or Fort Worth, their larger neighbors to the east and west, Arlington residents embraced industry and progress, and their enterprising spirit attracted the notice of the nation. Today, the city boasts major businesses and attractions--General Motors, Six Flags, the Texas Rangers, and the Dallas Cowboys--and continues to grow thanks to the aspirations of its people.

Austin's Rosewood Neighborhood

9780738595979

$24.99

Rosewood is a historically African American neighborhood on the east side of Austin. It takes its name from Rosewood Avenue, which runs through the heart of the area. Rosewood was first settled by Europeans in the late 19th century, and beginning in the 1910s, the City of Austin adopted as official policy the goal of segregating African Americans in East Austin. Rosewood has been the official home of Austin's Juneteenth, or Emancipation Day, celebration. June 19th was the day that news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas--two years after the fact. The exact location of the celebration has changed over the years, but whether it was Emancipation Park or Rosewood Park, Austin's major Juneteenth event has always been in Rosewood.

Benbrook

9780738585154

$24.99

In 1843, Edward and Nancy Wilburn arrived at their new allotment of land near Mary's Creek as Family 107 of Peter's Colony, which was established by the Republic of Texas to attract settlers to the area. Families were offered acreage, a cabin, musket balls, and seed to begin a new life in Texas. In the 1850s, the Benbrook area, then known as Marinda, was little more than a few ranches, a post office, and a one-room building that served as both the church and schoolhouse. In 1876, local resident James Benbrook petitioned the Texas and Pacific Railway to build a train station along Mary's Creek, and the town was later named after him. Despite a few train robberies and the dust of travelers along a branch of the old Chisholm Trail, Benbrook remained a quiet town on the outskirts of Fort Worth. As the city grew, it became known as a great place to raise a family, start a business, and enjoy recreational activities with family and friends.

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Texas A&M University Kingsville

9781467133548

$26.99

When the South Texas State Teachers College first opened its doors 75 years ago, there was only one academic building in the middle of a cotton field, no paved roads, dormitories, or even a cafeteria. Today, the Javelinas boast a proud tradition, a distinguished alumni, and an unmatched passion for education. As it looks toward the certain trials of the future, Texas A&M-Kingsville shines with promise, confident in the knowledge that no obstacle is too great that the Javelina cannot triumph over. Through 75 years, Texas A&M-Kingsville has overcome five name changes, lackluster state financing, and fiscal prejudices, to create a premier university in a rural, bilingual, and multicultural region.

San Antonio Beer

9781467118781

$21.99

Brewing history and beer culture permeate San Antonio. The Menger Hotel and its bar notoriously frequented by Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders began as the city's first brewery in 1855. The establishment of San Antonio Brewing Association and Lone Star Brewery at the close of the nineteenth century began the city's golden age of brewing. Decades later, the Volstead Act decimated the city's brewing community. Only one brewery survived Prohibition. Those that bounced back were run out of business by imports coming in on the new railroad. The 1990s saw a craft comeback with the opening of the oldest existing brewpub, Blue Star Brewing Company. Today, San Antonio boasts a bevy of new breweries and celebrates its brewing heritage. Grab a pint and join authors Jeremy Banas and Travis E. Poling for a taste of Alamo City's hoppy history.

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Big Spring and Howard County

9780738520599

$24.99

While Native Americans had been visiting the oasis at the cross roads of the Comanche War Trail for hundreds of years, Captain Randolph Marcy was the first White man to "discover" the springs on October 3, 1849. Settlers moved their families to the area, and the region quickly developed into a ranching and farming community. Captured here in over 200 vintage images are the trials and triumphs of settlers and residents to build a life in Big Spring and the towns of Howard County.

As the first settlers began setting up stakes in the region, a tent city was built at the springs while awaiting the arrival of a railway. Once the train was in service, Big Spring began to develop more permanent dwellings; schools, churches, and a newspaper were established, followed quickly by the building of hotels and banks and the formation of a local government. Featured here are over 150 years of the region's residents, homes, and social events, covering the many towns and communities of the County such as Forsan, Coahoma, Lomax, Elbow, Garden City, Knott, Vealmoor, Ackerly, and Vincent.

