Texas Historical Commission

Texas Historical Commission We save the real places that tell the real stories of Texas.
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🍽️ Austin’s historic restaurants stand as familiar landmarks in a city that is constantly changing. In a relatively shor...
09/05/2026

🍽️ Austin’s historic restaurants stand as familiar landmarks in a city that is constantly changing. In a relatively short time, new restaurants have opened and closed, neighborhoods have evolved, and the skyline has transformed around these enduring establishments.

It’s easy to lose track of how much time has passed, but these restaurants invite us to pause and remember the decades that came before. Remaining open for 50 years is more than simply surviving; it means adapting to change while preserving the qualities that keep people coming back.

The Texas Treasure Business Award (TTBA) honors longstanding Texas businesses that have been in service for 50 years or more. Across Texas' four largest metro regions, TTBA restaurants continue to welcome guests to tables rich with history.

Pull up a chair and discover the restaurants that have stood the test of time:

Southside Market & Barbeque
Black's BBQ
House Park Bbq
Kreuz Market
Louie Mueller Barbecue
Cisco's Restaurant Bakery & Bar
Matt's El Rancho
Broken Spoke
The Salt Lick
Bert's Barbeque
County Line on the Hill

View the full list of nominees at https://texastimetravel.com/texas-treasures-of-the-table and don't forget to nominate your favorite Texas Treasure!

Paul “Bear” Bryant, former coach at Maryland and Kentucky, became head football coach at Texas A&M in 1954. To evaluate ...
09/05/2026

Paul “Bear” Bryant, former coach at Maryland and Kentucky, became head football coach at Texas A&M in 1954. To evaluate his new players, Bryant sought a preseason camp far from the main campus.

The Texas A&M adjunct opened in Junction in 1951, on 411 acres purchased by citizens of Kimble County. It was here that a grueling ten-day training camp thinned the roster while laying a foundation for future champions.

Nearly 100 players filled two buses for the 250-mile drive to Junction on Sep. 1. Although the site was normally well-watered near the South Llano River, the region was in the grip of a long-term drought in 1954. There was hardly any grass, and one player recalled “any time you got knocked down you had to avoid the prickly sandspurs.”

With high heat, rough ground and long practices, players slipped out by night. By the end of the camp, only 35 men remained to board buses returning to College Station.

That fall, the team won a single game, the only losing record in Bryant’s 38-year career. Two years later, the 1956 team went undefeated, won the Southwest Conference, boasted seven all-conference players, and finished ranked fifth in the nation.

Many of the camp survivors were successful in their chosen careers, including two with long coaching careers in college and the National Football League. Bryant left Texas A&M for Alabama, winning six national championships and retiring as college football’s winningest coach in 1982.

Bryant and the Junction Boys met in Junction again in 1979, reunited at a place which became legendary in Texas and American sports history.

📸: Texas A&M Archives

After guiding Allied forces to victory, U.S. Navy Adm. Chester W. Nimitz signed the documents of surrender by Japan that...
09/02/2026

After guiding Allied forces to victory, U.S. Navy Adm. Chester W. Nimitz signed the documents of surrender by Japan that ended World War II. The date was September 2, 1945. The signing took place aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Nimitz was a native of Fredericksburg, where the National Museum of the Pacific War honors him and the others who served in this global conflict. The restored Nimitz Hotel, a 19th-century frontier hostelry, recounts local history and the life of Adm. Nimitz.

The campus also features the newly renovated George H.W. Bush Gallery, which explores the perseverance and heroism of those who served in the Pacific Theater; a multisensory rescue-operation experience; and the Memorial Courtyard, honoring the men and women who fought in the Pacific during World War II.

A poignant attraction is the Japanese Garden of Peace, designed and constructed by Japanese craftsmen. The traditional Japanese garden was a gift of Japan as a symbol of reconciliation.

Plan your visit to explore the collection and the enduring relevance of the stories from the Pacific War: https://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/

The first Girl's Tomato Clubs in Texas were organized in 1912 in Milam County to acquaint young women in rural areas wit...
09/01/2026

The first Girl's Tomato Clubs in Texas were organized in 1912 in Milam County to acquaint young women in rural areas with tomato production and canning techniques.

