12 Things You Didn’t Know About The History Of Texas

We’ve told you a lot of cool things about The Lone Star State so far, but we haven’t covered much about the history of Texas. However, you probably didn’t learn the following Texas history facts in school. We dug a little deeper to find the quirky, bizarre, or really interesting tidbits of history in this state that just might surprise you!

1) Apparently there's a time capsule that was buried somewhere in Amarillo in 1968 containing the passbook to a bank account with a $10 deposit.

Kent Kanouse/Flickr

It will be worth $1 quadrillion when opened in 2968!

2) Jesse James chose not to rob a particular bank in McKinney, Texas because he liked the chili they served.

Fallschirmjäger/Wikipedia

Guess it pays off to have good culinary skills if you own a bank!

3) Jalapeno pepper jelly originated in Lake Jackson, Texas, and was first sold commercially in 1978.

Artizone/Flickr

Yummmm!!!

4) Texas can split into five states without federal approval.

wackystuff/flickr

Yeehaw!

5) The Oscar statuette was named after Texan Oscar Pierce, whose niece worked for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Hollywood.

jpellgen/flickr

Upon seeing the statuette, she said, "Why, that looks just like my Uncle Oscar." Thus, the Oscar was born!

6) In the 1850s, the U.S. War Department imported camels into Texas twice because they thought they'd come in handy for the Indian Wars.

SuperCar-RoadTrip.fr/Flickr

People saw them roaming around West Texas well into the 1920s!

7) Texas is the only U.S. state that entered the Union by treaty rather than territorial annexation.

Dave Wilson/Flickr

Okay, most people probably know this, but it's one of the more interesting and unique things about Texas we'd say!

8) The lowest temperature ever recorded was -23 degrees in Tulia in 1899 and Seminole in 1933.

Bill & Vicki T/Flickr

How many of you want it to get that cold this winter?

9) The tiny town of Slaughter, Texas has never had a homicide.

J. Stephen Conn/Flickr

10) One of the most famous, honorable Texans, Sam Houston, was actually born in Virginia.

Oldag07/Wikipedia

Another interesting fact about Sam Houston is, the giant statue of him outside of Huntsville is the world's largest freestanding statue of an American!

11) The San Jacinto Monument in La Porte is the tallest stone column memorial structure in the world, measuring 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument.

Jerry and Pat Donaho/Flickr

Once again, this proves that everything is indeed bigger in Texas!

12) The oldest construction in North America is right here in Texas, at the Kincaid Rockshelter just outside Uvalde!

texasbeyondhistory.net

Archaeologists found a stone floor in a muddy rock shelter buried under many layers of dirt, likely to make the living space more inhabitable. They traced it back to the Clovis people who settled there more than 13,000 years ago.

Hopefully these facts didn’t make you fall asleep like a lecture from your college history professor…which ones did you find the most interesting? I hope you could learn something from these little glimpses into history! If you did, please comment below and share with your friends!