Early Texas Bandstands

In Texas, music long served public and social life, from Spanish troops at various presidios who had marching bands before Anglo-American colonization to frontier settlers who relied mostly on violins, guitars, or improvised instruments such as a plow point for dancing. When the Texan Army went into battle at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, it advanced to "Will You Come to the Bower?" played on drum and fife. In the 1840s, as hundreds of European settlers brought instruments with their household goods, excellent bands were organized and bandstands were erected for performances. More than 200 local bands originated in Texas in the 19th century, and many city bands played at the dedication of the new State Capitol in Austin in 1888. In Cuero, the first bandstand erected in the park was used for concerts, patriotic meetings, bazaars, ice cream socials, political rallies, and street dances, and Cuero musicians later won renown as the official band for the internationally famed Turkey Trot, founded in 1912 and opened that year with a parade led by Governor Oscar B. Colquitt.

Cuero, Texas · United States