This Date In Texas History - December 20

[joe817]

1835 - Texans at Goliad ratify a Declaration of Independence for Texas. The community of Goliad originated as one of the oldest Spanish colonial municipalities in the state, dating back to 1749. The first flag of the Republic is flown depicting an arm holding a sword. Copies of the Declaration of Independence are immediately made and circulated throughout the Colonies. The original was brought to the General Council meeting at San Felipe. Among the things begin discussed at San Felipe was whether Texans would support the Federalists attempt to restore the 1824 Constitution to Mexico, or would they seek to fight for Independence. The document had ninety-one signatures.

1836 - The Congress of the Republic of Texas formally approved the Post Office Department. President Houston named Robert Barr of Nacogdoches postmaster general.

1877 - Sam Bass robs the Fort Worth-Cleburne stage.

1886 - Colonel Jesse L Driskill opened the original Driskill Hotel in Austin. The hotel was one of the grandest in Texas, the meeting place of legislators, lobbyists, and the social leaders of Austin, and was the site of inaugural balls, elaborate banquets, receptions, and university dances and ceremonies.

1944 - The Army Air Forces ended the WASPs (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots) program, including the program based at Sweetwater Army Air Field in Sweetwater, Texas. WASP's played a crucial part in the war effort, by ferrying planes from staging areas and manufacturing plants to ports of embarkation en route for overseas theater's of war, thus freeing up USAAF pilots for their wartime missions.

1969 - A song written by H. John Deutschendorf, Jr, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100, "Leaving on a Jet Plane". Deutschendorf, who later changed his name to John Denver, graduated from Fort Worth's Arlington Heights High School, and went on to have over two dozen hits.

1970 - A three-judge federal panel ruled that a Texas law requiring a filing fee when wishing to run for public office, was unconstitutional.

1998 - In Houston, TX, a 27-year-old woman gave birth to the only known living set of octuplets.

[joe817]

Just noticed I forgot to put the date in. I fixed it just now.