The 1836 Boundary

Most people know Texas as the second largest state in the US. What most people don't know is that for fourteen years, Texas was significantly larger.

From December 19, 1836 to November 25, 1850, the Republic of Texas claimed territory extending north to the 42nd parallel — cutting through present-day Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The western boundary ran along the Rio Grande all the way to its source in southern Colorado.

This was the full claim. The original boundary. The Republic's vision of itself.

The Compromise of 1850

The United States paid the Republic of Texas $10 million to relinquish its territorial claims north and west of the current Texas boundary. Texas accepted. The map shrank.

But the identity never did.

What We Print

Every Still Texas Co. shirt features the original 1836 boundary — the full claim, not the compromise. A lone star marks the exact geographic coordinates of your city on that map. Below it, the city name followed by TX.

Vail, CO sits at 39.6° N, 106.4° W. On the 1836 map, that's deep in Republic territory.

Aspen, CO sits at 39.2° N, 106.8° W. Republic territory.

Santa Fe, NM sits at 35.7° N, 105.9° W. Republic territory.

The map just forgot for a while. We haven't.

Still Texas.

Est. 1836 — Colorado