A 1927 Texas Department of Agriculture publication offers an interesting look at the state's early nursery and floral industries, listing nurserymen, florists, and plant dealers who were licensed to do business in Texas.

At first glance, it looks like a routine government directory. Historically, however, it reveals quite a bit about how Texas agriculture and horticulture were developing during the early 20th century.

By this period, commercial nurseries were becoming an important part of the agricultural economy. Fruit trees, ornamental plants, flowers, and other nursery stock were being bought, sold, and transported across increasingly large distances. That created new opportunities for growers and merchants, but it also created a serious problem: plant diseases and destructive insects could travel with the plants.

Texas responded by establishing inspection requirements, licensing businesses, and creating rules governing nurseries and orchards. The publication includes not only lists of licensed businesses but also information connected with the state's orchard and nursery inspection laws.

Documents like this show a less-visible side of Texas agricultural history. The state's past is often associated with cattle, cotton, ranches, and large farms, but there was also a growing network of nurseries, florists, orchard operators, inspectors, and plant dealers serving communities across Texas.

It is also an example of government regulation becoming an established part of everyday commerce. Licensing and plant inspections helped officials oversee businesses and reduce the risk of pests and diseases spreading through commercially sold nursery stock.

Nearly a century later, plant health, nursery inspection, and agricultural regulation remain important parts of protecting Texas agriculture.

Old government directories may seem ordinary, but they can be valuable historical records. They reveal which businesses existed, how industries were organized, and what economic and agricultural problems Texans considered important enough to regulate.

Source: Lists of Nurserymen, Florists, and Dealers Licensed To Do Business in Texas and the Texas Orchard and Nursery Inspection Law with Rules and Regulations, Texas Department of Agriculture, 1927.

The Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts is considered the first motel chain in the United States.

The first location opened in Waco, Texas, in 1929, and by 1955 there were more than 20 locations across the South. Many featured distinctive Mission Revival façades inspired by the Alamo in San Antonio.

The chain was also innovative for its time. By 1936, Alamo Plaza locations were among the first motels to put a telephone in every room. Later locations added amenities such as swimming pools, air conditioning, and TVs.

The decline of Alamo Plaza reflected changes in American road travel. Many properties were built along the old U.S. highway system and lost traffic as the Interstate Highway System expanded. Most were eventually sold, renamed, converted, or demolished.

Chester W. Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg, Texas, in 1885. Six decades later, he would represent the United States aboard the USS Missouri as Japan formally surrendered at the end of World War II.

Nimitz entered the U.S. Naval Academy and built a career that included early work with submarines, engineering, and fleet operations. Then, just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was chosen to command the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

From his headquarters at Pearl Harbor, Nimitz helped direct American naval strategy across an enormous theater of war. Forces under his command fought in some of the Pacific War's most important campaigns, including Midway, Guadalcanal, the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, the Marianas, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

The Battle of Midway in June 1942 became especially important. The loss of several Japanese aircraft carriers dealt a major blow to Japan's naval power and helped shift the momentum of the war toward the Allies.

Nimitz eventually became Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, coordinating Allied naval, air, and ground operations across much of the Pacific. In December 1944, he was promoted to Fleet Admiral, the Navy's five-star rank.

On September 2, 1945, Nimitz signed the Japanese surrender documents aboard the USS Missouri on behalf of the United States.

After the war, he served as Chief of Naval Operations from 1945 to 1947, helping guide the Navy from wartime mobilization into the postwar era.

His connection to Texas is still visible today. The National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg grew from the historic Nimitz Hotel, which had been built by his grandfather.

For someone born in a small Texas Hill Country town, Nimitz ended up commanding one of the largest and most complex military operations in history.

Most people know Sundance Square as the plaza with fountains, restaurants, events, and the two glass City Center towers in the background, but the district has a much longer story tied to the revival of downtown Fort Worth.

The area was once the center of Fort Worth’s retail and commercial activity. Like many American downtowns, however, it declined as businesses and shoppers moved toward suburban developments during the mid-20th century. In 1979, Bass Brothers Enterprises began acquiring and restoring properties in the area, helping turn neglected downtown blocks into a mixed-use district of offices, shops, restaurants, residences, hotels, and entertainment venues.

The name “Sundance Square” comes from the Sundance Kid, the outlaw associated with Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. According to the district’s official history, members of the gang were known to visit downtown Fort Worth when they wanted to lie low. Today, Sundance Square covers more than 35 blocks near the Tarrant County Courthouse.

Several landmarks help connect the district to different periods of Fort Worth history. The large Chisholm Trail mural was painted by Richard Haas in 1985 and depicts the cattle-drive era that helped shape the city’s early economy. Bass Performance Hall, which opened in 1998, later became one of downtown’s most recognizable cultural landmarks and the home of several major Fort Worth performing-arts organizations.

