Color Texas Sampler by Color Our Town Press

24 Places to Visit and Color

Jake Rose

Illustrations by Various Artists

The Alamo

Bishop's Place Mansion

Bullock Texas State History Museum

Cadillac Ranch

Johnson Space Center/ Houston Space Center

AT&T Stadium

Congress Avenue Bridge

Houston Museum of Fine Arts

San Antonio Riverwalk

Perot Museum of Nature and Science

Dallas Arboretum

Dinosaur Valley State Park

Fort Worth Stockyards

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

King Ranch

Dallas Museum of Art

Texas State Capitol

Governor's Mansion

El Paso Mission Trail

Fort Worth Zoo

6//

Oil Fields of Texas

Gruene Hall

East End Historic District

Children's Museum of Houston

TEXAS Amarillo

Fort Worth

Dallas

Glen Rose El Paso Austin New Braunfels

Houston Galveston

San Antonio

The Lone Star State Kingville

Photo by Renelibrary

1. The Alamo Uncover 300 years of history at the Alamo, an awe-inspiring story that’s more intriguing than you might imagine. Established by Fray Antonio de Olivares in 1718 as Mission San Antonio de Valero and moved to its current location in 1724, this UNESCO World Heritage site has always been at a crossroads of history. Having served for the Spanish, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the United States, and the Confederacy, the Alamo has a rich history and a heritage to inspire. Best known for being the site for the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, the garrison’s loss soon served as a rallying cry at the battle of San Jacinto and in turn helped to establish the Republic of Texas. In 1845, the U.S. Army augmented the Alamo Church with its iconic parapet. In 1877, Honoré Grenet modified the Long Barrack by adding a porch and towers to the roof. In 1892, Adina De Zavala and Clara Driscoll created their own chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and had Texas turn over custodianship of both the Church building and the Long Barrack (the only two original remaining Alamo buildings) to them. It is due to their efforts that people can still honor the Alamo’s history.

2. Johnson Space Center / Space Center Houston Established in 1961, the Johnson Space Center is responsible for designing, developing, and operating human space flight. JSC has been NASA’s leader in human space flight operations and explorations for over 50 years, with its crowning achievement coming with the Apollo Moon landing in 1969. Home to Mission Control – where flight controllers monitor the women and men in space – JSC develops, produces, and tests the Space Shuttle, supports scientific and medical research, and trains astronauts for space flights. A leading science and space learning center, Space Center Houston is one of Houston’s top attractions and the official visitor center for Johnson Space Center. Since opening in 1992, Space Center Houston has welcomed over 22 million people in its educational complex. Featuring over 400 space artifacts, exhibits, and theaters related to NASA’s past and future, Space Center Houston has the world’s largest collection of moon rocks and lunar samples on public display. Space Center Houston enlightens its visitors through its hands-on activities, films, exhibits, and live shows.

Photo by Michael Barera

3. AT&T Stadium Known as America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys opened a new chapter in their history with AT&T Stadium’s opening in 2009. Built by HKS near the Texas Rangers’ home of Globe Life Park in Arlington, AT&T Stadium is one of sports’ most recognizable stadiums. Spanned by a pair of 292 foot arches, the futuristic exterior consists of a canted 800 foot glass wall. At each endzone are the world’s largest glass retractable doors, 180 foot wide by 120 foot high, which opens or closes in 18 minutes. The stadium has a main seating capacity of 80,000 but can expand to seat nearly 100,000 fans for events like the Super Bowl. Suspended 90 feet above the field, weighing 1.2 million pounds, and containing 25,000 square feet of video displays, AT&T’s four-screen HD videoboard is 160 feet long by 71 feet high, making it one of the world’s largest HD videoboards. In addition to being the home of the Cowboys, the stadium has hosted high profile sporting events like the Big 12 Football Championship, the Cotton Bowl, the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, Super Bowl XLV in 2011, the 2014 Men’s Final Four, the 2015 College Football Championship, and WrestleMania 32.

Photo by Michael Barera

4. Fort Worth Stockyards Between 1866 and 1890, drovers trailed over four million head of cattle through Fort Worth – providing the city its Cowtown moniker. Built in 1887, Fort Worth Stockyards housed Armour and Swift’s plants. Erected in 1902 as the Wall Street of the West, the Livestock Exchange Building housed livestock companies. Completed in 1907, Cowtown Coliseum was home to the first indoor rodeo. Founded by Charlie and Sue McCafferty in 1976 to preserve Fort Worth’s livestock heritage, the North Fort Worth Historical Society established the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historical District, restored the Exchange Building, Coliseum, and Swift headquarters, and opened the Stockyards Museum in 1989. The Stockyards still hosts the world’s only twice-daily cattle drive, and every week, thousands of cattle are sold from the Exchange Building. All this – plus over a hundred shopping, dining, and entertainment venues – makes the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historical District one of Texas’ most popular tourist destinations.

