Robert Ewing Thomason

At the University of Texas, Thomason and Charles S. Potts beat Baylor in the first intercollegiate debate the university ever won; J. Frank Norris argued on the losing side. Malaria pushed him from Gainesville toward a higher, drier climate, and he moved to El Paso in 1912. In the legislature he sat on the committee whose investigation led to Gov. James E. Ferguson's impeachment, and in 1920 he ran third for governor behind Joseph W. Bailey and Pat Neff. As mayor he also led the Texas League of Municipalities.

What the plaque says

Robert Ewing Thomason was an El Paso attorney, state legislator, mayor, U.S. Congressman and Federal Judge, who devoted more than fifty years of his life to public service. He earned a law degree from the University of Texas in 1900 and began his practice in Gainesville where he was elected district attorney and county attorney. In 1912, Thomason moved to El Paso, where he joined the law firm of Tom Lea, Jr. Thomason served in the Texas Legislature from 1917 to 1921. He was elected Speaker of the House and helped secure Texas' support for the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote. He told fellow legislators "i want the American woman to walk by the side of the American man to the ballot box." In 1927, Thomason was elected mayor of El Paso on a "Clean Government" ticket. As mayor, he oversaw the construction of the first municipal airport. He was then elected to the U. S. Congress, where he served the 16th district from 1931 to 1947. He helped establish Big Bend National Park, and as a member of the house committee on military affairs, oversaw the expansion of Fort Bliss, Biggs Army Air Field and William Beaumont General Hospital. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman appointed Thomason Federal Judge for the Western District of Texas. In this courthouse, he presided over many landmark cases, including the Thelma White Desegregation Case (1955), Clinton Jencks Perjury Trial (1955), Bearden Plane Hijacking Case (1961), and Billie Sol Estes Fraud Trial (1963). Thomason died in 1973 at the age of 94, having served in all three branches of government. (2012)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Magoffin Home State Historic Site — 0.5 mi
  A U-shaped adobe of the 1870s in central El Paso that joins Mexican building to an Anglo plan, closed for restoration through 2027 while its visitor center stays open.
• Chamizal National Memorial — 1.8 mi
  A park on land the Rio Grande once put in dispute, where a century-old border quarrel between the United States and Mexico was settled by treaty and a new concrete channel.
• Ysleta Mission (Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur) — 10 mi
  The Tigua mission church at Ysleta, rebuilt in 1908 around the walls, bell and Santo Entierro that came through fire, its interior painted with rain clouds and corn.
• Tigua Indian Cultural Center, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo — 11 mi
  The cultural center of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, the Tigua nation that has lived in the Mission Valley of El Paso since 1682 and keeps its own history here.

More markers nearby

• El Paso's Chinese Community — 0.2 mi
• El Camino Real (The King's Highway) — 0.3 mi
• El Paso County, C.S.A. — 0.3 mi
• San Jacinto Plaza — 0.3 mi