When was liquor by the drink made legal in Texas?

It was created by the legislature as an "exercise of the police power of the state" in 1935, same as DPS. Originally named the Liquor Control Board ( LCB ) it was later renamed the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission ( TABC ). It was intended to be a small but elite criminal law enforcement agency whose primary purpose was to combat organized crime in the newly legal beverage alcohol industry, things like commercial bribery, extortion, prostitution, gambling, narcotics etc. It was also charged with regulating all phases of the production, transportation and sale of Alcoholic Beverages. It has never been adequately funded or staffed to deal with the minor offenses that local agencies can and are required by law to handle; things like underage drinking, sale and consumption during prohibited hours etc. In actual practice it does enforce those laws, but when it does so it is doing the local officers' job. There are currently less than 300 TABC agents throughout the state.