50 Years of 50 States: Texas
Nickname: The Lone Star State
Date Ratified: December 29, 1845 (28th)
Capital: Austin
[caption id="attachment_1971" align="aligncenter" width="210" caption="Map of Texas"]
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- Texas is the largest of the lower 48 states by over 100,000 square miles. Texas is so huge, that El Paso is actually closer to California than to Dallas. Despite this fact, Texas is less than half the size of Alaska.
- Texas is the only state to have had the flags of 6 different sovereign nations flown over it. Also, the six nations that claimed Texas at some point were Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America, and the United States. The first of the Six Flags Amusement Parks was built in Arlington, TX, hence the name.
- Texas, an independent nation from 1836-1845, is the only state to achieve statehood through treaty, as opposed to territorial annexation.
- Dr Pepper was invented in Waco in 1885. When soft drink companies began using high fructose corn syrup late last century, the original Dr Pepper bottler in Dublin, TX refused, and continued to use pure cane sugar. To this day, you can find the original blend known as Dublin Dr Pepper throughout much of Texas.
- The Waco Bridge, built in 1870, was the first suspension bridge in the United States. It is still in use as a foot-bridge over the Brazos River.
- The Heisman Trophy is named for John William Heisman, who was the first full time head football coach at Rice University in Houston.
- The state flag of Texas was actually the last national flag of the Republic Texas, as it was approved in 1839. A popular urban legend is that due to Texas' status as a sovereign nation prior to statehood, it is the only state whose flag can fly at the same height as the American flag. However, this is false, as the United States Flag Code states that any state flag can fly at the same height as the American flag, as long as its flagpole is to the left of the Stars and Stripes.
