#State August 27

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Today’s 30 Day Daily #Coach4adayChallenge Prompt is STATE. Pick one of the 50 and list some interesting facts about it.

Today’s prompt has pushed me to share some interesting facts about the STATE of Texas. I begin by pointing out that it got admitted into the United States via a treaty. Texas is the only state in the US to enter via that route. Specifically the Tyler-Texas Treaty of 1844 got the Lone Star STATE to become part of the US. Many people (but not people in Texas) don’t know that Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836.

15 Facts about Texas

1. Port Arthur to El Paso: 889 miles. Port Arthur to Chicago: 770  miles. Texarkana, Texas is closer to the capitol cities of sixteen states than to El Paso.

 2. Brownsville to Texline (north of Amarillo): 956 miles. Texline to Canada: 960 miles 

3. El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas 

4. World’s first rodeo was in Pecos, TX July 4, 1883.

5. The Flagship Hotel in Galveston is the only hotel in North America built over water. Destroyed by Hurricane Ike – 2008! 

6. The Heisman Trophy was named after John William Heisman who was the first full-time coach at Rice University in Houston, Texas .

7. Brazoria County has more species of birds than any other area in North America. 

8. Aransas Wildlife Refuge is the winter home of North America’s only remaining flock of whooping cranes. 

9. Jalapeno jelly originated in Lake Jackson in 1978. 

10. The worst natural disaster US history was in 1900, caused by a hurricane in which over 8,000 lives were lost on Galveston Island.

11. The first word spoken from the moon, July 20, 1969, was “Houston” but the Space Center was actually in Clear Lake City at the time.

12. The King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island. 

13. Tropical Storm Claudette brought a US rainfall record of 43″ in 24 hours in and around Alvin in July of 1979. 

14. Caddo Lake is the only natural lake in the state. 

15.  The Capitol Dome in Austin is the only dome in the US which is taller than the Capitol Building in Washington, DC (by 7 feet). 

What facts about a STATE can you share?