Located at 515 Rusk Street in downtown Houston, the Bob Casey Federal Courthouse was named after U.S. Representative Robert R. Casey. The United States District Court for Southern Texas resides in the Casey building, and it serves a broad region of…

The United States Post Office in Rusk, Texas, features a Bernard Baruch Zakheim mural titled "Agriculture and Industry at Rusk." Completed in 1939, Zakheim's powerful mural illustrates Rusk's rough agrarian and industrial history from multiple…

A forest of pine trees passes through the Texas Electric Cooperatives, Inc.'s (TEC) Pole Manufacturing Plant in Jasper each year. The facility's giant bark-peeling machine strips logs as long as one hundred feet to make forty-foot poles for utility…

Just a minute’s drive from the 1925 county courthouse in Quitman, Texas, one may find the thoroughly modern, electric blue headquarters of the Wood County Electric Cooperative, Inc. (WCEC). Like many contemporary buildings, the WCEC headquarters was…

Douglassville, Texas, with a population hovering around 200, is home to Bowie-Cass Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BCEC). How BCEC, which provides electricity to more than 34,000 locations spread over six East Texas counties, came to be headquartered in…

During the 1930s, the rural citizens of Texas made do without electric lights, running water, refrigeration, and many appliances now considered necessities. Electric power had been part of city life since the turn of the century, but few farms had…

Located along the Trinity River, Liberty, Texas, is one of the oldest towns in the Lone Star State. Initially settled by Anglo-American squatters in 1818, the town became a key trading center by the time of the Texas Revolution. In 1837, local…

Founded in 1852, Linden is one of the oldest cities in Northeast Texas. Linden's unique musical history and culture is represented by the Music City Texas Theater. The city has also been home to many notable and talented artists including composer…

The Paris Public Library hosts four murals painted by Texas Jerry Bywaters as part of the New Deal’s Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) in 1934. Two of the panels tell the story of the Great Paris Fire of 1916 and the town's subsequent…

Electric light came to the farmers of Upshur County, Texas in July 1938. Citizens of the county and surrounding rural areas created the Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation (URECC) in 1937. They applied for a loan of $140,000 from the Rural…

In a 48 year career as a Congressman from Bonham, Texas, seventeen of which he served as Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn’s proudest accomplishment was passing the Rural Electrification Act. Rayburn was an outspoken supporter of President Franklin…

Thomas Terry Connally (1877-1963) spent his career in government as a progressive New Dealer and Southern Democrat who fought against America's long tradition of isolationism in foreign affairs. Connally was born on August 19, 1877, to Jones and…

Located 125 miles east of Dallas, the city of Longview is known for its rolling hills and scenic areas. The town was incorporated in 1871, after Ossamus Hitch Methvin Sr. sold one hundred acres of land to the Southern Pacific Railroad for the…

Kilgore, Texas, is located 120 miles east of Dallas in south-central Gregg County. Founded in 1872 by cotton planters, the town was named by the International-Great Northern Railroad in honor of Constantine Buckley Kilgore, a U.S. Representative from…