Texas is about to get a whole lot more interesting, y’all. You may think you know everything there is to know about our state, but I’m here to challenge that notion. Here are some lesser-known (but just as interesting) facts about Texas that you probably didn’t know before.

  1. The ferris wheel at the Texas State Fair in Dallas is the largest in the entire Western hemisphere of the world.

Flickr/verndogs

  1. Texas boasts the nation’s largest population of whitetail deer.

Flickr/debiwatson

  1. King Ranch, located outside of Corpus Christi, is larger than the state of Rhode Island.

Flickr/mccormacka

  1. The 1900 Galveston hurricane is the deadliest disaster in recorded U.S. history.

Wikimedia Commons

  1. El Paso is closer to the city of Needles, California (516 miles) than Dallas, Texas (571 miles.)

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  1. Texas experiences more tornadoes per year than any other state in the country with a yearly average of 139.

Flickr/indigente

  1. We own all of our public land. The federal government has to ask permission before cutting down trees or creating a park.

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  1. Our capitol building is the largest in the nation. (Yep, even bigger than the nation’s Capitol in D.C.!)

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  1. Six Flags, the amusement park, gets its name from the fact that six nations (Spain, France, the Confederate States of America, the USA, the Republic of Texas, and Mexico) have flown their flag over Texas at some point.

Flickr/mario

  1. The Flagship Hotel was the only hotel in the USA built entirely over water.

Flickr/Texas.713

  1. The last battle of the Civil War was fought in Texas.

Wikimedia Commons Everyone considers the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse the end of the war, but Northern and Southern forces fought a month later in the Battle of Palmito Ranch on a coastal prairie east of Brownsville. The Confederates killed or wounded approximately 30 opponents, captured over 100, and forced the rest back to a base near the mouth of the Rio Grande before surrendering their arms shortly afterwards.

  1. Texas is so big, it uses its own power grid as opposed to tapping into one of the other two that power the east and west sides of the country.

Flickr/chap_d

  1. In 1968, a time capsule containing a passbook to a bank account containing $10 was buried in Amarillo. It is expected to reach $1 quadrillion in value by 2968.

Flickr/kkanouse

  1. Palo Duro Canyon is the nation’s second largest canyon.

Flickr/sarowen

  1. It is illegal to let a camel loose on the beach in Galveston.

Flickr/ricklibrarian Keep your friends close and your camels closer, ya hear?

  1. We’re home to the fastest speed limit in the USA. (Hmm, I wonder why they don’t teach that in schools…?)

Flickr/artjonak

So…how’d you do? Did you know them all? What are some other neat, obscure facts about Texas?

Flickr/verndogs

Flickr/debiwatson

Flickr/mccormacka

Wikimedia Commons

Flickr/paul_garland

Flickr/indigente

Flickr/biggreymare

Flickr/faungg

Flickr/mario

Flickr/Texas.713

Everyone considers the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse the end of the war, but Northern and Southern forces fought a month later in the Battle of Palmito Ranch on a coastal prairie east of Brownsville. The Confederates killed or wounded approximately 30 opponents, captured over 100, and forced the rest back to a base near the mouth of the Rio Grande before surrendering their arms shortly afterwards.

Flickr/chap_d

Flickr/kkanouse

Flickr/sarowen

Flickr/ricklibrarian

Keep your friends close and your camels closer, ya hear?

Flickr/artjonak

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