1. In 1837, the Texas Congress passed the first act providing for the establishment of a state penitentiary. Prior to this, convicted criminals were held in county jails or sent out of the state for imprisonment.

2. In 1861, the Texas Secession Convention voted to approve Texas' ordinance of secession, making Texas the seventh state to secede from the United States and join the Confederacy.

3. In 1871, the Alamo relievers monument was dedicated in La Grange, Texas. The monument commemorates the men who marched from La Grange to the Alamo in 1836 in an attempt to provide reinforcements to the besieged Texan defenders.

4. In 1933, the first commercial oil well in the Permian Basin was completed in Mitchell County, Texas. The Permian Basin remains one of the most productive oil and gas regions in the world.

5. In 2006, the George W. Bush Presidential Library was dedicated on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The library houses the papers and archives of the 43rd president of the United States.