Texas Day by Day
Find out what happened today in Texas history.
Gospel singing convention established
124 years ago today on April 28th, 1900
On this day in 1900 the Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Singing Convention was organized at McMahan, ten miles east of Lockhart. Sacred harp music is a religious folk music that derives its name from Benjamin Franklin White's The Sacred Harp (1844). It features a cappella singing of white spirituals written in shaped notes. The sacred harp is the human voice. Although all-day singings with dinner on the grounds are not as widespread as before World War II, they regularly occur in East Texas. The two oldest and largest annual events are the Southwest Texas Convention at McMahan, held in the spring, and the East Texas Sacred Harp Singing Convention in Henderson, organized in 1914 and held in August. Sacred harp singings traditionally were (in some places, still are) a part of a community's homecoming celebration, in which the church was of major importance.
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Prairie chicken namesake born in England
169 years ago today on April 28th, 1854
On this day in 1854, Henry Philemon Attwater was born in Brighton, England. He immmigrated in 1873 to Canada, where he soon became interested in natural history. During 1884 Attwater collected specimens in Bexar County, where he befriended Gustave Toudouze. In 1889 Attwater moved with his family to Sherman and then to San Antonio; in 1900 he moved to Houston to become the agricultural and industrial agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1907 Attwater and Mervyn Bathurst Davis served on the committee that recommended passage of legislation requiring hunting licenses in Texas, with all revenues from licenses and fines to be used solely for game protection and propagation. Attwater retired in 1913 to devote himself to the study of natural history. During the 1920s he sold his collection to the Witte Museum in San Antonio. Attwater's greater prairie chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) is one of several species named in his honor. Attwater died in 1931.
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From Cabeza de Vaca's ship-wreck in 1528 through the Texas Revolution to present day—almost 500 years of recorded history—a myriad of significant events in Texas history have occurred. These events are arranged by day of the year to allow the reader to see into the past on any specific day.
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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)
470th Anniversary
- Spanish treasure ships wrecked on Padre Island 1 day from now
335th Anniversary
- Spanish explorer names the Nueces 3 weeks ago
- Coahuila governor discovers and names Guadalupe River 2 weeks ago
- Spanish explorer finds defunct French fort 6 days ago
325th Anniversary
- San Juan Bautista Mission founded 1 month 3 weeks from now
315th Anniversary
- Expedition reaches future site of San Antonio 2 weeks ago
245th Anniversary
- American Revolution reaches Texas 1 month 3 weeks from now
205th Anniversary
- Provisional government declares Texas independence 1 month 3 weeks from now
- Early Texas journalist heralds Long expedition 1 month 1 week from now
200th Anniversary
- Austin Colony settlers clash with Karankawas 1 month 3 weeks from now
195th Anniversary
- Future Alamo defender and survivor elope 3 weeks from now
- Irish trader takes citizenship oath 3 weeks from now
185th Anniversary
- Republic of Texas defeats revolutionary plotters in key action 2 weeks from now
- "Village Blacksmith of Cumby" born in Tennessee 1 month 2 days from now
180th Anniversary
- Pioneer Texas doctor born in Alabama 3 weeks from now
- Historic steamer arrives in Texas 1 week from now
175th Anniversary
- Major Neighbors returns to San Antonio after leading historic western surveying expedition 1 month 4 days from now
- German furniture artist arrives in Texas 3 weeks from now
170th Anniversary
- War Department orders surveys for Indian reservations 2 days ago
- Texas Germans declare slavery to be evil 2 weeks from now
- Prairie chicken namesake born in England today
160th Anniversary
- General Taylor foils Union campaign in Louisiana 2 weeks ago
- Partisan leader promoted 1 month 3 days from now
- Former Texan rallies Union troops, awarded Medal of Honor 1 week from now
- Hood's Texas Brigade rallies around General Lee 1 week from now
- Civil War skirmish at Las Rusias 1 month 3 weeks from now
155th Anniversary
- Alleged participants in mob killing go on trial 3 weeks from now
- High court rules that Texas can sue in federal courts despite secession 1 week ago
150th Anniversary
- Governor Coke appoints commander of Frontier Battalion 4 days from now
- First letter from "Pidge" appears in Austin paper 2 days ago
- Indian raiders strike again at Adobe Walls 1 month 4 weeks from now
- Feudists intensify conflict by lynching 1 month 3 weeks from now
145th Anniversary
- Northeast Texas community gets a post office 1 month 2 weeks from now
- First county in Panhandle organized 2 weeks ago
135th Anniversary
- Texas booster fair opens in Fort Worth 1 month 1 day from now
130th Anniversary
- Water-well contractor accidentally discovers first major Texas oilfield 1 month 1 week from now
125th Anniversary
- Water rises disastrously as rain gluts the Brazos rivershed 1 month 2 weeks from now
120th Anniversary
- West Texas Landscape painter born in Milford 1 week ago
105th Anniversary
- Texas Senate ratifies women's right to vote 2 months 23 hours from now
- Texas congressman calls Mexican president a "spineless cactus" 1 month 3 weeks from now
100th Anniversary
- Congress establishes United States Border Patrol 1 month 23 hours from now
- West Texas Historical Association organized in Abilene 1 week ago
- Texas baritone makes professional debut in New York 1 week ago
90th Anniversary
- Murderers and bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde gunned down in Louisiana 3 weeks from now
85th Anniversary
- UT observatory dedicated in Davis Mountains 1 week from now
- Soil Conservation Board established 1 month 1 day from now
- Refugee conductor gives "demonstration concert" in San Antonio 1 month 2 weeks from now
80th Anniversary
- U.S. Supreme Court dooms white primary 3 weeks ago
- Rudder's Rangers fight with distinction on Normandy beaches 1 month 1 week from now
75th Anniversary
- Residents of homestead community petition for incorporation 2 months 1 day from now
60th Anniversary
- Construction begins at Toledo Bend Reservoir 1 week from now
55th Anniversary
- Houston surgeon implants first artificial heart 3 weeks ago
- New park opens to public 1 month 3 days from now
- Famous horse wins at Aqueduct on the eve of his trainer's death 3 weeks ago
- Last passenger train leaves Dallas terminal 1 month 2 days from now
- New airport opens in Houston 1 month 1 week from now
- El Paso County gives rock art site to state 1 month 2 weeks from now
45th Anniversary
- Dallas designates Federal Reserve Bank a historic landmark 1 week from now
- Novelist dies after fistfight 1 month 1 week from now
- Orange Show opens to the public 1 week from now
40th Anniversary
- Landmark public education suit filed 3 weeks from now
- Legendary jazz pianist dies 5 days ago
25th Anniversary
- Spurs are champions! 1 month 3 weeks from now