Texas Day by Day
On this day in Texas history…
Today's Entries 4 found
1. "Know-Nothings" abandon secrecy, meet in Austin
January 21st, 1856

On this day in 1856, the American or Know-Nothing party of Texas met for the first time in open convention in Austin. The party was the political manifestation of the xenophobic, anti-Catholic secret society known as the American Order. In the summer of 1855 Texas Know-Nothing leaders launched a plan to gain political control of the state. Lieutenant Governor David C. Dickson, who had defected from the Democratic party, headed the ticket, though he and his fellow candidates steadfastly denied that they were members of the American Order. During the spirited ensuing campaign Sam Houston issued a public letter endorsing the principles of the American Order. Though incumbent Democratic governor Elisha M. Pease defeated Dickson in the August election, the American party elected Lemuel D. Evans to Congress and about a dozen members to the state legislature. Buoyed by these limited successes, the party held a November rally in Austin at which Houston spoke, and at the January convention elected delegates to the national convention and nominated candidates for several state offices. But the national movement soon split over the issue of slavery, and by 1857 the American party had virtually disappeared in Texas.
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2. Charitable foundation begins bumpy journey
January 21st, 1960

On this day in 1960, Sarita Kenedy East, co-heir to the 400,000-acre Kenedy Ranch, and two friends—a Trappist monk named Brother Leo and J. Peter Grace of New York—founded the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation. Mrs. East was the sole member of the foundation. In 1948 she had willed thousands of acres of land to the Oblate Fathers and to the Catholic Diocese of Corpus Christi. The rest of her holdings were to be divided among relatives and ranch kin. But in 1960 she executed a new will leaving the bulk of her estate to the foundation. Then, shortly before her death, she named Brother Leo sole member of the foundation. Thus, by the time of her death in 1961, the ingredients were mixed for a chaotic, twenty-one-year legal process that brought forth more than 200 people claiming to be legitimate heirs. Ultimately, Brother Leo was cut out and the foundation began operations (1984) as the largest charitable foundation in South Texas.
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3. Sid Richardson Hall dedicated
January 21st, 1971

On this day in 1971, Sid Richardson Hall on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin was dedicated. The building, adjacent to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, was named for oilman and philanthropist Sid Richardson, born in Athens, Texas, in 1891. He became an independent oil producer in Fort Worth in 1919 and was well established as a millionaire by 1935. The public seldom knew of Richardson's business activities, and few knew what he looked like, for he rarely talked to reporters and did not like publicity. In 1947 he established the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, designed to aid churches, hospitals, and schools in Texas. Richardson was considered one of the wealthiest men in the nation; some estimates of his worth ranged up to $800 million, and he was often referred to as the "bachelor billionaire." He died in 1959. The building that bears his name houses the Center for American History, the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.
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4. Mason County courthouse burns
January 21st, 1877