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Rio Grande Sniper Killings, The

9781467153430

$23.99

Untangle the complex conspiracy that led to the tragic deaths of Charlotte Kay Elliott and Kevin Edwin Frase on the banks of the Rio Grande. On the night of July 13, 1980, a hitman fired a high-powered rifle into the crowd at Pepe's On the River, an outdoor bar in Mission, Texas. He missed his target, a witness in the Loop 360 drug case, but killed two young bystanders. While state court prosecutions for capital murder inexplicably faltered, a federal court gave the assassin a life sentence for attempted murder of a grand jury witness. A member of the judge's staff who was present throughout the trial, author John W. Primomo revisits the dramatic twists and turns surrounding this murder on the Rio Grande.

Camp Bowie Boulevard

9781467130493

$24.99

In the early 1890s, Humphrey Barker Chamberlin installed a lifeline to his namesake suburb west of the city. A trolley connected to Arlington Heights Boulevard at the Trinity River's Clear Fork and chugged across prairie land to reach Chamberlin Arlington Heights. Camp Bowie, a soldiers' city, sprawled over both sides of the road from 1917 until 1919. At the Great War's end, the stretch west of present-day University Drive became the commemorative Camp Bowie Boulevard. The 1920s brought twin ribbons of cordovan-colored brick pavement, the prestige of inclusion in the Bankhead Highway network, and westering developers of another elite village: Ridglea. Midway through the Great Depression, the Will Rogers complex arose on a farm tract, visible from the thoroughfare, to host Texas Centennial celebrations and a special livestock exposition. Museums began claiming adjacent space in the 1950s. By the second decade of the 21st century, Camp Bowie Boulevard bisected a built environment both modern and historic.

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Hutchinson County

9781467108584

$23.99

Hutchinson County is in the center of the High Plains in the Texas Panhandle. Home to diverse native vegetation and abundant wildlife, the fertile plains to the north and the deep canyons of the Canadian River valley in the south define this land of contrasts. Ancient Native American culture thrived along the river for centuries. Plains tribes still dominated the region until the imperialist idea of manifest destiny became the law of the land, leading to westward expansion during the 19th century. Some of the early participants in this expansion used the Canadian River as a natural highway as they mapped the Texas Panhandle. Hutchinson County was established in 1876, and ranchers and farmers created a prosperous economy. By 1901, most of the county was an agricultural community, but the discovery of oil in 1921 drastically changed the lifestyles of those who lived there--and made their futures even brighter. Today, oil, cattle, and crops still dominate the local economy. Hard work and tenacity remain distinctive characteristics of those who reside in the area.

Stephenville Yellow Jacket Football

9780738584935

$24.99

In Texas, high school football is king. If pigskin passion is no less intense among college and professional fans, enthusiasm for the schoolboy sport is more democratically spread throughout towns and communities, small and large. Almost any young man can play if he's willing to pay the price, work hard, and bring a bit of local, regional, or statewide glory to his hometown. Stephenville High School is one among an elite group of Texas football schools that has achieved at the highest level. The traditional rivalry games against Dublin and Breckenridge in the 1920s through the 1940s have evolved into heavily attended matchups with seven-time state champion Brownwood and, most recently, three-time state champion Aledo. From Joe Brown and Jim Mobley's powerhouse teams of the 1930s to Mike Murphy's 1952 regional qualifying squad, the Yellow Jackets have contended with the best in Texas. With four state championships, Art Briles made the 1990s a "Decade of Dominance" for Stephenville High School. Yellow Jacket football fever remains alive and well, promising to remain so long into the indefinite future.

