Texans show pride through naming places
by
LYNN ASHBY
Syndicated Columnist
Texas history is not only alive and well, but it continues to influence the way we live, govern and
do business.
(No, this isn't a history lesson. It's fun. Hang on.)
The Texas-U.S. Annexation Treaty, for example, was signed in 1845, but swayed Texas to vote for Eisenhower in 1952 because he agreed that the treaty gave us offshore rights, i.e., oil. What's more, to this very day the treaty's provisions affect school funding.
Texans voted in 1995 on whether to change the state constitution to give property tax exemption to "an organization chartered by the Congress of the Republic of Texas." It covered only the Freemasons, and it lost.
Even today, the Philosophical Society of Texas, one of the most prestigious intellectual groups in the state, limits its membership to "those living within the borders of the Republic of Texas." You could live in Steamboat Springs, Colo., and qualify.
Each school child is required to take Texas history in order to graduate. Physicians' assistants cannot get a license unless they have studied Texas history in college. Spanish and Mexican land grants still on the books can determine the outcome of who owns what.
But it is in how we name places, schools and race tracks that lets any visitor know this is, indeed, Texas, and we do love to evoke the names of those early Texans. Cities and towns may not have anything named for Washington, Jefferson or Franklin, but Houston, Lamar, Crockett and Travis have so many schools and streets and parks named for them that it gets confusing.
There is a University of Houston and a Sam Houston State University - about 60 miles apart - not to mention Houston Community College. We have Austin College, but it is not in Austin, it is in Sherman, north of Dallas. Yet Sherman County is in the Panhandle. Stephen F. Austin University is not in Austin either, but in Nacogdoches. None of this explains why we have educational institutions named Baylor, Mary Hardin Baylor and Hardin-Simmons.
The city of Ausitin is not in Austin County but in Travis County. Austin County is elsewhere. We have lots of places named after William Barret Travis. There is Travis County and Travis Peak. It seems that every town in Texas has a street named after the Alamo defender. But the town of Travis, Texas, in Falls County, was named for Travis Jones, who surveyed the place in the 1880s. Maybe Jones was named after the original Travis.
Some newcomers to our happy state may be wondering (then again, they may not), "Why are there so many places named Lamar? There is the town of Lamar, on the Gulf, and a Lamar County northeast of Dallas. But so many schools and even a university?" Because, Pilgrim, one of our leaders and a president of the Republic of Texas was Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar. Educators figured any child who could spell the school's name was suitable to graduate.
No, actually, as president, Lamar proposed setting up a system of public education and came up with a way to pay for it. He is called "the Father of Education," although his friends called him "Mirabeau Buonaparte."
Bowie. Would you be surprised to know that the town of that name and the county of the same name are far apart? No, you wouldn't. But at least they are both in North Texas, which is more than Travis can claim.
The most frequent name is, of course, Houston. The city of Houston is not in Houston County. That county is up in East Texas and it county seat is--get ready--Crockett. Yes, there is also a Crockett County. If General Sam's descendents got royalties for the use of his name, they could buy their own county. We have Lake Houston, those two universities, nine now-defunct railroads along with parks, roads and an airport with which Houston shares the name of another president. These Houston places are named for the city which, in turn, was named for the man. But there are some places that are named directly, such as the Sam Houston Tollway, the Sam Houston Race Track and the Sam Houston Hotel.
Collin McKinney and Anson Jones were two Founders of the Republic. Now here's a good twist. The early Texans named Collin County for the first name and the county seat for the last name. Thus, we have the town of McKinney in Collin County. But then they flip-flopped, so we have Jones County, and the county seat is Anson. I like that, even it it makes no sense.
San Antonio and El Paso were named before there was a Texas, so they get a bye. Naming Dallas and Fort Worth were both mistakes. Neither man had anything to do with Texas or even with oil. Would not it roll off the tongue much better to cheer for the Crockett Cowboys or the Bowie Knives?
Texas has 254 counties, more than any other state, which is fortunate because we needed enough counties to name one after virtually every defender of the Alamo, and there were at least 180 of them. Yes, we love our heroes.
In almost any Texas town, you can instruct newcomers, "Go to Fannin and take a right on Bowie, then a left on Travis, go to Milam and past Austin Park you'll see Lamar High School."
The strangers may not appreciate the history of Texas, but at least they will find the way to their quarry:the nearest Dairy Queen.
No state has a more exciting history, which may be why it is still such a day-to-day influence. Yet, citizens do not find it a burden from the past, rather it is an inspiration. The nice thing about Texas history is that some of it actually happened. As for appreciating these names of former Texas greats, you don't have to be a Crockett scientist, but it helps.
copyright © 1997-2009, Tom F Noble
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