TSHA logo

The Handbook of Texas is free-to-use thanks to the support of readers like you. Support the Handbook today.

Font size: A / A reset

Support Texas History Now

Join TSHA to support quality Texas history programs and receive exclusive benefits.

Become a TSHA Member Today »

Texas, Our Texas

Charles A. Spain, Jr. General Entry

The state song of Texas was adopted by the Forty-first Legislature after a statewide contest in 1929. The music was originally written in 1924 by William J. Marsh of Fort Worth, and the lyrics were written by Marsh and Gladys Yoakum Wright. Alaska's statehood in 1959 necessitated the only change that has been made in the lyrics—modifying the line "largest and grandest" to "boldest and grandest." The Seventy-third Legislature again adopted "Texas, Our Texas" as the state song in a 1993 law.

Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin (Songs, William J. Marsh).

Categories:

  • Music
  • Songs

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Charles A. Spain, Jr., “Texas, Our Texas,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed October 23, 2020, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-our-texas.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and “Fair Use” for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public. The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law.

For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

This entry belongs to the following Handbook Special Projects:

spinoff logo
Save to MyTSHA Load a Random Entry Report an Error Request a Revision
handbook of texas logo
Become a TSHA member and get a FREE Texas Almanac!

Loading

tsha logo
legacy of texas logo
texas almanac logo