Texas Statesman Charles Allen Culberson

Culberson's Texas career began in Marion County. He was admitted to the bar at Daingerfield in 1877 and soon became Marion County attorney. In December 1880 he and David B. Culberson defended Abraham Rothschild at the second Diamond Bessie trial, which ended in acquittal. He married Sally Harrison of Jefferson in 1882 and moved to Dallas in 1887. As governor he called an 1895 special session that made prizefighting a felony and ended the planned Dallas fight. The Handbook ties his 1922 defeat to illness and Ku Klux Klan opposition.

What the plaque says

Texas Statesman Charles Allen Culberson One of Texas' most forceful leaders; 32 years in office as attorney general, governor, U. S. Senator. Born in Alabama; in childhood moved with parents to Texas. Lived in Jefferson 1861-1887. Was educated Virginia Military Institute, University of Virginia. Began practice of law in Jefferson, 1877, in firm of his father, United States Congressman D. B. Culberson. He moved to Dallas 1887. Won elections as attorney general, 1890 and 1892. In this office recovered for Texas more than 2,000,000 acres of public domain illegally claimed by railroads. He also gave strong support to reforms of Gov. James S. Hogg, notably in antitrust laws, and creation of Railroad Commission. In two terms as governor (1895-1899), was famous for vigorous law enforcement and a strong fiscal policy which reduced state expenses. Although known as "veto governor," he was able to show Legislature and the people the justice of his vetoes. Elected to the United States Senate, 1898; became Senate Minority Leader, 1907, and was considered for the presidency, 1908, by National Democratic Party. Chief Senate service was on Judiciary Committee, of which he was chairman, 1913-1919. Retired in 1922. Died in Washington. Is buried in Fort Worth. (1967)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Excelsior House Hotel — steps away
  A brick-and-timber hotel at 211 West Austin that began as a river captain's boarding house in 1858 and was revived by a garden club in 1959, and still takes guests with rosewood furniture.
• Jefferson Historical Museum — steps away
  A four-floor museum in Jefferson's 1888-90 federal post office and courthouse, with rooms for African-American history, Jewish heritage, the Caddo and Diamond Bessie, bought by the historical society in 1965 for $8,100.
• Caddo Lake State Park — 11 mi
  A Civilian Conservation Corps park on the Texas shore of Caddo Lake, where the Caddo told of a lake made by wind-driven water and visitors now paddle Big Cypress Bayou past moss-hung bald cypress.
• Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 12 mi
  Wetlands and woods on part of a former ammunition plant, now a refuge for wood ducks, prothonotary warblers and alligator snapping turtles, with four easy trails and a free visitor center on a Ramsar lake.

More markers nearby

• The Jefferson "Jimplecute" — steps away
• Vernon Dalhart — steps away
• Kahn Saloon — steps away
• Jefferson C. S. A. — steps away