At the request of the United States Department of Agriculture, Mrs. Edna Westbrook Trigg, a local high school principal, agreed to undertake the project. She organized eleven clubs throughout the county, with members ranging in age from ten to eighteen. A similar program for boys, the Corn Clubs, had been instituted in Jack County four years earlier.

Each member of the Girl's Tomato Clubs was to produce a tomato crop on one-tenth of an acre of land and then was taught proper canning procedures. The girls exhibited their products at Milano, Rockdale, the 1913 State Fair in Dallas, and the Waco Cotton Palace. So successful were these exhibits that several of the girls started college education funds with the money they raised selling their goods.

As the state's first rural girl's organization of its kind, the Tomato Clubs were forerunners of later programs, including 4-H, that were initiated under the supervision of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Over time, 4-H has expanded its scope but has maintained the principle objectives of its predecessors.

📸: 1. A group of girls practice canning in 1916 / Denton County History and Culture 2. Edna W. Trigg / Cushing Memorial Library andArchives, Texas A&M University

Hamilton County was established in 1856 as Central Texas settlement expanded. After the county designated the city of Ha...
08/31/2026

Hamilton County was established in 1856 as Central Texas settlement expanded. After the county designated the city of Hamilton as its seat in 1858, a stone courthouse was built in 1878 but destroyed by fire in 1886; a replacement was completed the following year.

The Hamilton County Courthouse was transformed by efforts to modernize and expand the building in 1932. It embodies eclectic elements of style from the Richardsonian Romanesque (crenellated square turrets, round arch windows), the Neoclassical (pedimented porticoes supported by classical fluted columns), and the Spanish Revival style (mission-inspired tower).

The courthouse’s limestone is believed to have been quarried locally. Its expertly crafted rustication and hand-scribed corner quoins showcase the skill of the masons who built it. Especially charming are the cast-stone medallions above the four secondary entrances, each depicting a frontier icon, including a cowboy, a sheep or a shorthorn cow.

The 1932 interior corridors feature linoleum flooring and Formica wainscoting, as shown in the original construction drawings. Twin staircases lead to the second floor and frame the expansive, double-height district courtroom. Curved oak-veneer wainscoting, schoolhouse-style pendant lights and a flat, barrel-vaulted ceiling complete the space. An elliptical concrete bench encircling the courthouse predates the 1932 remodeling.

In 2012, the courthouse was rededicated following a restoration supported by grants from the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program.

Learn more about how the THC helps preserve these landmarks through the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program at thc.texas.gov/courthouses.

🍽️ Dallas–Fort Worth restaurants prove that community is what truly matters. As the region continues to grow and change,...
08/29/2026

🍽️ Dallas–Fort Worth restaurants prove that community is what truly matters. As the region continues to grow and change, these longtime establishments remain landmarks woven into our collective memory through birthday dinners, post-game meals, business lunches, and anniversary celebrations.

History is built around the tables where generations of families, friends, employees, owners, and customers come together. Though outlasting businesses, shopping centers, trends, and even generations of residents is no small feat, these historic restaurants continue to serve their communities. In turn, those communities continue to give them life.

The Texas Treasure Business Award (TTBA) honors longstanding Texas businesses that have been in service for 50 years or more. Across Texas' four largest metro regions, TTBA restaurants continue to welcome guests to tables rich with history.

Pull up a chair and discover the restaurants that have stood the test of time:

El Fenix Mexican Restaurant
Riscky's
Old Mexican Inn Restaurant and Cantina
Dickey's Barbecue Pit National
Ernie’s Pit BBQ, acquired by Fire For The Lord Bbq
Jake and Dorothy's Cafe
Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse
Mesquite BBQ Since 1959
Ol' South Pancake House
The Malt Shop- Weatherford
Boots Burgers
Bartley's BBQ
The Pizza Place

View the full list of nominees at https://texastimetravel.com/texas-treasures-of-the-table and don't forget to nominate your favorite Texas Treasure!

For heritage travelers discovering the underexplored region of West Texas, Fort Lancaster and Battlefield State Historic...
08/26/2026

For heritage travelers discovering the underexplored region of West Texas, Fort Lancaster and Battlefield State Historic Site offers a different view of frontier Texas in the 1850s.

It is the views, in fact, that bring many travelers to the fort. Although the original adobe structures were claimed by the elements decades ago, the sweeping vistas of the Trans-Pecos region are an undeniable attraction.

