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Entered Union December 29, 1845 (28^th state)

Texas (29,145,459), Austin (961,900), Houston (2,301,572)

The limestone capitol was originally completed in 1885 using the designs of Elijah E. Myers. It is located on Congress Avenue at 12^th Street. Interstate States Highway 35 is 4 blocks east of the capitol. The Capitol is designed in Italian Renaissance Revival style. The Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Building in Austin and 13 Court of Appeals buildings in Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Dallas, Texarkana, El Paso, Amarillo, Beaumont, Waco, Eastland, Tyler, Corpus Christi, and Edinburg are all supporting buildings. The state was officially created as the 28^th state on December 29, 1845 from Native American lands and the Republic of Texas. Austin has been the capital since 1839. Washington, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco, West Columbia, and Houston since as capital earlier. The state name is Native American for “friend.” Austin is named for Stephen F. Austin, the “Father of Texas.” Houston is named for General Sam Houston. Guadalupe Peak in Culberson County is the highest point and the lowest point is sea level at the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas government, in the Executive, consists of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller, Land Commissioner, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, Three Railroad Commissioners, Fifteen Education Commissioners, and a Secretary of State. There are 31 Senators and 150 Representatives in the Legislature. Nine Supreme Court Justices, Nine Court of Criminal Appeals Justices, and Eighty Intermediate Courts of Appeal Justices serve Texas in the Judicial. Texas is located in the south-central part of the United States on the border with Mexico. The geographic center is in McCulloch County 24 miles north of Brady. The state is surrounded clockwise by Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and New Mexico.

The area is 268596 square miles. It is 2^nd largest state in the country. It is the 2^nd most populated state in the country. It has a density of 108.5 persons per square mile making it 22^nd in the country. Its major rivers are the Rio Grande, the Red, the Sabine, the Neches, the Trinity, the Brazos, the Colorado, the Guadalupe, and the Nueces. Austin is located in the central part of the state. Houston is in the southeast quarter of the state on the Gulf of Mexico.