200th Year Anniversary
In 2023, the world-renowned Texas Rangers, will mark their 200th anniversary of service to the great state of Texas. From its founding in 1823, until today with 166 women and men spread across 254 counties, today’s Texas Rangers reflect the diversity, professionalism, and integrity you would hope to find in one of the world’s oldest – and finest – law enforcement organizations.
The Lone Star State’s story cannot be recounted with accuracy absent the history of this group. Texas Rangers were originally formed in the tradition of the Spanish Frontier “flying companies” to protect Stephen F. Austin’s “Old 300” colonists in Mexican Texas. Rangers were here during the Texas Revolution, when they protected retreating citizens and soldiers from Mexican advances until they could make their stand at San Jacinto. Rangers were here for the capture of outlaws like John Wesley Hardin and King Fisher, and the demise of Sam Bass, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
The legend and lore of the Texas Rangers has only expanded with the plethora of books, movies and TV shows done about them. Hollywood has created a worldwide mystique for all things Texas, the Rangers most of all. From the earliest serials written in the late 19th century, to the silent movies of the early 20th century, to the streaming platforms now dominating 21st century entertainment, there is an unending appetite for stories of these Texas lawmen. Watching Lonesome Dove is practically a Texan right-of-passage.
Creativity and adaptability are hallmarks of the Rangers, starting with the development of the Colt Walker pistol in the mid-1840s, an innovation which helped the United States win the Mexican-American War and affected the trajectories of both nations for decades to come. The Rangers were responsible for the first use of forensics in Texas in 1891 to convict Dick Duncan of murder in Maverick County.
The first car chase in Texas was conducted by a Ranger when Ed Avriett commandeered a hand-cranked automobile in Grimes County to catch a pair of thieves who had stolen a horse-drawn buggy in 1910.
The Rangers were among the first law enforcement agencies to use aerial surveillance when, in 1922, they used a biplane to find camouflaged whiskey stills along the Trinity River.
In the 1930s, in a scheme that would come to be known as the Petticoat Rangers, female operatives went undercover with male Rangers to help gather evidence on gambling establishments around Texas.
The Modern Rangers are a leader in virtually every arena of law enforcement, including tactical operations, crisis negotiation, and border security. They also provide direct support and intelligence for many smaller local agencies, to ensure our state is protected at every level. Like their brothers and sisters in law enforcement across the country, they risk their lives and spend countless hours away from family and friends. This trusted division of the Texas Department of Public Safety is known for investigative tactics that yield results time and again, leading to arrests in major cases: The “railroad killer” Angel Resendiz, cult leader Warren Jeffs, serial killer Sam Little, and Larry Nassar who sexually assaulted members of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team.
The Rangers are still there, often stepping in to reconstruct crime scenes after some of our state’s darkest days: the El Paso Walmart, Twin Peaks, Sutherland Springs, and Santa Fe High School.
In 2023, we will commemorate the Texas Rangers with a years’ worth of events that will not only pay tribute to the agency’s legacy but will have an educational component about their history and the Modern Ranger. The elite and storied Rangers are women and men of integrity and moral fortitude, willing to risk their lives in selfless service to the state of Texas.
Bicentennial www.TexasRanger2023.org
Museum www.TexasRanger.org
Foundation www.TRAF.org