Sons of the Republic of Texas

The society met with the Texas Veterans Association at Waco in 1894, and its 1922 revival came through Odin M. Kendall. It was incorporated in October 1934 and, with Jesse H. Jones's help, influential in securing the 1936 funds for the San Jacinto Monument. It began publishing The Texian in 1953, established David G. Burnet Park in east Harris County, and in 1957 helped persuade the legislature to build a state archives and library building. It has given the Summerfield G. Roberts Award since 1951 and funded the Spanish Texas Microfilm Center at Presidio La Bahía since 1970.

What the plaque says

Sons of the Republic of Texas On April 10, 1893, under the guidance of Francis Marion Otis Fenn, a local lodge was organized in Richmond for the benefit of male descendants of Texas Revolution veterans. The Richmond group traveled to Houston a few days later, and on April 20, 1893, a statewide organization called the Sons of the Republic of Texas was formed with 56 members. W. A. Craddock of Brenham served as first president. Although various reunions were held over the years, the organization fell inactive by World War I. In 1922, the Sons of the Republic reorganized in Houston and elected Andrew Jackson Houston, son of Gen. Sam Houston, as their president. Twelve of the 35 charter members had belonged to the 1893 organization. Male descendants of persons who had performed either civil or military service for Texas between 1820 and Jan. 1, 1846, were eligible for membership. Since the 1922 organization, the Sons of the Republic have sought to cultivate state patriotism by encouraging the observance of holidays such as Texas Independence Day (March 2) and San Jacinto Day (April 21), and by preserving historical data associated with the Revolution and Republic. Members have established museums, erected monuments, and encouraged the study of Texas history. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 -1986.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Park and the Heritage Society — steps away
  Ten historic buildings gathered in a downtown park below the skyscrapers, among them the 1870 house of the Reverend Jack Yates, built five years after emancipation.
• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum — 1.7 mi
  A museum in Houston's 1925 Light Guard Armory that tells the service of Black soldiers from the Revolutionary War onward, built from one veteran's thirty years of collecting.
• Emancipation Park — 1.7 mi
  The Third Ward park that freedpeople bought for Juneteenth in 1872, rebuilt in 2017 on Emancipation Avenue and still the center of the city's June 19 celebration.
• Rothko Chapel — 2.1 mi
  An octagonal chapel open to all faiths, built by the de Menils around fourteen dark canvases by Mark Rothko, with Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk standing in the pool outside.

More markers nearby

• Houston City, Republic of Texas — steps away
• Democratic National Convention, 1928 — 0.2 mi
• Thomas William House — 0.3 mi
• Edward Mandell House — 0.3 mi