Texas Day by Day

On this day in Texas history…

Month

Day

Year

Today's Entries 3 found

Worst bus accident in Texas history

September 21st, 1989

On this day in 1989, the worst bus accident in Texas history occurred near the communities of Mission and Alton in Hidalgo County. At 7:30 A.M. a Dr Pepper truck hit a Mission school bus, knocking it into a water-filled caliche pit at the corner of Five-Mile Road and Bryan Road. Nineteen children from the Alton area were drowned, and sixty were injured. Two others, including the bus driver, died later from their injuries. The tragedy led to a push for increased emergency exits (there was only one at the time) as well as more stringent requirements for the training and qualification of drivers.

Future missionary ordained

September 21st, 1826

On this day in 1826, Richard Salmon was ordained an Episcopal priest in New York, after two years as a deacon. He suffered from tuberculosis and, unsuccessful at ministry in the East, determined to take a colony of church members to Texas. But he also failed at the rare calling of clergyman-empresario, for his colony, already drastically reduced, disintegrated immediately upon arrival in Velasco in October 1836. Nevertheless, Salmon became the first Episcopal priest to minister canonically and regularly in Texas. He was one of two chaplains of the Texas Senate in the First Congress of the republic, and he officiated at Stephen F. Austin's funeral. After a long illness and a short stint as principal of the Houston city school, he returned to New York in 1840. In July 1849 he died of cholera on a steamboat near Baton Rouge while on his way back to Texas.

Oldest public junior college in Texas opens

September 21st, 1925

On this day in 1925, San Antonio College formally opened as University Junior College with an enrollment of 200 students. It is the oldest public two-year college in Texas still in operation. Classes were first conducted in San Antonio's old Main High School building. Under the administration of the University of Texas and in the absence of an appropriation to support the junior college, fees were charged on a quarterly basis. The state attorney general ruled in December 1925 that operation of a junior college by the University of Texas violated the state constitution; thus, supervision of the college, renamed San Antonio Junior College, passed to the San Antonio board of education for the second year of operation. In 1926 the college was assigned part of the building on Alamo Street formerly occupied by the German-English School. James Otis Loftin, president from 1941 to 1955, oversaw the period of the college's greatest growth. San Antonio College was adopted as the official name in 1948, and shortly thereafter the school moved to a thirty-seven-acre campus on San Pedro Avenue. The Alamo Community College District, consisting of San Antonio College, St. Philip's College, and two other campuses, enrolled nearly 49,000 students in the spring of 2003.

Recent & Upcoming Anniversaries

The following entries have anniversaries that occurred this month or will occur in the next 2 month(s):

Months

Texas Day by Day

Today's Entries 3 found Choose another date

Worst bus accident in Texas history

See also:

Future missionary ordained

See also:

Oldest public junior college in Texas opens

See also:

Recent & Upcoming Anniversaries

480th Anniversary

285th Anniversary

220th Anniversary

215th Anniversary

210th Anniversary

200th Anniversary

195th Anniversary

185th Anniversary

175th Anniversary

165th Anniversary

160th Anniversary

155th Anniversary

150th Anniversary

145th Anniversary

135th Anniversary

130th Anniversary

125th Anniversary

120th Anniversary

115th Anniversary

110th Anniversary

105th Anniversary

100th Anniversary

95th Anniversary

90th Anniversary

85th Anniversary

80th Anniversary

75th Anniversary

65th Anniversary

60th Anniversary

45th Anniversary

35th Anniversary

Get the Texas Day by Day delivered straight to your inbox… No membership required! *

Want even more?

Recently Viewed

Settings

Today's Entries 3 found

Get the Texas Day by Day delivered straight to your inbox… No membership required! ^*