Photo by U.S National Archives

6. Oil Fields Of Texas Producing 43% of the total U.S. crude oil in 2020, Texas is America’s largest domestic producer of oil. The state has been associated with oil since Spindletop’s discovery in 1901, which launched the modern oil industry, forever changed Texas’ economy, and ended John Rockefeller’s petroleum monopolies. Believing that Spindletop Hill had oil, Patillo Higgins had Anthony Lucas contact John Galey, James Guffey, and Curt Hamill to drill there. After reaching a depth of 1,139 feet, they hit pay dirt as the Lucas Gusher erupted 150 feet into the air. Flowing uncontrolled for nine days, the “Christmas Tree” device was invented to control the oil flow. Producing 21 million barrels of oil in total by the end of 1902, Spindletop caused prices to drop to under 25 cents a barrel. Texaco, Gulf, Mobile, ExxonMobil, and Sun can all trace their roots to Spindletop Hill. The oil industry’s movers and shakers converged on Houston in the early 1900s and the city still reigns today as the world’s energy capital. The Spindletop discovery changed people’s lives by revolutionizing transportation through the automobile industry and ushering in the petroleum age.

8. Congress Avenue Bridge Every year, over 100,000 people gather to see the world's largest urban bat colony emerge from under Austin’s Congress Avenue Bridge. These bats are fun to watch and make the world a better place to live. When engineers rebuilt Congress Avenue Bridge in 1980, they found the crevices below the bridge made for an ideal bat roost. Merlin Tuttle then brought Bat Conservation International to Austin and told the city about bats’ gentle and complex nature. As Austin came to appreciate its bats, the population under Congress Avenue Bridge grew to become North America’s largest urban bat colony. The Austin American-Statesman created the Statesman Bat Observation Center near Congress Bridge, giving visitors an area to view the emergence. BCI has been influential in protecting and promoting the Congress Avenue Bridge bat colony as an eco-tourism destination. With up to 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats spiraling into the skies, Austin now has one of the most fascinating tourist attractions anywhere.

Photo by Liveon001

10. San Antonio Missions National Historical Park San Antonio Missions National Historical Park preserves four Spanish colonial missions along the San Antonio River. Established in the early 1700s as an attempt to secure a Spanish presence in these lands, the missions were communities in which Catholic missionaries attempted to spread the Spanish way of life to the native people they encountered. The native people who joined the mission communities came from several different hunting and gathering groups known collectively as Coahuiltecans (kwa-weel-TEKens). The missionaries introduced Catholicism, farming, permanent settlements, and various trades such as masonry, carpentry, and blacksmithing. The missions forever changed the lives of the Coahuiltecans, and, over time, the fusion of native and Spanish culture and blood in the missions gave rise to the unique South Texas culture that can be found in San Antonio today. The four missions of the national historical park, along with Mission San Antonio de Valero (or the Alamo, as it's better known today) were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

Photo by Michael Barera

12. Gruene Hall Built in 1878, Gruene Hall is Texas’ oldest continually operating and most famous dance hall. The dance hall includes side flaps for open air dancing, a bar in the front, a lighted stage in the back, and an outdoor garden. A center in the Central Texas social and entertainment scene, Gruene Hall has been recognized as a tourist attraction and a major music venue for both up-and-coming and established artists. Since 1975, the Hall has played host to hundreds of celebrities whose pictures adorn the walls. The owner’s focus on booking singer-songwriters and artists who play original material has provided a fertile proving ground for former “new talents” like George Strait and Lyle Lovett. Gruene Hall has also become a place where songwriters can try out new material and where music icons like Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Garth Brooks, or Willie Nelson can play in a more intimate venue. Through the years, the winners have always been Gruene Hall’s patrons. A person watching a show never knows if the artist they see at the Hall today will be a star tomorrow, but they can know that the music they hear will always be top notch.

