1. On September 18, 1837, Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first elected President of the Republic of Texas. Houston had previously served as the military commander of the Texian army during the Texas Revolution and played a crucial role in securing independence from Mexico.

2. The Battle of Lipantitlan occurred on September 18, 1835, during the early stages of the Texas Revolution. Texian rebels, led by James Fannin, attacked a Mexican garrison at Lipantitlan but were defeated and forced to retreat.

3. The University of North Texas was founded on September 18, 1890, as the Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute. Today, it is a large public research university with over 40,000 students.

4. On September 18, 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The center, named after then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, is home to NASA's astronaut corps and serves as the hub for human spaceflight activities.

5. The Gulf Coast region of Texas was hit by Hurricane Ike on September 18, 2008. The Category 2 storm caused widespread damage and power outages, particularly in Houston and Galveston, and resulted in the deaths of over 100 people in the United States and the Caribbean.