Texas Trivia (Houston, San Antonio, Winters: layoffs, location, career)

[jtur88]

How about Texas Military Institute, located in San Antonio, which claims to be the oldest, but not sure if it was the first?

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Interesting that there are two of them, I did not look that far south when looking for a second one. As an ex land surveyor, I'm betting that the misalignment of the original section corners for those counties, where they didn't quite line up from North to South, was because some of the methods adopted in laying out the Rectangular Survey System for land sections (a one-square-mile block of land) included some pretty primative means, such as counting the rotations of a wagon will to measure distance. Texas uses a combination of the Spanish land grants and a variation of the PLSS.
)

If you look at a detailed map of Saskatchewan, you'll see that the border with Manitoba is not a straight line, but it is staggered all the way down (visible in the Rand McNally road atlas). The reason being that nowhere on earth can a square be formed with parallels and meridians on the four sides, since meridians merge together at the north pole, and are thus closer together at the northern boundaries of Texas counties than at the southern. Colorado and Wyoming are not rectangles, but trapezoids. Since land is surveyed in squares, a problem arises from the fact that you can't fit a checkerboard into a trapezoid.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by jtur88

How about Texas Military Institute, located in San Antonio, which claims to be the oldest, but not sure if it was the first?



If you look at a detailed map of Saskatchewan, you'll see that the border with Manitoba is not a straight line, but it is staggered all the way down (visible in the Rand McNally road atlas). The reason being that nowhere on earth can a square be formed with parallels and meridians on the four sides, since meridians merge together at the north pole, and are thus closer together at the northern boundaries of Texas counties than at the southern. Colorado and Wyoming are not rectangles, but trapezoids. Since land is surveyed in squares, a problem arises from the fact that you can't fit a checkerboard into a trapezoid.

Makes perfect sense to me. ( also minored in astronomy)


Back to the NEXT QUESTION:

When and where was the first military academy in Texas, what was it called?

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by jtur88

If you look at a detailed map of Saskatchewan, you'll see that the border with Manitoba is not a straight line, but it is staggered all the way down (visible in the Rand McNally road atlas). The reason being that nowhere on earth can a square be formed with parallels and meridians on the four sides, since meridians merge together at the north pole, and are thus closer together at the northern boundaries of Texas counties than at the southern. Colorado and Wyoming are not rectangles, but trapezoids. Since land is surveyed in squares, a problem arises from the fact that you can't fit a checkerboard into a trapezoid.

Absolutely, you can't prescribe a cartesian coordinate system to a sphere. This is in my mind a result of the transition from a flat earth theory to recognizing that the earth is a sphere. I think we are on the edge of a similar conceptual change today in recognizing that our concept of infinity in all directions does not apply to the warped space of our universe.

OK back to the question at hand.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by jtur88

How about Texas Military Institute, located in San Antonio, which claims to be the oldest, but not sure if it was the first?

I assume oldest does mean first, as far as presence in the state, but my information indicates that one is not the oldest in TX, and that there were at least three that preceded it by as much as 35+ years.

Texas Military Institute, Founded 1893 as West Texas Military Academy by Rev. James Steptoe Johnston.

When and where was the first military academy in Texas, what was it called?

[jtur88]

How about Bastrop Academy? In, umm, I think maybe Bastrop.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by jtur88

How about Bastrop Academy? In, umm, I think maybe Bastrop.

You are getting closer in time, but here are two that are older. Think coastal.

The Texas Military Institute, Austin, was organized in Bastrop by R. P. T. Allen and was operating as the Bastrop Military Institute by 1858.

The TMI in San Antonio that you guessed at earlier is probably the oldest one that is still in existence. http://community.tmi-sa.org/NetCommunity/tmiepiscopal

[jtur88]

Texas Military Institute, Galveston, in 1854

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Texas Military Institute, Galveston, in 1854

That is correct, your turn.

TEXAS MILITARY INSTITUTE, GALVESTON | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)
TEXAS MILITARY INSTITUTE, GALVESTON. The Texas Military Institute at Galveston was founded by Caleb G. Forshey in 1854

TEXAS MONUMENTAL AND MILITARY INSTITUTE | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)
TEXAS MONUMENTAL AND MILITARY INSTITUTE. Texas Monumental and Military Institute, formed from the consolidation of Rutersville College, Texas Military Institute, Galveston, and the Texas Monumental Committee at La Grange, Fayette County, opened in October 1856.

TEXAS MILITARY INSTITUTE, AUSTIN | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)
The Texas Military Institute, Austin, was organized in Bastrop by R. P. T. Allen and was operating as the Bastrop Military Institute by 1858.

[jtur88]

For four years, in the 60s, there were two baseball players in the major leagues at the same time, unrelated to each other, who were born and raised in the same small Texas town, with a population of only about 2,000. Many years earlier, there was another player from that same town, who has been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But that town is much more famous for something else. What town is it?

[CptnRn]

Sorry, I don't do sports trivia, someone else will have to carry the ball on this one.