Hello fellow Texans and friends of Texas. Today is Sunday, June 8, 2014. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Restoration of fire-damaged governors mansion completed< On June 8, 2008, an early morning fire heavily damaged the Texas Governors Mansion. Restoration of the mansion was completed in July of 2012. The historic 152-year-old structure was undergoing an 18-month $10 million renovation and not occupied at the time. Antique furniture and other relics had been placed in storage. The project was to include a fire suppression system. Cause was determined to be arson. No arrests have been made. The fire caused parts of the roof to buckle and charred much of the front of the structure. In May 2009, $22 million was allocated for the restoration the Governors Mansion -- $11 million of which came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. An additional $3.4 million has been raised through private fund raising. The Mansion pre-dates the Texas Capitol and is the oldest home for governors in continuous use west of the Mississippi and the nation’s fourth-oldest governor’s home that has been continuously occupied by the chief executive. It has been the home of every governor since 1856. After its only previous renovation in 1914, it contains 25 rooms and seven baths in 8,900 square feet. The Mansion occupies a significant place in Texas and U.S. history. Elisha Pease was the first occupant. Sam Houston roamed its halls. Gov. James Hogg’s children slid down the banister. President William McKinley and Will Rogers and many heads of state visited. Wilbert Lee Pappy ODaniel hosted radio shows with his band from the Mansion. Gov. John Connally recuperated from the gunshots he suffered while riding with President Kennedy in the motorcade. George W. Bush awaited news of the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. I get to say the six words Ive been waiting a very long time to say, Gov. Rick Perry said at the celebration of the restoration of the mission: Welcome to the Texas Governor’s Mansion. Standing behind Perry were three of the 100 or so firefighters who responded to the blaze in 2008, and Perry paid tribute to their bravery. Perry said they rescued the mansion from a near-death experience. The governor said that if the building had burned a few more minutes all that history would have been lost. The roof and front windows were destroyed in the four-alarm blaze. Much -- including the elaborate ceiling cornices and pine wood subflooring -- survived. Furniture, light fixtures and historic artwork had been removed before the fire in anticipation of a makeover. Anita Perry gave reporters a tour of the mansion, showing off Stephen F. Austin’s writing desk, antique chandeliers and the gruesome painting depicting the final moments of Texas most famous battle, The Fall of the Alamo, by Robert Onderdonk. The massive painting hangs once again in the mansion’s entry hall. In the Stephen F. Austin library. The first lady pointed to a portrait of Alamo hero Davy Crockett and said, Hes happy hes here. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Coahuila-Texas governor arrested after attempt to move capital to Bexar< On June 8, 1835, Agustín Viesca, governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas, was arrested trying to cross into Texas. Viesca had taken office in April during a controversy between Saltillo and Monclova over location of the state capital. The state legislature disbanded and authorized the governor to move the seat of government to any site he might select. Viesca decided to move the capital to Bexar and urged the Texans to rise against the anti-Republican movement. He left Monclova in late May with the archives but learned of orders not to cross into Texas and returned to Monclova. With Benjamin R. Milam and John Cameron, he then attempted a secret escape to Texas, but was captured and sent as a prisoner to Monterrey. He escaped his guards and later made his way to Goliad with Dr. James Grant. By that time anti-Mexican sentiment was so strong that the officials at Goliad preferred a declaration of Texas independence to asserting loyalty to the Mexican Constitution of 1824, and Viesca was not acknowledged as governor. Viesca died in 1845. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Houston Intercontinental Airport started operation in 1969< On June 8, 1969, Houston Intercontinental Airport officially started operations, replacing Hobby Airport, which ceased commercial flights. (Hobby was reopened to commercial traffic a couple of years later.) Some 80,000 visitors attended the opening ceremonies. In 1957, the Civil Aeronautics Administration recommended that Houston replace the overloaded Hobby Airport. By 1963 planning for a $125 million facility, on Houstons north side, was under way. The new airport opened after a succession of eight projected opening dates. By 1972 it was apparent that HIA needed many changes. The terminals were not adequate, the runways needed strengthening, the terminal people-carrying systems were in need of major repair, and the parking space was far too small. A third terminal was completed in the early 1980s. Plans for a fourth were scrapped in favor of a $95 million international facility, which opened in 1990. In acres, Houston Intercontinental is the nations second largest airport, behind Dallas-Fort Worth. • • • • • • =+ -+ -+-+= Also on June 8 in Texas: • In 1819, William M. McFaddin, rancher and participant in the battle of San Jacinto, was born in Lake Charles, La. The family moved to the vicinity of Liberty in 1823 and to Beaumont in 1833. He served at the siege of Bexar and was a member of the group commanded by Thomas J. Rusk that buried the victims of the Goliad massacre. He later joined the army of Sam Houston at Columbus and was guarded the wounded and baggage at San Jacinto. Discharged on his 17th birthday, he became a rancher near Beaumont. Oak trees that sprang from acorns McFaddin brought from the San Jacinto battleground still stand on the grounds of the McFaddin-Ward House. McFaddin died in 1897. • In 1819, Eli Harris led an advance guard of the Long expedition across the Sabine River, going to Nacogdoches where he published the first edition of the Texas Republican on Aug. 14. No copies of the paper exist. Eventually Harris settled in Ouachita Parish, La., where he became a judge. In 1841, he wrote to Republic of Texas President Lamar, claiming to have originated the Lone Star emblem of Texas. • In 1903, longtime U.S. Senator Ralph Webster Yarborough (1957 to 1971) was born in Chandler near Tyler. Yarborough was regarded as leader of the liberal wing of his party in his many races for statewide office. He was a staunch supporter and author of Great Society legislation that encompassed Medicare and Medicaid, the War on Poverty, federal support for higher education and veterans. Yarborough co-wrote the Endangered Species Act. He died on Jan. 27, 1996. • In 1916, a branch of the Humble post office was established at Moonshine Hill and discontinued in the 1930s when the school and stores closed and people moved away in search of other oil booms. Moonshine Hill was located on a section of the Humble oilfield two miles east of Humble in northeastern Harris County. • In 1925, Barbara Bush, wife of one president and mother of another, was born in Flushing, N.Y. Barbara Pierce Bush is wife of the 41st President of the United States George H.W. Bush, and served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of the 43rd President George W. Bush and 43rd governor of Florida Jeb Bush. Previously she had served as Second Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. The Bushes had six children. The Bush family soon moved to Midland where George Bush entered political life and Barbara raised their children. • In 1937, Washington County voters approved creation of a public junior college district and for levying a small tax making Blinn College the first county-owned junior college district in Texas. The college is now one of the largest of the state’s 50 public junior/community college districts. It has campuses in Brenham, Bryan, Schulenburg and Sealy. • • • • • • Texas History Day-by-Day is compiled by retired newspaper journalist Bob Sonderegger (anglebob61@yahoo). A primary source of information is Handbook of Texas Online. Your comments or additions are welcome.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 15:41:41 +0000
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