Sarah Rosalie Patten Buchanan

Rosa Buchanan's name is on a residence hall in Huntsville. Today@Sam, Sam Houston State University's news site, says Buchanan Hall was added to Belvin Hall in 1945 as enrollment grew, taking the residence from 92 to 224 residents. The same article calls her the first woman to become a full professor for a Texas school. Belvin Hall is named for Caroline Belvin, and the campus buildings site lists the two women as the namesakes of the paired halls.

What the plaque says

Sarah Rosalie Patten Buchanan (April 23, 1855-February 24, 1941) Quitman native Sarah Rosalie "Rosa" Patten married future state senator John Creighton Buchanan in 1877. They moved to Mineola, and in 1884 Sarah was left a 29-year-old widow with three young children to support. She became a schoolteacher, and in 1892 was appointed by her friend Governor James S. Hogg to a teaching position at Sam Houston State Normal College in Huntsville. She became a full professor, Dean of Women, and head of the English department. Retiring to her family's home at this site in 1916, she supervised Wood County war work during World War I and served on the school board from 1928 to 1932. She died at age 85, and was buried next to her husband in the Mineola City Cemetery. (1999)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Governor Hogg Shrine — 8.9 mi
  Quitman's 27-acre city park, once a state historical park, where two houses tied to James Stephen Hogg's marriage stand beside an arboretum, a nature walk and the grounds of the Old Settlers Reunion.
• Tyler State Park — 17 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 23 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 24 mi
  A Tyler house begun in 1859 as four rooms, enlarged by the Goodman family over 73 years, and left to the city in 1939 with its furnishings, in a garden that fills a city block.

More markers nearby

• Government Projects in Mineola — steps away
• William Jesse McDonald — steps away
• Harry W. Meredith — steps away
• Select Theater — steps away