Can You Answer All of These Texas Trivia Questions Without Any Hints? (2024)

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Dr Pepper comes from Texas! In what city was it invented?

Dr Pepper calls Waco home and was invented there by pharmacist Charles Alderton in the 1880s. Alderton was inspired by the smells of the various fruity syrups that permeated his pharmacy at the time. It's also worth noting that Dr Pepper has no period in it, even though most people type it that way.

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What popular nickname is Texas known by?

Texas is also known as "The Lone Star State," which refers to the fact the state was one its own Republic back in the day, so it stood alone. It's meant to memorialize the state's fight for independence from Mexico.

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Texas hasn't always been part of America. How many countries have claimed Texas as their own?

Six nations have claimed Texas as their own in its history. It was once under the control of Spain before France took over for a short while. Later, Mexico had control until Texas became its own republic making it the fourth to rule the region. After that, it was part of the Confederate States of America until, finally, it joined the United States of America.

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Do you know the name of the largest ranch in Texas?

The King Ranch in Texas dates back to 1853. At 825,000 acres or about 1,289 square miles, it's actually larger than Manhattan and has been a natural historic landmark since 1961.

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About how many people speak Texas German?

Texas German is an actual dialect spoken by around 4,000 to 6,000 people in Texas. Numerous German immigrants settled in Texas in the 19th century and their language evolved away from traditional German to a new dialect. The language has been dying for years but there are efforts to preserve it.

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Every state has official state flowers, animals and foods. What's the official state bird of Texas?

Mockingbirds, or more specifically, the Northern Mockingbird, is the state bird of Texas. Mockingbirds get around and are also the state birds of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee.

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How many European countries are bigger than Texas?

The state of Texas is absolutely massive. It's twice the size of Germany and bigger than literally every nation in Europe, no country on the whole continent is larger. In fact, if Texas was its own country it'd be the 40th largest on Earth.

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Texas has its own power grid. Do you know what it's called?

Unlike any other state, Texas has its own state power grid that runs almost entirely independently of the rest of the country. It's called ERCOT which stands for Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

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What makes Bracken Cave in Comal Country, Texas a noteworthy location?

Bracken Cave in Comal County is home to an absolutely staggering number of Mexican free-tail bats. The population is estimated to be around 20 million members which makes it the largest population of bats in America.

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Of the 10 most populous cities in America, how many are in Texas?

Texas claims three of the 10 top spots for most populous cities in America. Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio are all in the top ten when it comes to numbers and Austin is right there at number 11.

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Texas is one of the most populous states in the country. Just how many people live there?

The Texas population is sitting around 28.7 million, making it the second-most populous state after California. Given that the entire US population is around 327 million that means about 1 in 11 Americans are Texans.

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Texas is tornado country on an epic scale. How many do they average per year?

The weather in Texas is pretty rough and, as such, the state averages 132 tornadoes per year, which is pretty intense. Well over 8,000 funnel clouds have touched down in the state in the last 50 years.

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The Waco Suspension Bridge was the first of its kind in Texas. What does it cross?

The Waco Suspension Bridge crosses the Brazos River and was built in 1907. It took 3 million bricks to put the thing together, itself a remarkable feat since the nearest railroad to bring supplies to the bridge site was 100 miles away at the time.

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The fastest stretch of road in America connects San Antonio to Austin. What's the speed limit?

Although it doesn't stretch the entire distance, there's a length of toll road between Austin and San Antonio that has an 85 mph speed limit making it the fastest length of highway in the entire country.

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Texas is known for steers but did you know it has a few sheep as well? How many are there?

The number is obviously going to fluctuate, but in 2019 the number of sheep in Texas was around 750,000. In 2018 about 1.76 million pounds of wool came out of the state, sheared from 240,000 sheep.

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How many cattle are you going to find in Texas?

They don't call Texas cattle country for nothing. There are around 13 million head of cattle in the state which puts it head and shoulders above the competition. The next highest-ranking state is Nebraska with 6.8 million.

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Know what else they farm in Texas? Helium! What town calls itself the helium capital?

Amarillo is sitting on a metaphorical goldmine of helium. The National Helium Reserve holds about one billion cubic meters of the gas and at one point had about 10 times as much in storage. It's all refined from natural gas products.

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There's a famous tree near Rockport, Texas. Why is it famous?

The Big Tree is a live oak tree near Rockport, Texas that's estimated to be somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 years old. It's withstood numerous natural disasters over the years, most notably tornadoes.

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A man named Uncle Fletcher Davis claimed to have invented an American culinary staple. What was it?

The hamburger was alleged to have been invented by Davis in the 1800s. He introduced it at the 1904 state fair, and while many other people have claimed to have created the burger, there are some newspaper articles from the time that mention the food item to back Davis' claim.

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Which major amusem*nt park chain started in Texas?

