Heritage, Volume 5, Number 3, Autumn 1987 Page: 12
38 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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TWENTY-FIVE YEARS:
Marking Texas Histo:
by Frances Rickard and Cynthia J. Beeman
(W hen the Texas State Historical Survey Committee
(TSHSC) first conceived the notion to identify and
mark the state's historic houses, sites and landmarks, few
of the members would have dreamed that such a program
would continue long beyond their lifetimes. Years of
debate and discussion took place before the first TSHSC
historical marker was cast and placed in 1962; yet once the
program was underway, it gained momentum and became
the most popular vehicle for recording the "people's
history" in Texas. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 1987,
the state marker program has elicited participation from
citizens in every one of Texas' 254 counties. With approximately
10,000 markers in place, the Texas program is one
of the most active and ambitious in the United States.
Created in 1953 by the state legislature to survey the
historic resources of Texas and to recommend ideas and activities
that would ensure their preservation, the governorappointed
Texas State Historical Survey Committee met
for the first time in November of that year in Austin. Some
of these resources had been identified in a short-lived
marker program undertaken by the Texas Centennial Commission
in 1936, during which an estimated 900 markers
and monuments were placed throughout the state. Many of
the markers had fallen victim to vandalism and neglect by
the early 1950s, and their condition was an early concern
of TSHSC members. As early as 1954, a subcommittee
led by Ima Hogg of Houston recommended that the
TSHSC initiate a new marker program, using a yet-to-be
designed official state marker to identify recently
surveyed sites.
While potential marker designs were discussed, the
scope of the program was widened to include plans for
marker placements at the graves of Texas War for
Independence veterans, along Texas highways for the
amusement and edification of tourists, and later on for the
commemoration of Civil War-related sites. Representatives
of the TSHSC, the state highway department, the
Southwell Company of San Antonio, and other groups
including the Texas Historical Foundation (chartered in
1954 to serve as the fund-raising arm of the Survey
Committee), met regularly to work out design plans for
the various proposed marker types. The emblem which
was finally adopted was a round medallion with a relief
map of Texas, patterned after the granite markers found
at Texas border entry points. The medallion alone would
mark historic structures and would appear above the text
on the larger tourist information markers. An ornate
scrolled border appearing on the large subject marker
was later eliminated to save money. The design of the
early building medallions included three color-coded
12stars. A red star denoted a building that met standards of
good restoration and/or preservation; a white star meant
the structure was open to the public; and a blue star indicated
an admission charge. Discontinued in 1964 due to
public confusion over their meaning, the red, white and
blue stars were replaced with the words "Official Historical
Medallion."
Within the first three months of 1962, dedication ceremonies
were held for the first tourist information marker
and the first medallion home. An informational marker
was placed at the site of Camp Ford in Smith County on
January 14, and on March 4 a medallion was awarded to
the Eggleston House in Gonzales. In the program's first
year, tourist information markers were also placed for the
Odessa Meteor Crater, Castle Gap in Upton County, and
Alleyton, C.S.A. in Colorado County; approximately 600
structures were marked with the building medallion. The
program's success was illustrated by the enthusiasm with
which committee members expressed their desire to continue
their efforts in their December 1962 meeting, as they
determined to mark trees, cemeteries, replicas and sites,
each with an appropriate and uniform state marker. In
early 1963, TSHSC staff member Betty Keefe remarked
that the medallion program-whose original goal was to
mark each of the TSHSC-surveyed structures-would not
be over for at least another two years.
From the beginning, the marker program relied
heavily upon the participation of local citizens. County
historical survey committees provided the TSHSC with
updates on the condition of the 1936 markers, and as early
as 1959 marker policy proposals included the requirement
that county committees screen all requests for
markers. Twenty-five years later, it is still a policy that all
marker applications be approved by county historical commissions
prior to submission to the State Marker Program
of the Texas Historical Commission.
Former Texas Attorney General John Ben Shepperd,
who served as TSHSC president from 1963 to 1966, is
generally credited with building enthusiasm throughout
the state to mark historic sites. His midnight meetings and
early morning breakfasts were legendary among
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 5, Number 3, Autumn 1987, periodical, Autumn 1987; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45439/m1/12/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.