Brady P. Gentry

Gentry's road to the Highway Commission began in a tax collector's office. The Handbook of Texas says he started as a clerk for the Van Zandt County tax collector, was admitted to the bar at 21, and served as an infantry captain in France in World War I. In Tyler he went from assistant city tax collector to county attorney and, in 1930, Smith County judge, holding the office four successive terms. Governor W. Lee O'Daniel named him commission chairman in 1939, the first to serve a full six-year term. In 1957 he declined another.

What the plaque says

Brady P. Gentry Park dedicated to memory of Texas State Highway Commission Chairman Brady P Gentry (March 25, 1895-Nov 9, 1966) A man whose public service was of highest order. Born on a farm near this site in Van Zandt County. Educated at Cumberland University (Tennessee) and Tyler Commercial College, was county attorney and county judge of Smith County. As chairman of Texas Highway Commission, 1939-1945, he traveled almost every Texas highway to learn road needs of state. Aided long-range financial strength of highway program by supporting the reservation of road-use revenue for road building. An authority on highway policy, Gentry served in 1943 as President of the American Association of State Highway Officials. In that capacity he aided post-war expansion in use of motor vehicles by implementing legislation to provide funds for farm-to-market roads and the first major expressways in the country. Interested in education, Gentry helped to establish Tyler Junior College. He served as U. S. Congressman, 1953-1957, for Third Congressional District of Texas. A member of committees for public works and roads, he helped design legislation for interstate highway system. Refused to vote along merely political lines. The preeminent position of the Texas Highway Department and the high quality of roads in Texas and the U. S. are a tribute to the ability of Brady P. Gentry. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center — 21 mi
  A Texas Parks and Wildlife hatchery and visitor center in Athens where visitors can borrow tackle and fish a stocked pond, watch native species in gallery tanks and ride a tram around the hatchery.
• Purtis Creek State Park — 21 mi
  A 1,582-acre park straddling the Henderson and Van Zandt county line, built around a 355-acre lake with no-wake fishing, borrowed tackle, a 4.1-mile hike-and-bike trail and a nature path.
• Governor Hogg Shrine — 23 mi
  Quitman's 27-acre city park, once a state historical park, where two houses tied to James Stephen Hogg's marriage stand beside an arboretum, a nature walk and the grounds of the Old Settlers Reunion.
• Tyler State Park — 24 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.

More markers nearby

• The Free State of Van Zandt — steps away
• Colfax Cemetery — 2.7 mi
• Jarman No. 1 Discovery Well — 3.0 mi
• Morgan G. Sanders — 4.9 mi