Mesquite

9781467133579

$24.99

The story of Mesquite, Texas, is a story of an east Dallas County settlement that became first a depot town on the Texas & Pacific Railroad, then a "Boomtown USA" suburban city. Recently, and not alone among other aging American Southwest suburbs, it has become an urban center facing cultural, social, and educational challenges, as well as economic decline.

San Antonio's Churches

9780738585369

$24.99

The towns that the Spaniards of colonial Mexico planted on their northern frontier were organized around the ideal of a close interaction between church, missionary outreach, and military. San Antonio was the most successful realization of this dream in Texas. The pattern of this tripartite approach has continued to shape the rich culture of the city down to the present. With this selection of photos, San Antonio's Churches takes a snapshot visit back through religious development throughout the three centuries of San Antonio's history.

The Inspiring Life of Texan Héctor P. García

9781467119016

$21.99

As a Mexican immigrant, Dr. Héctor P. García endured discrimination at every stage of his life. He attended segregated schools and was the only Mexican to graduate from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, in 1940. García's passion for helping others pushed him to advocate for equal rights. After serving in World War II, the doctor worked to help minorities achieve greater access to healthcare, voting rights and education. He started a private practice in Corpus Christi and in 1948 founded the American GI Forum. Cecilia García Akers shares a daughter's perspective on her father's remarkable achievements and sacrifices as an activist and physician.

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Galveston Burning

9781467144650

$23.99

Since 1821, when Jean Lafitte sailed away from a burning Campeche, the history of Galveston has often been wreathed in smoke. Over the next century, one inferno breached the walls of Moro Castle, while another reduced forty-two blocks of the residential district to ash. Recognizing the importance of protecting the city, concerted efforts were made to establish the first paid fire department, create a city waterworks and regulate construction standards. Yet even with all the forethought and planning, rogue fires continued to consume architectural gems like Nicholas Clayton's Electric Pavilion. Author James F. Anderson explores the lessons that Galveston has learned from its fiery past in order to safeguard its future.

Texas Ingenuity

9780738503561

$24.99

Imagination is bigger in Texas, too. This collection of inspiring and often quirky stories highlights dozens of examples of innovation from Lone Star history. The Hamill brothers devised a better oil well to reach gushers at Spindletop. The first Neiman-Marcus store opened in Dallas in 1907, revolutionizing the retail fashion world. Astroturf emerged at the Astrodome in 1966. Fritos and corn dogs are just two ubiquitous snack foods claimed as Texan originals. Houston native, and civil rights activist, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan rose to national prominence as a voice of unity during the Watergate scandal. Author Alan C. Elliott details these and many more lessons in success in Texas Ingenuity.

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Plano's Historic Cemeteries

9781467132350

$24.99

The Plano of today would not be recognizable to the pioneers who settled this section of the blackland prairie. Arriving in the early 1840s, these colonists from Tennessee and Kentucky were captivated by Sam Houston's stump speeches about the rich, fertile farmland of North Texas. All of their frontier cemeteries, large and small, are now surrounded by golf courses, subdivisions, and commercial development. The final resting places of Plano's pioneers still exist because of the hard work of cemetery associations, civic groups, concerned citizens, the City of Plano Parks Department, and the Plano Conservancy for Historic Preservation. These silent spaces hold a wealth of history that helps tell the story of Plano's beginnings as a rural farming community.

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Leon Valley

9780738585130

$24.99

Surrounded by the city of San Antonio and bisected by Texas State Highway 16, Leon Valley is known as the City of the Lions. In the early 1800s, European and Mexican immigrants homesteaded and raised their families here. Joseph Huebner, an Austrian immigrant, built a limestone house that became a stagecoach stop, providing a change of stock and overnight accommodations for weary travelers. Stories about strange noises and hauntings told by former homestead residents were thought to be related to the circumstances of his death. In the mid-1930s, a building boom attracted many to the quiet countryside. By the 1940s, dairy farming was the main occupation. From its beginnings, Leon Valley residents have chosen to preserve and celebrate its history, and concern for the well being of its citizens has remained a priority. This small community offers the advantages of a big city but retains its small-town atmosphere.

