Texas Day by Day
Find out what happened today in Texas history.
West Texas Landscape painter born in Milford
120 years ago today on April 18th, 1904
On this day in 1904, influential artist and critic Harry Peyton Carnohan was born in Milford, Ellis County. Carnohan, who studied under Vivian Aunspaugh and Frank Reaugh, was a member of the Dallas Nine, a group of regionalist artists active in the 1930s and 1940s. He was more open to contemporary European styles than his peers Jerry Bywaters and Alexandre Hogue; his best-known work, West Texas Landscape (1934), was influenced by Surrealism. Carnohan joined the Columbia University faculty and moved to New York in 1940. Uncomfortable with the emerging emphasis on abstract art in that city, he left Columbia in 1953 and subsequently moved to La Jolla, California, where he worked as a furniture and antique dealer. He died in 1969.
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Big Bopper finds his "Chantilly Lace"
72 years ago today on April 18th, 1952
On this day in 1952, J. P. Richardson, Jr., better known as "The Big Bopper," married Adrianne "Teetsie" Fryou. Richardson, a Beaumont deejay, recorded for Pappy Daily’s D Records and scored a rock-and-roll hit with his song "Chantilly Lace" in 1958. He also penned chart-toppers for George Jones with "White Lightning" and Johnny Preston with "Running Bear." The Bopper wowed audiences with his colorful zoot suits and flamboyant performances but kept his marriage secret to preserve his showy image to fans. He featured "Chantilly Lace" in a pioneering video production in 1958 and coined the term "music video." The Bopper recorded some twenty-one of his own songs--many of which were regarded as novelty tunes. After a performance on the "Winter Dance Party" tour on the night of February 2, 1959, Richardson, suffering from the flu, switched places on the bus with Waylon Jennings to instead take a charter flight with musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens to the tour’s next destination. The ensuing plane crash that killed all passengers shocked grieving fans on a day that was immortalized as the "Day the Music Died."
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Juan SeguĂn resigns as mayor of San Antonio
181 years ago today on April 18th, 1842
On this day in 1842, Juan N. Seguín resigned as mayor of San Antonio. Seguín, a native San Antonian, was born in 1806; his father Erasmo was a prominent public figure who later served as alcalde. Juan fought in the Texas Revolution, escaping death at the Alamo when he was sent out as a courier shortly before the fall of the citadel. Seguín was elected to the Republic of Texas Senate in 1837--the only Mexican Texan to serve in that body--but resigned in 1840 and was then elected mayor of San Antonio. His tenure in that office was controversial; his continuing conflicts with Anglo squatters on city property and his business correspondence with Mexico incriminated him in Gen. Rafael Vásquez's invasion of San Antonio in March 1842. Fearing for his life, Seguín resigned and fled with his family to Mexico. He participated in Adrián Woll's invasion of Texas in September 1842 and fought against the United States in the Mexican War, but returned to Texas after the war. He died in Nuevo Laredo in 1890. The town of Seguin was named in his honor in 1839.
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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 week from now
335th Anniversary
- Spanish explorer names the Nueces 2 weeks ago
- Coahuila governor discovers and names Guadalupe River 4 days ago
- Spanish explorer finds defunct French fort 4 days from now
325th Anniversary
- San Juan Bautista Mission founded 2 months 6 days from now
315th Anniversary
245th Anniversary
- American Revolution reaches Texas 2 months 3 days from now
205th Anniversary
- Provisional government declares Texas independence 2 months 5 days from now
- Early Texas journalist heralds Long expedition 1 month 2 weeks from now
200th Anniversary
- Austin Colony settlers clash with Karankawas 2 months 4 days from now
195th Anniversary
- Future Alamo defender and survivor elope 1 month 6 days from now
- Irish trader takes citizenship oath 1 month 1 day from now
185th Anniversary
- Republic of Texas defeats revolutionary plotters in key action 4 weeks from now
- "Village Blacksmith of Cumby" born in Tennessee 1 month 1 week from now
180th Anniversary
- Pioneer Texas doctor born in Alabama 1 month 3 days from now
- Historic steamer arrives in Texas 2 weeks from now
175th Anniversary
- Major Neighbors returns to San Antonio after leading historic western surveying expedition 1 month 2 weeks from now
- German furniture artist arrives in Texas 1 month 3 days from now
170th Anniversary
- War Department orders surveys for Indian reservations 1 week from now
- Texas Germans declare slavery to be evil 3 weeks from now
- Prairie chicken namesake born in England 1 week from now
160th Anniversary
- General Taylor foils Union campaign in Louisiana 1 week ago
- Partisan leader promoted 1 month 1 week from now
- Former Texan rallies Union troops, awarded Medal of Honor 2 weeks from now
- Hood's Texas Brigade rallies around General Lee 2 weeks from now
- Civil War skirmish at Las Rusias 2 months 1 week from now
155th Anniversary
- Alleged participants in mob killing go on trial 1 month 6 days from now
- High court rules that Texas can sue in federal courts despite secession 3 days ago
150th Anniversary
- Governor Coke appoints commander of Frontier Battalion 2 weeks from now
- First letter from "Pidge" appears in Austin paper 1 week from now
- Indian raiders strike again at Adobe Walls 2 months 1 week from now
- Feudists intensify conflict by lynching 2 months 2 days from now
145th Anniversary
- Northeast Texas community gets a post office 1 month 4 weeks from now
- First county in Panhandle organized 6 days ago
135th Anniversary
- Texas booster fair opens in Fort Worth 1 month 1 week from now
130th Anniversary
- Water-well contractor accidentally discovers first major Texas oilfield 1 month 3 weeks from now
125th Anniversary
- Water rises disastrously as rain gluts the Brazos rivershed 1 month 4 weeks from now
120th Anniversary
105th Anniversary
- Texas Senate ratifies women's right to vote 2 months 1 week from now
- Texas congressman calls Mexican president a "spineless cactus" 2 months 1 day from now
100th Anniversary
- Congress establishes United States Border Patrol 1 month 1 week from now
- West Texas Historical Association organized in Abilene 1 day from now
- Texas baritone makes professional debut in New York 2 days from now
90th Anniversary
- Murderers and bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde gunned down in Louisiana 1 month 5 days from now
85th Anniversary
- UT observatory dedicated in Davis Mountains 2 weeks from now
- Soil Conservation Board established 1 month 1 week from now
- Refugee conductor gives "demonstration concert" in San Antonio 1 month 3 weeks from now
80th Anniversary
- U.S. Supreme Court dooms white primary 2 weeks ago
- Rudder's Rangers fight with distinction on Normandy beaches 1 month 2 weeks from now
75th Anniversary
- Residents of homestead community petition for incorporation 2 months 1 week from now
60th Anniversary
- Construction begins at Toledo Bend Reservoir 3 weeks from now
55th Anniversary
- Houston surgeon implants first artificial heart 2 weeks ago
- New park opens to public 1 month 1 week from now
- Famous horse wins at Aqueduct on the eve of his trainer's death 2 weeks ago
- Last passenger train leaves Dallas terminal 1 month 1 week from now
- New airport opens in Houston 1 month 2 weeks from now
- El Paso County gives rock art site to state 1 month 3 weeks from now
45th Anniversary
- Dallas designates Federal Reserve Bank a historic landmark 3 weeks from now
- Novelist dies after fistfight 1 month 2 weeks from now
- Orange Show opens to the public 3 weeks from now
40th Anniversary
- Landmark public education suit filed 1 month 5 days from now
- Legendary jazz pianist dies 5 days from now
25th Anniversary
- Spurs are champions! 2 months 1 week from now