Fort Lancaster was one of the most isolated posts in Texas. Soldiers constructed the buildings in the mid-1850s using a combination of limestone blocks and adobe with the exterior surfaces plastered to resemble dressed masonry. While stationed at the fort, soldiers protected mail and freight trains, pursued and tracked Native Americans, and provided life-saving security for travelers. The most memorable visitors, however, were camels.

In 1855, the U.S. Army began a unique experiment using the desert animals for military transportation in the southwest. Two shipments totaling 74 camels were sent to the camp and were successfully tested in the arid western regions. The camels carried extremely heavy loads, traveled long distances without water, and subsisted on desert vegetation.

By 1874, the fort was permanently abandoned, and much of the masonry was removed to construct new buildings in the nearby town of Sheffield.

Learn more and plan your own visit: visitfortlancaster.com

Hundreds of historic dance halls dot the Texas landscape. Built by organizations like r***e clubs, agricultural, gymnast...
08/25/2026

Hundreds of historic dance halls dot the Texas landscape. Built by organizations like r***e clubs, agricultural, gymnastic, singing, and other fraternal societies, these halls provided communities with a common place to gather for enjoyment and to engage is the pressing issues of the day.

Gruene Hall's legacy is more than being the oldest, continually operating dance hall in the State of Texas. Built in 1878, Gruene Hall is considered the birthplace for many great songwriters and musicians.

German Texans built a significant number of halls in a variety of architectural styles, from the simple rectangle to the intricate and innovative 12-sided structures designed by Joachim Hintz in Bellville and Cat Spring.

But these treasures are not unique to any given cultural group. Other European immigrants, like Poles and Czechs, constructed community-use spaces for similar purposes.

📸: Robert Fletcher

In 1838, William Marsh Rice arrived in Texas and later became one of the state’s wealthiest men through extensive busine...
08/24/2026

In 1838, William Marsh Rice arrived in Texas and later became one of the state’s wealthiest men through extensive business ventures. He envisioned a polytechnic school as his legacy, and the state chartered the William M. Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art. Rice stipulated, however, that the institution would not open until after his death.

Although the trustees inherited a multimillion-dollar endowment, they had little experience in higher education. The university’s first president, Dr. Edgar Odell Lovett of Princeton University, spent months traveling the world and consulting with experts. He envisioned a university that united teaching and research. The campus plan blended classical architecture with Mediterranean influences.

Classes began in 1912 with 59 students, making Rice the first university in Houston. Rice was also a charter member of the Southwest Conference and quickly achieved academic accreditation. Its first class graduated in 1916.

Renamed Rice University in 1960, the institution has welcomed presidential visits, including John F. Kennedy’s in 1962. During that visit, Kennedy urged the nation’s space program to reach the moon by the end of the decade. Rice counts numerous distinguished alumni and faculty members, including Nobel and Pulitzer Prize recipients. In 2012, Rice University began its second century of producing “leaders across the spectrum of human endeavor.”

📸: Administration Building from Entrance Gates (1920) / Rice University Digital Collections

🍽️ San Antonio restaurants naturally lend themselves to conversations about history and heritage. In a city that takes p...
08/21/2026

🍽️ San Antonio restaurants naturally lend themselves to conversations about history and heritage. In a city that takes pride in its roots and embraces its rich cultural makeup, it’s no surprise to find recipes passed down through generations that connect visitors to Mexican, Tejano, German, and other immigrant influences.

These honorees have many things in common, but family is at the heart of them all. Just like the warm welcome you feel throughout the Alamo City, these longtime restaurants make every guest feel right at home.

The Texas Treasure Business Award (TTBA) honors longstanding Texas businesses that have been in service for 50 years or more. Across Texas' four largest metro regions, TTBA restaurants continue to welcome guests to tables rich with history.

Pull up a chair and discover the restaurants that have stood the test of time:

Cora's 471 Grill
De Weses Tip Top Cafe
Sammy's
Bill Miller Bar-B-Q
M. K. Davis Restaurant & Bar
Davila's BBQ
Little Red Barn Steakhouse
Startz Cafe

View the full list of nominees at https://texastimetravel.com/texas-treasures-of-the-table and don't forget to nominate your favorite Texas Treasure!

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1511 Colorado Street
Austin, TX
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