Painting the Town Orange

9781626194397

$24.99

Houston's sprawl has come with controversy, but it has created a blank canvas for the public art community. It all started in the Telephone Road Place subdivision, where retired mail carrier Jefferson Davis McKissack built the Orange Show, an extraordinary and eccentric monument to self-reliance, hard work and, yes, the fruit itself. McKissack's installation spawned more of its kind in the Bayou City, like the Beer Can House, the Flower Man's House, Pigdom--one woman's shrine to swine--and a flourishing art scene committed to preserving Houston's art environments. Author Pete Gershon tells the stories of these sites, their creators and the members of Houston's unique art community, all set against the backdrop of the city's quirky history..

Progreso

9780738579474

$24.99

Spanish for progress, Progreso is famous for the millions of tourists, known as Winter Texans, who drive through the town to visit Mexico. Rumor has it that Al Capone did the same thing during Prohibition. Perhaps the first visitor captivated by the Rio Grande was Juan Jose Hinojosa, as he asked the Spanish crown for rights to the land that is now Progreso on July 4, 1776. But it was Florencio Saenz, founder of the iconic Toluca Ranch, who requested a U.S. post office in 1896. Connecting to the Spiderweb Railroad in the 1920s gave the town a short-lived commercial farming boom that attracted prominent investors. In the late 1940s, though, two disastrous freezes killed the citrus industry, and farmers switched to vegetables and cotton. After the Progreso International Bridge was built in 1953, growers gained access to the Mexican market, an advantage that continues to attract people to this small town along the Rio Grande.

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Hudson Bend and the Birth of Lake Travis:

9781626196674

$21.99

Along the picturesque shores of the Colorado River lies historic Hudson Bend. Established by Wiley Hudson in the 1850s, the verdant hills and abundant water attracted scores of farming families. Hudson's example was soon followed by still more settlers, who created their own thriving communities in the area. Discover the evolution of this cherished region and the courageous people who shaped it, from the Comanche tribes and Anglo settlers to the developers, cedar choppers" and construction workers who forged the lake in 1937. Author and hill country native Carole McIntosh Sikes offers a collection of essays that explores a history forever linked with hill country culture, New Deal-era programs and Texas politics."

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Southlake

9780738578750

$24.99

Of the settlers who journeyed to North Texas 165 years ago, 12 families from Missouri traveled in oxen-drawn wagons to the Eastern Cross Timbers. These families laid claim to land in Peters Colony that was promised by the Republic of Texas's first empresario. The hardscrabble colonists built log cabins and the Lonesome Dove Church, the first church in Tarrant County. Their village came to be called Dove. Later settlements included White's Chapel, Old Union, and Jellico. The Depression hit local farmers and cattlemen hard, and newspaper accounts tell of small-time outlaws passing through, including members of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde gang who shot and killed two state troopers near Texas Highway 114. In 1956, a handful of neighbors voted to incorporate, and the town of Southlake was born. A decade later, city leaders from nearby Dallas and Fort Worth agreed to the construction of a regional airport east of Southlake, and the Dallas–Fort Worth Airport brought many families and prosperity to an area that flourishes today.

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Hidden History of the Llano Estacado

9781625858863

$24.99

The Llano Estacado, or "Staked Plain," of Texas and eastern New Mexico spreads two hundred miles across what early visitors called "an ocean of land." No other place on Earth is quite like it. Humans first inhabited the area more than twelve thousand years ago. Subsequently, settlers came to convert the grassland to ranches and then to sprawling farms. Every new generation performed its duty at this cultural crossroads, from the trade routes established by the comancheros to the fateful meeting between Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley at Lubbock's Cotton Club. Noted West Texas historians Paul H. Carlson and David J. Murrah compiled and edited fifty-six brief stories presenting the Llano Estacado's heritage at its liveliest and most unfamiliar.