George Washington Chapter - DAR

The Texas Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution was organized in 1900 with five chapters, the Handbook of Texas records, and Galveston's chapter was already five years old. The state society's best-known early project was marking the Old San Antonio Road with granite markers at five-mile intervals along 600 miles of the trail in 1920. It also took part in the Texas Centennial, ran Junior American Citizen clubs and gave scholarships. Membership required descent from someone who had aided the cause of American independence.

What the plaque says

George Washington Chapter - DAR On June 17, 1895, at the home of Mrs. George Seeligson, located at this site, the George Washington Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was formed. The name was selected because charter members included Mrs. Sydney Fontaine and her daughter Shirley, descendants of George Washington. This was the first DAR chapter in Texas, predating the state organization by five years. Since its founding, the group has pursued its goal of historic preservation, education of youth, and promotion of good citizenship. (1976)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• 1892 Bishop's Palace — steps away
  Nicholas Clayton's stone house on Broadway for the railroad lawyer Walter Gresham, later home to Galveston's Catholic bishops and one of the most admired Victorian houses in the country.
• The Strand — 0.8 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.
• Texas Seaport Museum and the Elissa — 0.8 mi
  An iron barque launched in Aberdeen in 1877 that called at Galveston twice, ended up smuggling in the Adriatic, and was bought back from a Greek scrapyard to sail again from Pier 22.
• 1859 Ashton Villa — 0.8 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.

More markers nearby

• The Rt. Rev. Monsignor Marius Etienne Chataignon — steps away
• St. Paul United Methodist Church — 0.2 mi
• Former Site of Heidenheimer's Castle — 0.3 mi
• Homesite of Dr. William Keiller — 0.3 mi