Ahead of the 250th birthday of the United States, a new ranking listed the 250 most influential Texans since the nation’s founding — and some of the picks are sure to turn heads.
Houston-based digital news site Chron revealed its “Texas 250: Who Shaped Texas?” list on Wednesday, July 1, to mark the state’s evolution into one of the most culturally significant and bustling states in the U.S.
“A lot of the national conversation around America’s 250th birthday is going to look East. We wanted to look at Texas,” Chron Executive Editor Wes Wilson said in a press release. “In 1776, Texas was a sparsely populated frontier territory in the Spanish Empire. Today, it is home to four of America’s 10 largest cities and has as much cultural cachet as any state in the country.”
According to the release, “the top 10 includes Beyoncé, LBJ, Sam Houston and Willie Nelson—but only one will finish on top.” Chron staff “fought, argued, debated and learned a great deal” in order to put together the list, which was narrowed down from 400 to 250. Figures were evaluated by influence, historical importance, name recognition, connection to Texan identity and impact in their field. Readers also weighed in through four voting rounds in categories like music, politics, sports and the overall list.
That’s sure to be cause for some debate, as Texans are likely to have their own thoughts on who makes the state what it is, which cities deserve more flowers, and which are a little overrated. After all, it’s hard to compare policymakers with punters, musicians with militiamen defending the Alamo. The press release also questioned whether some names embroiled in infamy, such as the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde or Enron founder Kenneth Lay, warrant mention.
“Unlike some states, the hardest part was not finding 250 Texans who mattered, it was deciding how to compare people who changed the state in completely different ways,” project leader and Chron Deputy Managing Editor for Texas Lifestyle Timothy Malcolm said in the release.
Chron’s full Texas 250 list will feature bios, photos, videos and more on each figure, ” creating a statewide debate over the people who left the biggest mark on Texas history, culture and identity.”