Search results
The origins of today's Texas Ranger Division trace back to the first days of Anglo-American settlement of what is today the State of Texas, when it was part of the Province of Coahuila y Tejas belonging to the newly independent country of Mexico.
On August 10, 1935, when the Texas Legislature created the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers and the Texas Highway Patrol became members of this agency, with statewide law enforcement jurisdiction.
The rangers were founded in 1823 when Stephen F. Austin, known as the Father of Texas, employed ten men to act as rangers to protect 600 to 700 newly settled families who arrived in Mexican Texas following the Mexican War of Independence.
In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Rangers in 1973, the State Legislature creates the Texas Ranger Commemorative Commission with goal of raising funds to build a State Memorial, the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame, at the Texas Ranger museum in Waco.
The history of the Texas Rangers spans nearly 200 years. Thousands of Rangers patrolled the frontier, fought in military battles, and arrested cattle rustlers. Their story contains heroic acts of bravery, but also moments that challenge our idea of the Rangers as noble lawmen.
Texas Rangers, loosely organized military force that policed Texas from the time of their initial organization in the 1830s to their merger with the state highway patrol in 1935. The first Texas Rangers were minutemen hired by settlers as protection against Native American attacks.
Texas Rangers were often the only force protecting the frontiers of the new republic. Ranger companies were called by various names: mounted volunteers, mounted gunmen, mounted riflemen, spies and minutemen.
