Cotton was designated the official state fiber and fabric of Texas in 1997. Cotton was first grown in Texas by Spanish missionaries. The missions at San Antonio in 1745 reported growing, spinning and weaving several thousand pounds of cotton annually.

"Beginning in 1872, thousands of immigrants from the Deep South and from Europe poured into the Blackland Prairie of Central Texas and began growing cotton. Some of the newcomers bought small farmsteads, but most worked as tenant farmers or sharecroppers for landowners who controlled spreads as large as 6,000 acres." - Quote from Cotton Culture: Texas Handbook.

Source:

Cotton Culture: Texas Handbook Online

Links:

Story of Cotton: National Cotton Council
Story of my Cotton Dress: Ohio State U Dept. of History
Cotton & other Fabrics: Fabrics.net
Cotton & the Uproar of Slavery: Bryant University
Cotton Gin: Bryant University
Cotton Counts Educational Resources: Nat. Cotton Council
100% Cotton: UCLA Botanical Garden
The Cotton Pickin Web: Cotton production info
Cotton Fibers: University of Tennessee
Cultural Symbols - 50 states