The Medallion, Volume 48, Number 7-8, July/August 2011 Page: 3
19 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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CENTENNIAL OVERVIEW
Take a Trip to 1936
Centennial Vestiges Spur Modern-Day
Texans to Celebrate Heritage
In 1936, the Lone Star State threw itself a Texas-sized
party and invited the world to attend.
Planning for the 100th birthday of the Texas Revolution
began years before, and the 44th Texas Legislature
officially launched the effort in May 1935 with the creation
of the Commission of Control for Texas Centennial
Celebrations. The activities of the commission were broad,
including restoration of historic buildings, coordination
of statewide historical pageants and ceremonies, and
development of a central exposition at Fair Park in Dallas
modeled after the World's Fairs.
The state also designed buildings and museums in
towns large and small, stretching from Lubbock to Corpus
Christi, and Alpine to Tyler. The Centennial's tourism
activities were designed to bring visitors to the state, and
to educate and inspire Texans about their own rich history.
Today, one of the most enduring aspects of this effort
is the wide variety of more than 1,100 granite and bronze
monuments, markers, statues, and plaques the state
placed throughout Texas' 254 counties to commemorate
Texas history for posterity. Because the effort coincided
with the depths of the Great Depression, the project
combined nostalgia for the state's romantic past with a
desire to address a hopeful future. Noted architects such
as Wyatt Hedrick, Donald Nelson, and Elmer Withers
along with renowned sculptors such as Enrico Cerracchio,
Pompeo Coppini, and Raoul Josset created timeless
tableaus of Texas history.
Carved from gray or pink granite, these stately stones
adorned with bronze stars, wreaths, and descriptive
plaques marked important historic sites and have become
significant works of public art spread all around Texas.
Nearly every county in the state received a marker with the
date of its establishment and the source of its name. The
Texas Centennial marker program was so big, one even
landed in Pendleton, South Carolina (at the graves of the
parents of Thomas Jefferson Rusk).
Granite historical markers from 1936 identified
significant sites and topics statewide, ranging from
ancient Native American villages and Spanish missions to
battlefields and oilfields. Some were erected in public placesJuly/August 2011
A Centennial monument honoring Davy Crockett stands in the town square of
Ozona, Crockett County. Carved from a block of Texas granite, the statue was
reportedly the last memorial to be erected (1939) from state funds appropriated
for the Centennial celebration.
with inscriptions that begin "In this vicinity" when the actual
site could not be accessed, allowing visitors and residents
to learn about local history. Other times, particularly with
gravesites, the marker was placed at the exact site on
private land; many times, the Centennial grave marker is all
that remains above ground in a historic cemetery.
When the Texas Legislature created the Texas State
Historical Survey Committee (now the Texas Historical
Commission) in 1953, the new agency was given
responsibility for the state's 1936 markers, some of which
had been damaged or lost after only 17 years. The THC has
coordinated repair, restoration, and promotion of Centennial
markers, all of which are included on the THC's online
Atlas, and searchable by keyword, county, and location.
The Commission of Control for Texas Centennial
Celebrations achieved its goals of documenting and
preserving Texas history for posterity. Today, the Centennial
markers and monuments are admired for their aesthetics
as much as for their historical value, and their quality
craftsmanship ensures they will be appreciated for many
years to come. *
This article was written by Bob Brinkman of the THC's History
Programs Division.TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
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Texas Historical Commission. The Medallion, Volume 48, Number 7-8, July/August 2011, periodical, July 2011; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth309008/m1/3/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.