Friday, March 9, 2018 - 8:00am
Text by Andy Rhodes, photos and video by Patrick Hughey
The bumpy drive in a 4x4 cart to the historically significant Rancheria Grande site doesn’t feel particularly historic. It’s careening (and fun), but the past doesn’t catch up until you arrive at a panoramic clearing, surrounded by ridgetops that once housed bands of American Indians at a busy destination for commerce and...
Thursday, February 22, 2018 - 2:49pm
By Cody Seaman, Texas Military Sites Program Intern
Irvin Sims was working at an East Texas sawmill when America entered World War I. He registered for the draft, and immediately departed for training and service at the start of the war. Sims would go on to serve in the 20th Engineer Corps until February 1918, when he and dozens of fellow Texans met an untimely death.
...
Thursday, November 16, 2017 - 8:00am
By Emily Koller, Texas Historical Commission Planner
What do you do when you’re trying to get the word out about available property in your historic downtown? Or if you’re looking for business space? Signage, word-of-mouth, local realtors, and ads have traditionally publicized vacancies, but online tools reach a much wider audience. Unfortunately, they don’t always cater...
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - 8:00am
By Bradford M. Jones, THC Curatorial Facility Certification Program Coordinator
“So, what happened to those archeological artifacts?”
It’s a question the Texas Historical Commission’s Curatorial Facility Certification Program (CFCP) receives from museum staff and interested citizens after an archeology project in their community. The CFCP, part of the THC’s Archeology Division...
Tuesday, November 14, 2017 - 8:00am
By Andy Rhodes, The Medallion Managing Editor
When Hurricane Harvey slammed into the Gulf Coast with 130 mph winds on August 25, the primary concern was protecting Texans’ lives. After the storm cleared, efforts shifted to the extensive structural damage along the coast and in dozens of flooded communities.
Among the impacted properties were five of the Texas...
Thursday, November 9, 2017 - 4:46pm
By Rob Hodges, THC Communications Project Coordinator
Palo Duro Canyon's Lighthouse rock formation
While working up a sweat during the scorching descent into Palo Duro Canyon along the steep CCC Trail, it’s not hard to imagine Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) crews toiling away in the sun. Evidence of their labor...
Wednesday, November 8, 2017 - 8:00am
Text and photos by Andy Rhodes, The Medallion Managing Editor
Mention the Chisholm Trail to many Texans, and they’ll conjure up images of Fort Worth’s stockyards, San Antonio’s saloons, or King Ranch’s cattle herds. These sites are deservedly iconic, but they can overshadow other communities along the Lone Star State’s dusty trails.
The Texas Historical Commission...
Thursday, August 17, 2017 - 8:00am
By Andy Rhodes, Managing Editor of The Medallion
This summer, the Texas Historical Commission welcomed two college interns to Austin for nearly two months of preservation education through the agency’s Preservation Scholars program (formerly Diversity Interns).
Zoe Simien (Texas State University) and Ledell Thomas (Prairie View A&M University) will spend much of the summer...
Tuesday, August 15, 2017 - 8:00am
By Amy Borgens and Dorothy Rowland, State Marine Archeologist and Marine Archeology Program Intern
This wooden vessel was constructed in Beaumont in 1918. Many similar ships were built for the government’s Emergency Fleet Corporation during World War I. Credit: National Archives and Records Administration...
Friday, August 11, 2017 - 8:00am
By Rob Hodges, THC Communications Project Coordinator
Legends of the Caddo Indians provide explanations for the origin of the lake they called Tso’to, but geologists believe Caddo Lake was formed by the Great Raft, a nearly 100-mile-long logjam on the Red River in Louisiana. Caddo lived in the nearby village Sha’chahdínnih (Timber Hill) from roughly 1800 to the early 1840s, when East...
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