Six Flags traces its roots to Texas and is actually named in honor of the state. The six flags of the name is a reference to the six flags that have flown over Texas in its history, meaning the six nations Texas has been a part of.

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Who designed the Texas state flag?

Surprisingly no one knows who actually designed the Texas state flag. A man named Dr. Charles B. Stewart is sometimes credited with it, based on a drawing he made, but his drawing is also said to look suspiciously like a drawing someone else made that was just traced.

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The town of DISH changed its name back in 2005. What did they used to be called?

Clark, Texas was a remarkably small town that made a deal with the DISH satellite network to change its name to DISH in 2005. Everyone in town got a PVR and cable service for the name change. Of course, there are only 200 people in town, so it wasn't a big price to pay.

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In what year was The Great Galveston Hurricane?

The deadliest hurricane in American history was the Great Galveston Hurricane of the year 1900. Although numbers are sketchy, it's believed somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 people lost their lives.

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Tyler, Texas has the country's largest what?

The Tyler rose garden is a massive 14-acre garden featuring 35,000 different roses from over 500 varieties. It's a popular spot for things like weddings and picnics and admission is free!

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Where was Sam Houston from?

Both the first and third President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston was actually not a native of Texas at all. Houston was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia back in 1793. In 1837 the city of Houston was named in his honor.

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Do you know what's unique about the public land in Texas

Public land in the state of Texas is owned by the state of Texas almost completely. Less than 2% of land is Federal land meaning if the government wants to do anything like build something in the state, they need state permission first.

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The widest highway in the world is in Texas. How wide is it?

Interstate 10, also called the Katy Freeway, widens to a remarkable 26 lanes at some points. About 219,000 cars per down travel down the road so those 26 lanes are definitely getting used. Good luck finding the fast lane, though.

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Everything's bigger in Texas! How much taller is the Texas state capital than the US capital?

The Texas state capitol building is the largest state capital building in the country and is even taller than the US capitol building by about 13 feet. It's about 360,000 square feet and has almost 400 rooms.

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Do you know the official state sport of Texas?

Despite how popular football is in Texas — and it's incredibly popular — the official state sport in Texas is rodeo. It's not an ancient tradition, though. The state legislature voted to make rodeo the official state sport in 1997.

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What was the record high temperature recorded in Ward County, Texas?

The record-high temperature recorded in Ward County, Texas back in 1994 was an absolutely scorching 120 F. That beats the record temperature of 113 F set in the Mojave desert. Hope everyone had air conditioning.

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In 2014 the Texas town of Decatur moved something so it wouldn't interfere with a high school football game. What was it?

Halloween and a big football game hit on the same day back in 2014, so Decatur did the only responsible thing they could. They moved Halloween ahead by a day to October 30th so no one would have to miss the game!

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Texas is a mecca for bird watchers. How many species call the state home?

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 650 species of birds call Texas home. About 4 of those may be extinct now, so some more research will be needed to see if they need to be dropped from the list.

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7-Eleven stores got their start in Texas. What did they used to be called?

Back in 1927, 7-Eleven stores stared life as Tote'm stores. Some of them even had totem poles outside of their locations at first. The name changed to 7-Eleven in 1946. Originally the stores were only open from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm.

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What happened to Texas on March 2, 1836?

March 2, 1836, was the first day that the Republic of Texas existed in an official capacity. Until February 19, 1946, Texas was its own independent nation and existed as a sovereign state in North America.

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What famous Texas slogan came from an anti-littering campaign in the 1980s?

The popular and sometimes intimidating-sounding statement "Don't mess with Texas" actually comes from the mid-1980s and was a slogan from an anti-littering campaign. So it's more literal than most of us realize.

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When did Texas institute a Pledge of Allegiance to their flag?

The pledge of allegiance to the state flag date back to 1933 and is fairly short and succinct. It states "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

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In 2017, legislation was introduced to get people in Texas to stop using what emoji?

Rep. Tom Oliverson introduced legislation to get people to stop using the Chilean flag emoji. Why? It looks incredibly similar to the Texas state flag but isn't quite the same, so they wanted to make sure people in Texas were only using the right one.

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What does the word "Texas" even mean?

The word Texas comes from the word "taysha" which means "friend" in the Caddo language. The Caddo were a confederacy of several Native American tribes who lived in Texas and surrounding areas.

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How big is the Dallas/Fort Worth airport?

The airport in Dallas/Fort Worth is a massive plot of land that covers 29.8 square miles. It's actually larger than Manhattan. It offers service to over 250 destinations worldwide and serves nearly 70 million passengers a year.

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How many pounds of wildflowers does the Texas Department of Transportation plant every year?

In order to keep the highways of Texas looking their best, the Department of Transportation plants 30,000 pounds of wildflowers every year. They've been preserving and maintaining the flowers alongside the roads since 1932.