San Antonio History

July 3, 2012

Our Nations Anthem on July 4th

Happy Birthday America

Happy Fourth of July

by Randy Watson

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. This year is the 200th aniversary of the War on 1812, the inspiration to Francis Scott Key to write the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner. Francis ...

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June 7, 2012

Pre Statehood Land Grants In Texas History

The Importance of Pre-statehood Land Grants In Texas History, And How It Affects Texas Property Rights and Titling Today

By Misty Barton of Degree Jungle

Texas has a rich and diverse history that is specifically linked to the giving and taking of land within its borders. Texas is the only ...
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March 23, 2012

San Antonio PGA Golf Event History

Short History of the Valero Texas Open

by Randy Watson

The Valero Texas Open is an official tournament on the PGA Tour and this year (2012) is the 90th anniversary. This year's Valero Open begins with Round 1 on April 19, 2012 at the JW Marriot Golf Resort and ...

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Nov. 29, 2011

Disorder in the Court in 1842

Disorder in the Court: 9/11/1842

Strange but true - General Lopez de Santa Anna's invasion of Texas in 1836 was not to be the last time that a Mexican Army crossed the border into Texas in full battle array - artillery, infantry, military band and all. Santa Anna may ...

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April 7, 2011

The San Jacinto reenactment is April 16, 2011. This is the 175th anniversary of the war for Texas independence

Annals of 1836: The Runaway Scrape

 

The 175 anniversary of the war for Texas independence is being observed this year, I've been to commemorative events at the Alamo, and at Presidio La Bahia . With the price of a gallon of gas already reaching towards $3.50, I'll ...

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March 20, 2011

Tubing on rivers near San Antonio, absolutely relaxing; no cellphone, no internet, no city traffic - other than other tubers - just drifting along in the river current, keeping cool and watching the r

By the Rivers' Edge

The rivers that run through Texas were not historically reliable enough to facilitate heavy transport in the way that the Mississippi and its various tributaries were and still are. The various rivers - Rio Grande, Nueces, Guadalupe, San Antonio, Sabine, Brazos and Trinity - were at times and ...

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Dec. 29, 2010

The Great Pig War of 1841

The Great Pig War of 1841

The Pig War was not actually an honest-to-pete real shooting war. But it did involve a pair of international powers; the Republic of Texas, and the constitutional monarchy of France. And thereby hangs the story of a neighborhood squabble between a frontier innkeeper and ...

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May 21, 2010

More Like Mr Darcy and Less Like Shane

More Like Mr. Darcy and Less Like Shane

 

I think very fondly of re-enactors when I am working up a book, especially when I am working on a bit of historical fiction about Texas. Next to the public library, and the second-hand bookstores like Half-Price Books, there is no ...

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May 12, 2010

Log Cabin Days

Log Cabin Days

 

Back in the old days, shelter was almost everyone’s first need, upon settling on a homestead, that and planting some kind of crop in the ground. A marvelous book called “Texas Log Buildings; A Folk Architecture” differentiates very clearly the difference between a log cabin, and ...

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March 11, 2010

Lone Unionist Monument South of Mason Dixon Line

True to the Union

There is a unique monument in Comfort, Texas - the only memorial dedicated to Unionists, south of the Mason-Dixon line, and one of only a handful of places where the 36-star American flag flies at half-staff, in perpetuity. Virginia split into two states, and Missouri and Kansas ...

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