SPJST Lodge No. 49

Lodge 49 belonged to two Czech-Texan institutions. The Handbook of Texas dates the SPJST, the Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas, to 1897, one of several Texas orders that grew out of a national Czech fraternal society and split away. Sokol, a gymnastic and cultural society begun in Prague in 1862, took its name from the word for falcon. Its first Texas unit formed at Ennis in 1908, and Rowena is among the places that later had one. Many units disbanded in the Depression; fourteen remained in 1930.

What the plaque says

SPJST Lodge No. 49 On May 2, 1904, eighteen charter members organized SPJST Lodge No. 49 in Runnels County. Founded just eight years after the SPJST's organization, Lodge No. 49 continued the Czech-Texan benevolent society's goals of promoting fellowship and Czech culture, and providing life insurance and care for its members. In 1927, the lodge began working with local Sokol organization members on a new building. Once opened, it functioned as a meeting place for the groups, in addition to other organizations. Sporting activities and community and celebratory events have also been held on the grounds. Today, SPJST Lodge No. 49 continues to promote fraternalism while building up the Rowena community. (2009)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Carnegie Library of Ballinger — 8.5 mi
  A 1909 limestone library with an Ionic portico in a railroad town the Santa Fe created in 1886, one of the few Texas Carnegie libraries still working in its original building.
• Z. I. Hale Museum and Rock Hotel — 22 mi
  A free museum in a Winters optometrist's office, a 1909 railroad hotel and a 1927 implement dealership, with Rogers Hornsby's hometown memorabilia and a 1912 horse-drawn cotton picker.
• San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts — 26 mi
  A free art museum on the Concho beside Fort Concho, founded in the fort's 1868 quartermaster building and known nationally for its biennial ceramics competition.
• Miss Hattie's Bordello Museum — 26 mi
  The upstairs rooms on Concho Avenue where a brothel ran from 1902 until the Texas Rangers closed it in 1952, shown on short guided tours with most of the furnishings original.

More markers nearby

• Sons of Hermann Lodge No. 216 — 0.2 mi
• Rowena — 0.4 mi
• San Clemente Mission — 6.8 mi
• Colorado River Ferry Crossing — 8.4 mi