Mary B. Isaacs

The temperance union she led belonged to a statewide movement. Frances Willard organized the first Texas chapters between 1881 and 1883, and the Handbook of Texas says the state union formed at Paris in 1882. Members wore the white ribbon and read The Texas White Ribbon; children joined Loyal Temperance Legions. In 1888 the Texas union became the first in the South to endorse woman suffrage. Under its presidents the union pushed for a boys' reformatory, a higher age of consent and alcohol education in the public schools.

What the plaque says

(1854 - 1930) Born in Massachusetts. Came to Texas, 1888, as Hemphill County's first public school teacher. Often saw Indians darken the schoolroom windows trying to watch her classes recite. Married Will C. Isaacs in 1892. Founder and guiding spirit of The Canadian Women's Christian Temperance Union, an organization she served for 44 years. Under her leadership, W. C. T. U. building doubled as community center and now houses the city library. Achievements of this pioneer teacher and civic leader were commemorated in naming of the Mary B. Isaacs Elementary School. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Citadelle Art Museum — steps away
  A 1910 Baptist church saved from demolition in 1977, made into a family home filled with art, and given to Canadian in 2009 as one of the Panhandle's few art museums.
• River Valley Pioneer Museum — 0.4 mi
  The Hemphill County museum in Canadian, a Santa Fe division town of 1887 on the river breaks that held one of the first commercial rodeos in Texas and voted itself dry in 1903.
• Canadian River Wagon Bridge — 1.5 mi
  The longest pin-connected bridge in Texas, 3,255 feet of Parker trusses across the Canadian River at Canadian, built for wagons in 1916 and reopened as a footpath in 2000.
• Gene Howe Wildlife Management Area — 5.2 mi
  Five thousand acres of sand sage and cottonwood bottomland along the Canadian River east of Canadian, bought by the state in 1950 for wildlife research and open to walkers with a permit.

More markers nearby

• First Church Bell — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Canadian — 0.3 mi
• John Hemphill — 0.3 mi
• R. Dick Bussell — 0.3 mi