The central plaza seen today is actually a relatively recent addition. Construction began in 2012, replacing parking lots and a section of Main Street with a pedestrian gathering space. Sundance Square Plaza officially opened on November 1, 2013, with fountains, seating, shade structures, a pavilion, and two new buildings framing the space.

That combination of preserved buildings, Western imagery, modern architecture, cultural venues, and public space is what makes Sundance Square interesting. It is not simply an entertainment district—it represents several decades of deliberate efforts to bring residents, businesses, and visitors back into the heart of Fort Worth.

It was called the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway, and that short initial route helped connect the Houston area with communities and agricultural regions farther west.

What started as a modest stretch of track eventually became part of the much larger railroad network that helped Texas grow, move goods and connect towns across the state.

Pretty impressive beginning for something that started with just 20 miles of rail.

Thousands of buildings were lifted on jacks while workers pumped millions of cubic yards of sand beneath them, raising streets and neighborhoods by several feet. It remains one of the most remarkable rebuilding projects in American history.

This photograph shows part of Terlingua in 1936, when the remote West Texas community was still an active quicksilver-mining town.

Terlingua developed after cinnabar—the ore used to produce mercury—was discovered in the Big Bend region. The Chisos Mining Company eventually became the center of town life, operating the mine while also providing homes, a school, a company store, a hotel, an ice plant and even a theater. At its height, the surrounding mining district was home to thousands of people.

The prosperity did not last. Financial problems, declining mercury prices and exhausted ore deposits led to the collapse of the Chisos operation during the 1940s. Much of the settlement was abandoned, leaving behind the adobe ruins that helped earn Terlingua its reputation as one of Texas’ best-known ghost towns.

Today, Terlingua is better known as a gateway to Big Bend National Park, a destination for desert travelers and the home of its famous chili cookoffs. But this image captures the town when mining—not tourism—kept it alive.

Photograph: George A. Grant, approximately 1936
Source: U.S. National Park Service Historic Photograph Collection

It is fascinating how quickly a working Texas company town can become a ghost town—and then find an entirely new identity.

This photo shows Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Texas—a modest red building that became one of the most famous barbecue destinations in the country.

Snow’s opened on March 1, 2003, after owner Kerry Bexley partnered with veteran pitmaster Norma Frances “Tootsie” Tomanetz. Lexington already had a tradition of serving barbecue on Saturdays, and Snow’s initially catered mostly to local residents, ranchers and visitors coming into town for the weekend.

The restaurant’s early reputation was built quietly through word of mouth. Tomanetz had been cooking barbecue since the 1960s and had developed a loyal local following long before Snow’s became nationally known. Her traditional Central Texas methods—cooking over wood fires, tending the pits by feel and giving each cut of meat individual attention—helped distinguish the restaurant from larger commercial operations.

For its first five years, however, Snow’s remained largely unknown outside the Lexington area.

That changed dramatically in 2008.

While preparing its statewide barbecue rankings, Texas Monthly evaluated more than 300 barbecue establishments. Restaurant critic Patricia Sharpe visited Snow’s and was reportedly astonished by the quality of Tomanetz’s brisket. The magazine ultimately named Snow’s the best barbecue joint in Texas, awarding the previously obscure restaurant its highest rating.

The ranking transformed Snow’s almost overnight. Barbecue enthusiasts began traveling to Lexington from across Texas and beyond, often arriving before sunrise. National coverage followed, including features from The New Yorker, NPR, Texas Country Reporter, the Food Network and numerous food publications.

Snow’s proved that the 2008 recognition was not a one-time surprise. Texas Monthly named it the best barbecue joint in Texas again in 2017, further securing its place among the state’s most respected smokehouses.

Its reputation grew even larger in 2020 when Tomanetz was featured in the first episode of Netflix’s Chef’s Table: BBQ. The documentary introduced international audiences to her decades of experience, work ethic and traditional Hill Country barbecue techniques.

The restaurant’s unusual schedule has also become part of its legend. Snow’s opens at 8 a.m. on Saturdays and serves until the meat is gone. The limited hours, long early-morning lines and simple small-town setting have turned a visit into something resembling a Texas barbecue pilgrimage.

One of the biggest misconceptions about Texas barbecue is that it has a single origin.

In reality, it developed from several traditions that came together over generations.

German & Czech Meat Markets (Central Texas)

• Late 1800s immigrants opened meat markets across Central Texas.
• Smoking meat helped preserve unsold cuts.
• This evolved into the famous salt-and-pepper, post oak style that's now synonymous with Central Texas brisket.

African American Barbecue Traditions (East Texas)

• African American pitmasters were instrumental in developing East Texas barbecue.
• Their expertise in slow-smoking meats and cooking for communities helped establish many of the techniques still used today.

Mexican Barbacoa Traditions (South Texas)

• Long before Texas became a state, Mexican and Tejano communities were preparing barbacoa.
• Their ranching traditions and dishes like barbacoa and cabrito became foundational influences in South Texas barbecue.

