Texas Almanac 2014–2015

Table of Contents

10 Texas Almanac 2014–2015 TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION . . . . . . . . 8 INDEX OF TABLES & MAPS . . 12 STATE PROFILE . . . . . . . . . 15 STATE FLAGS & SYMBOLS . . . 18 HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Texas Art and Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Historic Ranches of Texas . . . . . . . . . 34 A Brief Sketch of Texas History . . . . . . 46 Prehistory to Annexation . . . . . . . . 46 Annexation to 1980 . . . . . . . . . . . 59 ENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . 77 The Physical State of Texas . . . . . . . . 78 Physical Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Geology of Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Soils of Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Water Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Major Aquifers of Texas . . . . . . . . . 94 Major Rivers of Texas . . . . . . . . . . 97 Secondary Streams of Texas . . . . . 102 Artificial Lakes and Reservoirs . . . . 107 Plant Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 National Forests and Grasslands . . . . 118 State Forests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Forest Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Texas Wildlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Threatened and Endangered Species . . 130 National Wildlife Refuges . . . . . . . . 131 Wildlife Management Areas . . . . . . . 134 WEATHER . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Weather Highlights 2011 . . . . . . . . . 138 Monthly Summaries 2011 . . . . . . . . 138 Weather Highlights 2012 . . . . . . . . . 141 Monthly Summaries 2012 . . . . . . . . 142 Texas Is Tornado Capital . . . . . . . . . 145 Texas Droughts, 1892–2012 . . . . . . . 147 Destructive Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Weather Records by County . . . . . . . 156 ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR . 164 Seasons, Morning & Evening Stars, Major Meteor Showers, Eclipses . . . 165 Calendar for 2014 . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Calendar for 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 206-Year Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 RECREATION . . . . . . . . . . 177 Texas State Parks & Historic Sites . . . . 178 Recreation in State Forests . . . . . . . 192 National Parks, Historical Sites, Recreation Areas . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Recreation in National Forests . . . . . . 195 Recreation on the National Grasslands . 196 National Natural Landmarks in Texas . . 197 Sea Center Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Texas State Aquarium . . . . . . . . . . 198 Recreational Fishing . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Licenses & Game Harvests . . . . . . . 201 Birding in Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Fairs, Festivals, and Special Events . . . 204 SPORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 High School Championships Football . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Boys and Girls Soccer . . . . . . . . 211 Girls Basketball . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Boys Basketball . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Boys Baseball . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Girls Volleyball . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Girls Softball . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Texas College Sports Division I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 College Football Bowl Games . . . . 219 Division II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Major Professional Sports . . . . . . . . 221 Major League Baseball in Texas . . . . . 223 Texas Sports Hall of Fame . . . . . . . . 226 Texas Olympic Medalists . . . . . . . . . 227 COUNTIES OF TEXAS . . . . . 231 254 Maps and County Profiles . . . . . . 233 POPULATION . . . . . . . . . . 414 Recent Population Growth . . . . . . . . 415 Cities and Towns (tabbed section) . . . . 418 ELECTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . 445 2012 Election Results for President, Senate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446 General Election, 2012 . . . . . . . . . . 451 Primary Elections, 2012 . . . . . . . . . 455 Political Party Organizations . . . . . . . 457 2012 Senatorial Runoffs . . . . . . . . . 460 GOVERNMENT . . . . . . . . . 465 Update from the 83rd Legislature . . . . . . 466 Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Texas . . . . . . . . . . . 468 Documents Concerning the Annexation of Texas to the United States . . . . . 470 Constitution of Texas, Amendments 2011 and 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . 471 Texas’ Chief Government Officials . . . . 473 Table of Contents Contents 11 Spanish Royal Governors,1691–1821 . . 473 Governors Under Mexican Rule, 1822–1835 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 Republic of Texas and State Officials, 1836–2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474 The Capitals of Texas . . . . . . . . . . 476 First Ladies of Texas . . . . . . . . . . . 481 STATE GOVERNMENT . . . . . 482 State Income and Expenditures . . . . . 483 Texas Lottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 Texas Legislature . . . . . . . . . . . . 486 Texas State Judiciary . . . . . . . . . . 489 District Judges in Texas . . . . . . . . . 491 Courts by County . . . . . . . . . . . . 494 Texas State Agencies . . . . . . . . . . 496 Department of Criminal Justice . . . . 500 Boards and Commissions . . . . . . . . 504 LOCAL GOVERNMENT . . . . . 518 Mayors and City Managers . . . . . . . 518 County Courts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528 Wet-Dry Counties . . . . . . . . . . . . 531 Regional Councils of Government . . . . 532 County Tax Appraisers . . . . . . . . . . 533 Texas County and District Officials . . . . 536 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT . . . 548 Texans in Congress . . . . . . . . . . . 548 Federal Funds by County, 2010 . . . . . 551 U.S. Tax Collections in Texas . . . . . . . 553 Major Military Installations . . . . . . . . 554 First Black Marines Honored . . . . . . . 555 Federal Courts in Texas . . . . . . . . . 556 CRIME IN TEXAS 2012 . . . . . 558 CULTURE AND THE ARTS . . . 565 Museums of Art, Science, History . . . . 566 Public Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566 State Cultural Agencies Assist the Arts . 568 Van Cliburn Piano Competition . . . . . 570 Philosophical Society Texas Book Award 570 Texas Institute of Letters Awards . . . . . 571 Texas Medal of the Arts Awards . . . . . 572 Poets Laureate of Texas . . . . . . . . . 574 State Musicians of Texas . . . . . . . . . 574 State Artists & Historians of Texas . . . . 575 Film and Television Work in Texas . . . . 576 Recent Movies Made in Texas . . . . . . 577 Holidays, Anniversaries, and Festivals 2014–2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578 Religious Affiliation Change: 2000–2010 579 Numbers of Members by Denomination . 580 HEALTH AND SCIENCE . . . . 584 Texans in National Academy of Sciences 585 Science Research Funding . . . . . . . 586 Death and Birth Rates . . . . . . . . . . 587 Health Care and Deaths by County . . . 587 Marriage and Divorce . . . . . . . . . . 589 Expenditures and Vital Statistics . . . . . 590 Community Hospitals in Texas . . . . . . 591 Substance Abuse, Mental Health . . . . 592 State Mental Health Services . . . . . . 593 EDUCATION . . . . . . . . . . . 595 Texas Public Schools . . . . . . . . . . 596 Brief History of Public Education . . . . . 596 Actions of the 83rd Legislature . . . . . . 598 Charter Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598 UIL Winning Schools, 2011–2013 . . . . 599 History of Higher Education in Texas . . 603 Actions of the 83rd Legislature . . . . . 604 Universities and Colleges: Enrollment . . 605 BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . 613 Texas Economy: A Slow Recovery . . . . 614 Gross Domestic Product by Industry . . . 615 Per Capita Income by County, 2011 . . . 616 Employment by Industry . . . . . . . . . 619...