Albert R. Mace

The plaque never dates Mace's service as Mexia's police chief, so no source here ties him to the town's best-known law-enforcement episode, the martial law of 1922. The Handbook of Texas says Mexia's population leapt from about 3,500 to nearly 35,000 after the 1920 oil strike, faster than local authorities could manage. A Texas history column says Governor Pat Neff, after waiting nearly a year, sent in the National Guard with Rangers and federal agents, and the occupation lasted a record 47 days. Mace's marker stands in the municipal cemetery.

What the plaque says

Albert R. Mace (April 30, 1872 - Oct. 18, 1938) A peace officer 45 years, Mace joined Texas Rangers at age 21. He became deputy sheriff in Lampasas County in 1903; later served 12 years as sheriff. He was president of the Texas Sheriffs Association, 1920; chief of police in oil boom towns of Mexia and Borger (1821-1930) and in Corpus Christi (1933-1934). Was Captain of Ranger Co. "D" (1931-1933) when the east Texas oil fields were under martial law. He died in service. Recorded--1968

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site — 6.2 mi
  Where Limestone County Confederate veterans gathered each summer from 1888, later a water supplier in the Mexia oil boom, now a Texas Historical Commission site on the Navasota River.
• Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery — 7.4 mi
  The Freestone County grave of the Texas blues singer Blind Lemon Jefferson, who recorded for Paramount in Chicago from 1926 and died there in December 1929.
• Old Fort Parker — 9.7 mi
  A rebuilt 1830s family stockade near the Navasota River, where a May 1836 attack killed men of the Parker settlement and took five captives, among them nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker.

More markers nearby

• Alfonso Steel — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Mexia — 0.6 mi
• Origin of the Texas State Teachers Association — 0.7 mi
• Town Named for Gen. Jose Antonio Mexia — 0.8 mi