Photo by Carol M. Highsmith

13. Bullock Texas State History Museum The Bullock Texas State History Museum illuminates the Story of Texas and celebrates Texas history, people and culture. Three floors of Texas History Galleries explore everything from the earliest inhabitants, European colonization and the Texas Revolution to equal rights, space exploration, and pop culture. Two special exhibition galleries host a variety of relevant and engaging exhibitions featuring artifacts from all over the world and immersive multimedia experiences. The Bullock Museum also offers educational programs for all ages and two unique theaters: the IMAX® Theatre with the largest screen in Texas and the multi-sensory Texas Spirit Theater. The Bullock Museum is named for the 38th Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Bob Bullock, who championed the preservation and exhibition of Texas history. Opened in 2001, the museum honors Bullock's vision with three floors of gallery space featuring original artifacts, dynamic exhibits, two theaters, and programs that celebrates Texas history and culture.

Photo by Hequalis2henry

14. Houston Museum of Fine Arts Located in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is one of the 10 largest art museums in the United States. A dynamic cultural complex, the Museum contains over 65,000 works of art within its three gallery buildings, sculpture garden, library, two art schools, and two house museums. Designed by William Watkin and opened in 1924, the Watkin building is a neoclassical spectacle. Located on Buffalo Bayou and designed by John Staub, Bayou Bend is the home of Ima Hogg and contains her collection of American paintings and decorative arts. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Cullinan Hall and the Brown Pavilion combine to form the modernist Wiess Building. Designed by Isamu Noguchi, the Cullen Sculpture Garden features sculptures by Henri Matisse, Auguste Rodin, Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, and Alexander Calder. Opened in 2000, the Beck Building houses the collection of American and European art.

Photo by Joe Mabel

15. Perot Museum of Nature and Science Opened in 2012, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science gives visitors the opportunity to feel the ground shake beneath them in an earthquake simulation, program a robot to navigate a maze, and even test their speed against a virtual T. rex. Named for former presidential candidate Ross Perot and designed by Thom Mayne, the museum’s concrete covering makes it appear like a cube floating over a landscaped base, while its jutting glass-enclosed escalator gives visitors a view of downtown. In one display, visitors can pick a virtual competitor to race against - Dallas Cowboys running back Felix Jones, gymnast Emily Richardson, a T. rex, or a cheetah - and then see how their times and average miles per hour compare. There's also an animated experience that shows visitors how the solar system was created, a virtual 9,000-foot journey down a gas well, and the opportunity to feel the force of a tornado. The museum's roots date back to the Dallas Museum of Natural History’s establishment in 1936. In 2006 it merged with The Science Place and the Dallas Children's Museum to form the Museum of Nature & Science at Fair Park.

21. Dinosaur Valley State Park The Dinosaur Valley State Park has its roots with the massive flood of the Paluxy River in 1908. It battered the riverbed to such an extent that in 1909, George Adams discovered large, three-toed theropod tracks in the river. Nearly 20 years later, R. T. Bird discovered sauropod tracks in the river – which proved that sauropods walked on land. Opened in 1972, the 1,587-acre Dinosaur Valley State Park preserves these valuable dinosaur track sites and in the process allows people to learn from and enjoy them. Due to the outstanding display of dinosaur tracks, the National Park Service has designated this park as a National Natural Landmark. You can’t miss the models of an Apatosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex near its headquarters. The fiberglass models were on display at the 1964-65 New York’s World’s Fair. The Atlantic Richfield Company donated them to the park in 1970.

23. Fort Worth Zoo Founded in 1909 as the oldest continuous zoo site in Texas, the Fort Worth Zoo has grown into a nationally ranked facility, housing over 7,000 native and exotic animals. Owned and operated by the city of Fort Worth for its first eight decades, the Zoo changed hands to the Fort Worth Zoological Association in 1991. Since then, the Association has raised nearly $200 million for Zoo improvements and new habitats. In 1992, the Zoo hosted a grand reopening, unveiling the habitats World of Primates and Asian Falls. Over the past 30 years, the Zoo has opened 16 permanent habitats and support facilities, virtually creating a new Zoo in the process. Ten years of improvements and Association management was celebrated with the addition of Texas Wild! in 2001, which houses seven distinct habitats within an 8-acre complex.

Color Texas is filled to the brim with the state's most iconic settings, like the Alamo, Johnson Space Center, the Fort Worth Stockyards, and AT&T Stadium, among many others.

Through its 24 beautiful black-and-white line drawings and detailed descriptions, “Color Texas” masterfully highlights what makes this state the biggest star of the United States of America. ISBN 9781948286312