On this day in 1877, the Mason County courthouse burned, destroying all early county records, including those pertaining to the Mason County War. This deadly episode began as a feud over cattle rustling but grew into a conflict between the Anglo and German elements in the community. The violence began in February 1875, when a mob took five suspected cattle thieves from jail and killed three. Shortly thereafter, another suspected rustler was killed by twelve men with blackened faces, prompting his friend Scott Cooley, a former Texas Ranger, to seek revenge. Cooley and his men, including Johnny Ringo, killed at least a dozen men, whereupon Maj. John B. Jones and twenty or thirty Texas Rangers were sent to quiet the difficulties. Jones searched for Cooley and his followers without success before discovering that some of his rangers were former comrades-in-arms of Cooley. After Jones discharged them, Cooley fled into Blanco County and died a short time later. A few people were eventually arrested, but most of the cases were dismissed. After many months of violence, a strained peace returned to Mason County in the fall of 1876, but the courthouse fire ensured that many of the details of the Mason County War would remain unknown.
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Recent & Upcoming Anniversaries
The following entries have anniversaries that occurred this month or will occur in the next 2 month(s):
330th Anniversary
- Domingo Terán de los Ríos appointed first governor of Texas 3 days from now
300th Anniversary
- French castaway reaches Natchitoches 3 weeks from now
- Aguayo expedition enters Texas 2 months 23 hours from now
265th Anniversary
- Explorer promises each Texan a silver mine 1 month 3 weeks from now
- Frenchman, considered a troublemaker by the Spanish, dies in prison 2 weeks from now
220th Anniversary
- Famed mustanger and filibuster killed 2 months 1 day from now
205th Anniversary
- Future Texas leader born in Sweden 1 month 4 days from now
200th Anniversary
- A Connecticut Yankee in Texas 3 days ago
195th Anniversary
- Cherokee leader arrives in Mexico City seeking tribal land grant 1 month 4 weeks from now
185th Anniversary
- Mexican soldier changes sides, joins Texans 1 month 2 days from now
- Infamy at Goliad 2 months 1 week from now
- Falvel given command of Flash 1 month 3 weeks from now
- Convention of 1836 breaks up in a hurry 1 month 4 weeks from now
- Alamo falls to Mexican army 1 month 2 weeks from now
- Texas declares independence from Mexico 1 month 1 week from now
- Colt patents the "gun that won the West" 1 month 5 days from now
- Mexican army captures Texas Masonic soldier 1 month 3 weeks from now
- Texas Navy schooner seizes mercantile brig; friction with U.S. ensues 2 months 2 days from now
- Groce's plantation becomes temporary capital of Texas 1 month 4 weeks from now
- Italian hero of San Jacinto arrives in Texas 1 week from now
- Travis pens his famous letter from the Alamo 1 month 4 days from now
180th Anniversary
- Ambitious French colonization scheme fizzles 1 week ago
- Republic of Texas authorizes ill-fated Peters colony 2 weeks from now
- Company chartered to build road from Houston to Austin 5 days ago
- Republic authorizes mercantile firm to issue money 2 weeks from now
175th Anniversary
- Texas Congress is history; Texas Legislature up and running 4 weeks from now
165th Anniversary
- Sensational court-martial convenes for Alamo hero's son 1 month 3 weeks from now
- "Know-Nothings" abandon secrecy, meet in Austin 1 day from now
160th Anniversary
- Texas loses stagecoach mail and passenger service 1 month 1 week from now
- Unionist paper closes down 1 week ago
- Texas votes to secede 1 week from now
- Secession referendum passes by landslide 1 month 3 days from now
- Landscape artist Ida Weisselberg Hadra born in Castroville 2 weeks ago
155th Anniversary
- First black state convention meets in Austin 2 months 2 days from now
150th Anniversary
- Governor Edmund Davis imposes martial law in Walker County 1 month 23 hours from now
- Clint and Jeff Smith captured by Indians 1 month 6 days from now
- Famous former slave dies at the hands of Indians 4 days from now
145th Anniversary
- Texas adopts constitution 3 weeks from now
140th Anniversary
- First issue of San Antonio Light published today
- Rangers ambush Apaches at Hueco Tanks 1 week from now
- State steps into sheep wars 1 month 2 weeks from now
135th Anniversary
- Semicentennial of Texas Independence celebrated 1 month 1 week from now
- Crusading El Paso newspaper folds 1 week ago
130th Anniversary
- "Murder steer": Fine Gilliland kills Fort Davis cattleman 1 week from now
- Mosqueda robs railroad, becomes hero 1 day ago
125th Anniversary
- Roy Bean stages a prize fight 1 month 1 day from now
- Coastal brewery serves up a cold one 2 weeks from now
120th Anniversary
- Spindletop oilfield discovered 1 week ago
- Bluebonnet proclaimed state flower 1 month 2 weeks from now
115th Anniversary
- Farmer sows tent colony 2 weeks ago
105th Anniversary
- Big band leader born 1 month 3 weeks from now
95th Anniversary
- New carbon black plant opens in Panhandle 1 month 3 weeks from now
- Preservationist and former Indian captive Rebecca Fisher dies 2 months 1 day from now
85th Anniversary
- Roger Miller born 2 weeks ago
- REA begins bringing electricity to rural Texas 1 month 2 weeks from now
80th Anniversary
75th Anniversary
- Black activist seeks admission to segregated university 1 month 6 days from now
- First president of Rice Institute retires 1 month 1 week from now
65th Anniversary
- Evangelist breaks with Southern Baptist Convention 1 month 3 weeks from now
55th Anniversary
- First woman elected to state legislature dies 2 months 1 day from now
50th Anniversary
- Sid Richardson Hall dedicated 1 day from now
- Composer of state song dies 1 week from now
- Scandal purges body politic 2 days ago
35th Anniversary
- General Land Office gets new seal 2 months 5 days from now
- Catastrophic explosion kills Texas astronaut and her colleagues 1 week from now
- Newsweek chronicles decline of Texas steel town 2 months 1 week from now
30th Anniversary
- Huge state park opened to public 1 day ago
- State supreme court rules new school funding system unconstitutional 2 days from now
25th Anniversary
- Barbara Jordan dies 3 days ago