Texas Dental Association

The association still operates under its 1871 charter, signed by Secretary of State James P. Newcomb. The incorporating act set it to raise the science of dental surgery and to protect the profession and the public from "inexperienced and incompetent persons styling themselves dentists." Its first meeting with surviving minutes was held in Austin on September 1, 1873. Reconstruction-era hardship left the first group inactive until 1880, when Dr. J. L. Fountain of Bryan and Dr. W. R. Clifton of Waco organized the new society. Component societies were approved in 1910, and there were twenty-six by 1994.

What the plaque says

Texas Dental Association This professional association traces its history to 1869, when a group of dentists met in Houston and drafted a constitution and by-laws. Dr. Menard Michau of Houston was elected first president of the association, which was officially chartered by the State of Texas on May 17, 1871. Initial membership consisted of 18 dentists and 22 honorary members. The association experienced difficulties during the 1870s, and by 1880 Texas dentists saw the need for a reorganization. A new society, the Texas State Dental Association, was formed and held its first meeting in Houston on November 25, 1880. The members elected Dr. William S. Carruthers of Galveston as president. At a meeting in Austin in August 1881 members of the original and new organizations voted to merge and operate under the original group's 1871 charter. The association has held annual meetings for its members since 1880. The "Texas Dental Journal," dating to 1883, is the oldest continuously published dental periodical in the western hemisphere. Headquartered in Austin since 1971, the association has been instrumental in drafting and effecting legislation regulating the practice of dentistry in Texas. (1997)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• French Legation State Historic Site — 2.0 mi
  A raised pine house built in 1840 and 1841 for France's envoy to the Republic of Texas, who left Austin in a rage over a neighbor's pigs before it was finished.
• Texas State Cemetery — 2.1 mi
  A hill east of the Capitol that began with one general's grave in 1851 and now holds Stephen F. Austin, governors, Barbara Jordan and more than 2,000 Confederate veterans and widows.
• George Washington Carver Museum — 2.4 mi
  East Austin's museum of Black history and culture, grown from a segregated branch library moved across town in 1933, with a permanent exhibit on Juneteenth at its core.
• Texas State Capitol — 2.5 mi
  Austin's fourth statehouse, a Renaissance Revival capitol of 1888 that stands 311 feet to its Goddess of Liberty and was restored after the 1983 fire.

More markers nearby

• Espinosa-Olivares-Aguirre Expedition — 1.2 mi
• Texas School for the Deaf — 1.2 mi
• Doyle Farm — 1.4 mi
• The Sing Family in Austin — 1.5 mi