Rather than one tradition replacing another, these cultures each contributed techniques, ingredients, and ideas that helped create what we know today as Texas barbecue.

American artist Frederic Remington is celebrated for his vivid depictions of the West — cowboys, cavalry, battles, and horses that captured the spirit of open ranges and frontier life. This 1889 image of a Texas pony reflects both Remington’s keen observation and the role of horses in everyday frontier existence.

In late 19th-century Texas, ponies and horses were essential to ranching, transportation, and survival. They carried riders across sprawling plains, helped drive cattle, and formed bonds with ranch hands whose lives were entwined with the land.

Remington’s work didn’t just illustrate a scene — it preserved a way of life that was transforming as the West modernized. His portrayals are artistic records of an era when horses were timeless companions across wide horizons.

Atascosa County sits south of San Antonio in a part of Texas shaped by ranching, farming, immigration and generations of small communities. The county was organized in 1856 from territory formerly belonging to Bexar County and was named for the Atascosa River. The name comes from a Spanish word associated with boggy or muddy ground. An important early land grant in the area was awarded by the Mexican government to Texas statesman José Antonio Navarro in 1825.

The county seat was originally located elsewhere before eventually moving to Jourdanton, a town founded in 1909. Jourdanton subsequently became the center of county government, while communities such as Pleasanton, Poteet, Leming, Charlotte and Lytle developed identities connected to agriculture, transportation, ranching and local commerce.

These images offer several different views of that story.

1. The Atascosa County Courthouse

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The present courthouse was constructed in 1912–13 and designed by San Antonio architect Henry T. Phelps. Its shaped parapets, tiled roofs, balconies and arched openings make it the only surviving Mission Revival-style county courthouse in Texas.

2. A Street Scene in Jourdanton

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Jourdanton was founded by Jourdan Campbell and his business associates in 1909. Its role as the county seat helped make it the governmental center of Atascosa County, even as nearby Pleasanton developed into a larger commercial community.

3. Another View of the Courthouse

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The courthouse stands on a circular property rather than the traditional square found around many Texas courthouses. Its towers, balconies, red-brown brick and Spanish-style roofing make it one of the most distinctive historic government buildings in South Texas.

4. The 1950 Poteet Census Map

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Enumeration districts were areas designed so that one census taker could complete the count within a specified period. These maps recorded roads, municipal boundaries, waterways, neighborhoods and major properties, making them valuable resources for both genealogists and local historians.

Poteet was named for its first postmaster, Francis Marion Poteet, and later became widely associated with strawberry farming and the Poteet Strawberry Festival.

5. The Korus Farmstead in Leming

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The Korus Farmstead is located near U.S. Highway 281 and Farm Road 536 in Leming. The property, including its farmhouse and dogtrot structure, was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey, preserving a record of the county’s rural architecture and agricultural history.

6. Inside the Korus Farmstead House

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The wooden walls, historic portraits, rocking chair, cabinets and simple household furnishings create a detailed record of domestic life before modern renovations erased many such interiors. The Historic American Buildings Survey documented both the structures and architectural details of the property.

7. Military Training in Atascosa County

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The source identifies the image as U.S. Air Force personnel participating in an advanced weapons, tactics and training course on May 7, 2014. The two-week course included shooting fundamentals, weapon transitions, low-light exercises and shooting while moving.

8. The South Texas Ocelot

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One geographic clarification is important: this particular ocelot photograph was taken at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, not in Atascosa County. The refuge is a separate South Texas location established in 1946 and is especially important for endangered-species conservation. The photograph fits the broader South Texas theme, but it should not be described as a photograph taken within Atascosa County itself.

Together, these images show how much of Atascosa County’s identity is tied to the land: historic government buildings, rural farmhouses, growing towns, agricultural communities and the wide-open South Texas environment.

The county’s history is not represented by just one building or community. It is the combined story of ranchers, farmers, immigrants, public servants, military personnel and families who built lives along the Atascosa River and the roads connecting Jourdanton, Pleasanton, Poteet, Leming and the surrounding countryside.

This haunting photograph was taken by Dorothea Lange near Memphis, Texas, in May 1937, during the depths of the Great Depression. The family had been displaced by flooding in Arkansas and was traveling toward the Lower Rio Grande Valley, where they hoped to earn money picking cotton. According to the original caption, everything they still owned was traveling with them.

Lange encountered the family in Hall County while documenting the lives of migrants and struggling rural Americans for a federal New Deal photography project. That project—first operated through the Resettlement Administration and later the Farm Security Administration—sent photographers across the country to record poverty, farm life, migration and the human consequences of the Depression.

The surviving archive record does not identify the family by name or tell us whether they ever reached the Rio Grande Valley. We only know that they had already lost their home, had loaded their remaining possessions for the journey and were placing their hopes in seasonal agricultural work hundreds of miles away.

The original photograph is preserved in the Library of Congress’s FSA–OWI collection and is in the public domain.