Texas Independence Day 2027

A partial-staffing state holiday in Texas

Texas Independence Day is a state holiday on March 2, listed in Section 662.003 of the Texas Government Code with the state's other Texas-only holidays, including San Jacinto Day and Lyndon Baines Johnson Day. It is not a federal holiday, so the U.S. Postal Service, banks, the stock market and federal offices keep normal hours everywhere, including in Texas. State law treats it as a partial-staffing holiday: under Section 662.004, agencies must keep enough employees on duty to conduct the public's business, so state offices remain open with a skeleton crew while employees are entitled to the day off or compensatory time if they work. Because the holiday is fixed to March 2, Texas does not move it when the date falls on a weekend; in those years state workers simply get no substitute day.

Why March 2

On March 2, 1836, delegates meeting at Washington-on-the-Brazos adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence, formally separating Texas from Mexico - the Convention of 1836 had assembled the day before in an unfinsihed building in the small Brazos River town, with fighting already under way; the Alamo in San Antonio was under seige as the delegates met. A five-man committee charied by George C. Childress presented the declaration, and the evidence suggests Childress had largely written it before the convention began, modaling it on the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The convention adopted it with little change, and 59 delegates signed. March 2 is also the birthday of Sam Houston, born in Virginia on March 2, 1793, who would win independence on the battlefield at San Jacinto seven weeks later and serve as the republic's first elected president.

From republic to state holiday

Texas spent nearly a decade as an independent republic before joining the United States in 1845. The Texas Legislature made March 2 a legal holiday in 1874, the first of the state's patriotic anniversaries to gain that status. The Legislature has also attached other observances to the date: March 2 is designated Texas Flag Day, and Sam Houston Day honors the republic's hero on his birthday, the original declaration, once stored at the U.S. Department of State, was returned to Texas and unveiled in a niceh at the Texas Capitol on March 2, 1930.

How Texans mark the day

The center of the celebration is Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, promoted as the birthplace of Texas, where the annual Texas Independence Day Celebration fills a weekend near March 2 with living-history demonstrations, reenactors at Independence Hall, and programs at the Star of the Republic Museum. Communities across the state hold ceremonies, and heritage groups such as the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the Sons of the Republic of Texas organize commemorations. In Austin the day often brings events at the Capitol, and Texas history classes, a required seventh-grade subject, cover the revolution in the weeks around the anniversary. Cities and school districts set their own calendars, and nearly all schools, county offices and private businesses stay open.

Outside Texas

No other state observes Texas Independence Day. Like San Jacinto Day on April 21 and Emancipation Day on June 19, it is an official state holiday that changes little in daily life beyond the state workforce, though it remains one of the most celebrated dates on the Texas cultural calendar.