Eagle Staff Report
The Star of the Republic Museum’s new exhibit, “So Others Might Follow: Four Centuries of Maps That Define Texas,” will open Saturday and will illustrate through maps the evolution of Texas over four centuries, both topographically and politically, under seven flags. It runs until February 15, 2019.
The exhibition includes 20 maps spanning three centuries from the world’s most famous cartographers.
The maps in the exhibit focus on the ever-changing shape of Texas in the years from the early 1500s to the late 1800s, encompassing the years before it was the Republic of Texas through the days after it was ‘she achieved statehood in the United States and through the Civil War.
During this period, Texas claimed more than half of New Mexico, the panhandle of Oklahoma, the lower left corner of Kansas, large parts of Colorado, and even a small part of Wyoming. It wasn’t until five years after Texas joined the United States that it accepted the borders it has today as part of the Compromise of 1850.
“The distinctive shape of Texas is a well-known symbol to millions of people around the world – a shape that has been crafted over hundreds of years by explorers and mapmakers,” said Houston McGaugh, director of the Star of the Republic Museum. “With each passing year, another river has been mapped or another route begun. Fortunately, the Star of the Republic Museum’s collection reflects these changes in its four centuries of maps assembled for this exhibit.”
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