You might still be infatuated with Marfa, but there's a new (old) Texas town to become obsessed from afar with: Crush. As Sarah Hepola discovers in her journey through the intriguing Wikipedia page for the word "crush", this now non-existent town existed for only one day, and that day was certainly bizarre enough to last forever. It was created a sort of publicity stunt in 1896 by William George Crush, a passenger agent of the Katy Railroad. His idea? Gather enough people in one place, put on a show and then ... watch two trains collide. Sure enough, 40,000 people gathered three miles south of West, Texas and made it official: Crush was the second largest city in Texas that day. The train collision caused three deaths, a lost eye, and Crush's prompt firing (he was rehired the next day). Afterwards, the Katy Railroad would give people rides to the site of the crash for $2. Scott Joplin even wrote a tune about it. Learn more here. more ›

A couple of sources have been reporting this week that Phil Collins - yes, that guy - has completed and is shopping around a book on Texas history. The London Evening Standard says "Collins, 60 - a long-time collector of memorabilia from the Alamo - is now seeking a publisher for his study of Texan history." The Hollywood Reporter goes a step further, reporting that "Statehouse Press is targeting a March 2011 release for the work, titled The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector's Journey." We're assuming they meant March of 2012, and a look on the website for this State House Press reveals no iota of Collins announcements. Still, this developing news is pretty interesting, at least insofar as the book doesn't come with a soundtrack. more ›

The Wall Street Journal has a nice profile today of Boggy Creek Farm, the organic market farm in East Austin where much of the produce served in Austin's best restaurants come from. The piece also briefly goes into the curious history of the old farmhouse that still stands on the property, including the mysterious giant brick-lined pit that sits nearby: more ›

"Someone in Austin will start the conversation by telling you how progressive Austin is. The expression goes something like, "As goes Austin, so goes Texas in the opposite direction." But that may not be the whole story. Let’s take a journey through Austin history through the eyes of our local newspapers and tell the story of John Shillady’s visit to Austin as Executive Secretary of the NAACP in 1919." This is the second half of our two-part guest column. more ›

"Someone in Austin will start the conversation by telling you how progressive Austin is. The expression goes something like, "As goes Austin, so goes Texas in the opposite direction." But that may not be the whole story. Let’s take a journey through Austin history through the eyes of our local newspapers and tell the story of John Shillady’s visit to Austin as Executive Secretary of the NAACP in 1919." more ›