Bernard Moore Temple

Temple's career outran the town named for him. After Confederate artillery service he learned railroad engineering in Kansas, Nebraska and East Texas under Octave Chanute and Grenville Dodge, then settled in Galveston in 1875. As chief engineer he supervised 359 miles of Santa Fe track from Arcola to Fort Worth and Lampasas. Working for the Southern Pacific from 1888 to 1892, he oversaw construction in South Texas and served as resident engineer on the Pecos High Bridge. Galveston made him city engineer in 1895 and superintendent of waterworks in 1899.

What the plaque says

Bernard Moore Temple (November 4, 1843 - October 5, 1901) Virginia-born B. M. Temple served in the Confederate army during the Civil War (1861-1865), then moved west to begin a noted career in civil engineering. As chief engineer for the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad, 1879-1884), he supervised much of the line's expansion in Texas, always demanding quality construction. Temple, Texas, founded by the railroad in 1881 and later a division point, was named for him. Temple married ida May Shipman (1861-1936). They had two children. Incise in base: Marker Sponsor: Weldon Green Cannon (1976)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Moody Mansion — 1.0 mi
  A four-story, 28,000-square-foot house on Broadway, finished in 1895, that W. L. Moody Jr. bought just after the 1900 storm and his family kept until Hurricane Alicia in 1983.
• 1859 Ashton Villa — 1.2 mi
  A brick Italianate house on Broadway, built with enslaved labor in 1859, whose lawn has held Galveston's Juneteenth commemoration of General Orders, No. 3 every year since 1979.
• The Strand — 1.4 mi
  Five blocks of iron-front brick buildings near the harbor that were once called the Wall Street of the Southwest, emptied after 1900 and brought back by preservationists from the 1960s.
• Galveston Seawall and the 1900 Storm — 1.5 mi
  The concrete wall along the Gulf that Galveston built after the hurricane of September 8, 1900, which killed between 6,000 and 8,000 people in a city of 38,000.

More markers nearby

• Wilbur Cherry — steps away
• Warren D. C. Hall — steps away
• Nahor Biggs Yard — steps away
• Lt. Commander Edward Lea — steps away