Stephen Fuller Austin

In September 1836 Austin ran for president of the Republic and lost, then accepted the office of secretary of state under the winner. He died in that office on December 27, 1836, at age 43. Earlier, he was arrested at Saltillo in January 1834 and held without charges until a general amnesty freed him in July 1835. A normal school bearing his name was created in 1917; it opened in Nacogdoches in 1923 and became Stephen F. Austin State University in 1969.

What the plaque says

Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 - December 37, 1836) Republics often point to one person whose vision and leadership led to their creation. For the Republic of Texas (1836-1845) that person is Stephen Fuller Austin. Austin, the son of Moses and Maria Brown Austin, was born on the Virginia frontier. He attended schools in Kentucky and Connecticut before opting to work in his father's mercantile business in Missouri. He served as a judge in Arkansas prior to moving to New Orleans where he worked at a newspaper and studied law. In 1821 Moses Austin was granted permission by Spain to settle 300 families in Texas. His untimely death while in Louisiana recruiting settlers left the completion of his ambitious project to his son Stephen. Although a series of Mexican leaders subsequently rejected his father's original grant, Austin persevered and successfully lobbied for the grant's continuance. He astutely governed every facet of the original 300 families' settlement in southeast Texas (1821-1825) and those of another 900 families in the area by 1832. Austin was imprisoned in Mexico after requesting separate statehood for Texas in 1833. He returned to Texas in 1835 and helped it gain independence from Mexico. Austin, chosen as the new Republic's first secretary of state, is known as the father of Texas. Stephen F. Austin Bicentennial 1793 - 1993

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Karle Wilson Baker — steps away
• Alton W. Birdwell — steps away
• Paul Lewis Boynton — steps away
• Pioneering Higher Education in East Texas — steps away