Hardin R. Runnels

Runnels came to Texas in 1842 with his mother, brothers and uncle Hiram G. Runnels and built a cotton plantation on the Red River in Bowie County; by 1860 he held thirty-nine enslaved people. In May 1857 Democrats angry at Sam Houston nominated Runnels for governor on the eighth ballot. A poor speaker, he made few appearances, yet won 38,552 to 23,628, the only person ever to defeat Houston in an election. As governor he spoke of secession, backed reopening the African slave trade, and signed bills funding the University of Texas and creating the State Geological Survey.

What the plaque says

Hardin R. Runnels Member of the House of Representatives, 1847-1854 Speaker of the House, 1853-1854 Lieutenant Governor Dec. 21, 1855 to Dec 21, 1857 Governor of Texas Dec. 21, 1857 to Dec. 21, 1859 Born in Mississippi August 30, 1820 Died in Bowie County, Texas December 25, 1873 Erected by the State of Texas 1936

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Cemetery — steps away
  A hill east of the Capitol that began with one general's grave in 1851 and now holds Stephen F. Austin, governors, Barbara Jordan and more than 2,000 Confederate veterans and widows.
• French Legation State Historic Site — 0.3 mi
  A raised pine house built in 1840 and 1841 for France's envoy to the Republic of Texas, who left Austin in a rage over a neighbor's pigs before it was finished.
• George Washington Carver Museum — 0.4 mi
  East Austin's museum of Black history and culture, grown from a segregated branch library moved across town in 1933, with a permanent exhibit on Juneteenth at its core.
• Texas State Capitol — 1.0 mi
  Austin's fourth statehouse, a Renaissance Revival capitol of 1888 that stands 311 feet to its Goddess of Liberty and was restored after the 1983 fire.

More markers nearby

• William Tom — steps away
• Frances & Benjamin McCulloch — steps away
• Robert Rankin — steps away
• Major William Cooke — steps away