Texas independence from Mexico was celebrated one hundred fifty years later alongside the golden anniversary of the XIT Rodeo and Reunion, which began in 1936 as a reunion of men who had worked on the XIT Ranch. The XIT Ranch began when the State of Texas granted 3,000,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle in exchange for construction of the State Capitol building in Austin. Held annually in Dalhart, the XIT Rodeo and Reunion preserves the history and traditions of ranch life in the Texas Panhandle in the early 1900s. It honors the patriots who fought for Texas independence, the cowboys who rode the range and herded cattle across the famous ranch, and those who have continued that Texas heritage through the annual XIT Rodeo and Reunion.