John Nance Garner

Before Uvalde, Garner's road was short and uncertain. He was born on November 22, 1868, in a log cabin near Detroit, Texas, the first of thirteen children, and went to school at Bogata and Blossom Prairie. At eighteen he went to Vanderbilt University in Nashville but stayed only one semester, possibly because of ill health. He came home to Clarksville, read law and was admitted to the bar in 1890, then lost a race for city attorney. After that he moved to Uvalde and joined the law firm of Clark and Fuller.

What the plaque says

John Nance Garner Vice President of U.S. 1933-1941. Began career as Uvalde County Judge 1893-1896. Served in Texas Legislature 1898-1902; in U.S. Congress 1904-1932, where he was, in last term, Speaker of House of Representatives. Also an able trial lawyer, rancher, banker, and benefactor of Southwest Texas Junior College. Married Ettie Rheiner. Had a son, Tully; one grandchild, Genevieve G. Currie. Known as "Cactus Jack" for his unique western individualism. Recorded--1968.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Briscoe-Garner Museum — 1.5 mi
  The Uvalde house of John Nance Garner, the vice president who made the office a power in Congress, now a free museum to him and to Governor Dolph Briscoe.
• Uvalde Grand Opera House — 1.7 mi
  An 1891 Victorian opera house on the Uvalde square with a turret and a dragon weathervane, once owned by John Nance Garner and still staging volunteer theater upstairs.
• Fort Inge Historical Site — 3.1 mi
  A county park on the Leona River below a 140-foot volcanic plug, where an army post guarded the new road to El Paso from 1849 to 1869 and Texas Rangers camped after.

More markers nearby

• Reading Wood Black — steps away
• Pat Garrett — 0.5 mi
• Judge John Nance Garner — 1.5 mi
• King Fisher — 1.6 mi