Judge John Nance Garner

The college Garner backed opened in October 1946 as the first junior college in Texas serving three counties, Uvalde, Real and Zavala. It moved into buildings of Garner Army Air Field. A funeral home donated chairs, the Camp Fawcett Boy Scout camp supplied cafeteria equipment, and the local chapter of the American Association of University Women gave 1,000 books. Garner, with Mr. and Mrs. Joe Richarz and federal grants, helped pay for new buildings, among them the Garner Science Center. By 1975 ten buses carried students from more than 3,500 square miles.

What the plaque says

Judge John Nance Garner Cherished by fellow citizens of Uvalde County for his acts of leadership, philanthropy and dedication to area progress. Able trial lawyer; rancher and banker. First elective office was County Judge. Benefactor, Southwest Texas Junior College. The good example and rare wit and wisdom of Judge Garner have inspired Southwest Texas and 20th Century America. Presented by the City of Uvalde. (1965)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Briscoe-Garner Museum — steps away
  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 — 0.4 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 — 2.8 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

• King Fisher — steps away
• Uvalde Methodist Church — steps away
• Original Site of Uvalde High School — 0.3 mi
• First Presbyterian Church of Uvalde — 0.3 mi