De Leon Plaza

The Confederate memorial on the plaza is the work of Pompeo Coppini, an Italian-born sculptor who also modeled figures for the Confederate monument on the Capitol grounds in Austin. The William P. Rogers chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy paid him $5,000 for The Last Stand, unveiled on July 12, 1912, with a parade, a free barbecue, twelve Confederate veterans and two Union veterans. The war it honors was fought to keep Black people enslaved. Coppini made a number of Confederate monuments in Texas, and Victoria's is one.

What the plaque says

De Leon Plaza Originally called "Plaza De la Constitucion" by Martin De Leon, the founder of Victoria, this square was included as part of an early 1830s survey of Victoria by Jose M. Carbajal, son-in-law of De Leon. Carbajal's survey expanded on the founder's basic design for the city, which followed the style of traditional Spanish municipalities. A water well lined with brick was placed in the center of the square in 1850. By 1872 a windmill stood over the well; twelve years later it was replaced by a standpipe. Other improvements included a bandstand in the 1870s, hitching racks in 1897; a Confederate memorial status, "Last Stand" by Pompeo Coppini, dedicated in 1912; and lamp standards in 1923. In that year the standpipe was removed and the bandstand was relocated to the center of the plaza. Sidewalks were added by the Public Works Administration in the 1930s. Through the efforts of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the site was renamed De Leon Plaza as part of a plaza beautification project in 1941. As a gathering place, summer concert arena, exposition site, and town center, De Leon Plaza continues to serve the people of Victoria as it has for generations. The plaza stands as a reminder of the rich heritage of the city and its founder. (1998)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• De León Plaza — steps away
  The central plaza of Guadalupe Victoria, the only predominantly Mexican colony in Texas, founded by Martín De León in 1824 and taken from his family after 1836.
• Museum of the Coastal Bend — 1.8 mi
  Victoria College's museum of thirteen thousand years on the middle Texas coast, from Clovis hunters and Karankawa potters to La Salle's lost Fort St. Louis and the first ranches.
• Fannin Battleground State Historic Site — 16 mi
  The open prairie east of Goliad where Fannin's retreating column formed a square short of the Coleto Creek timber on March 19, 1836, and surrendered the next day.
• Fannin Memorial Monument — 25 mi
  The 1938 pink granite memorial over the common grave of Fannin's men, shot on the roads out of Goliad on Palm Sunday 1836, the grave itself found again only in the 1930s.

More markers nearby

• Brownson's Bank — steps away
• Victor M. Rose — steps away
• Victoria County Honor Roll — steps away
• Victoria County — steps away