This Day In Texas History - August 4

[joe817]

1836 - At her home in Alabama, Mary Ann Adams married Samuel Augustus Maverick. The couple divided their time between Alabama and Texas until 1838, when they moved to San Antonio. In Texas Samuel had already been involved in the Texas Revolution and served as a delegate to the Convention of 1836. He became a leading land baron--the term "maverick," denoting an unbranded calf, derives from a herd of his cattle--and legislator. After her husband's death in 1870, Mary Maverick made efforts to see that the state's pioneer past was not forgotten.

She was a prominent member of the San Antonio Historical Society and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. She helped promote the annual Battle of Flowers celebration, and she served as president of the Alamo Monument Association for many years. Historians often refer to her watercolor sketch of the mission, and in 1889 she wrote a brief account of the fall of the Alamo. Her memoirs provide a vivid picture of life on the Texas frontier. She died in 1898.

1836 - The 125-ton schooner of the Texas Navy, the Invincible sailed for New York for repairs. While there the ship was almost detained and sold because the crew could not pay the repair cost. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qti02 ]

1864 - John George Walker was assigned to replace John B. Magruder as commander of the District of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. He was replaced by Magruder on March 31, 1865, on orders of Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, who feared a massive federal invasion of the Texas coast and reportedly wanted a "fighting commander to meet it."

1876 - The Franco-Texan Land Company, chartered under the laws of Texas on August 4, 1876, owned about 600,000 acres of land in Parker, Palo Pinto, Stephens, Callahan, Shackelford, Mitchell, Taylor, Nolan, Jones, and Fisher counties. The company had its origin in a land grant made by the Texas legislature to the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific Railroad.

The charter, granted in 1856, authorized the building of a railroad from a point on the eastern boundary of the state between Sulphur Fork and the Red River to a point on the Rio Grande opposite or near the city of El Paso. The state donated sixteen sections of 640 acres each for every mile of road constructed and placed in running order, on the completion of a minimum of ten miles, and eight sections per mile for the grading of a minimum of twenty-five miles of roadbed. [ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dsf01 ]

1921 - One of the earliest broadcasting stations in the United States and the first in Texas was WRR of Dallas, owned by the city, which began broadcasting in 1920 with Henry "Dad" Garrett as announcer. The station received a provisional license on August 4, 1921. {it's still on the air today, and is the only full time classical music station in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area}

1941 - Lt. Gov. Coke Stevenson became governor of Texas when Governor O'Daniel resigned to become a United States senator. He was elected governor on his own in 1942 and served until 1947. He ran for the United States Senate in 1948 and lost in a famous contested race to Lyndon Johnson.

1947 - The U.S. Army reactivated the 90th Division, headquartered in Dallas, Dodds Field, Fort Sam Houston and San Antonio,, as a part of the Organized Reserve Corps. With headquarters at Dodd Field, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, the Ninetieth Army Reserve Command is composed of approximately 9,000 reservists who in 1994 served in 110 units in 50 communities in Texas and New Mexico.
[ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qnn02 ]