The Austin Statesman

The Democratic Statesman first appeared every three weeks in July 1871, a semiofficial organ of the Democratic state executive committee and then the only major Democratic paper in Texas. It advocated "straight out Jacksonian Democracy" against Republican rule and was prominent in the 1873 campaign that ended it. In 1914 it took over the Austin Tribune, and in 1916 it became the Evening Statesman. Charles E. Marsh and E. S. Fentress bought it in 1924. In November 1973 it combined with the American, Cox Enterprises bought the paper in 1976, and its circulation reached 180,345 by 1991.

What the plaque says

The Austin Statesman Begun as the "Democratic Statesman" in 1871 by the Democratic Party, in opposition to radical Reconstruction government in Texas. Quickly passed into private ownership popular first editor was attorney John Cardwell. Published daily since 1873, paper merged with "Austin American" in 1924. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• French Legation State Historic Site — 0.9 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 Capitol — 1.1 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.
• Texas State Cemetery — 1.2 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 — 1.5 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.

More markers nearby

• Headquarters of US Army, 5th Military Dist. — 0.2 mi
• Texas School for the Deaf — 0.4 mi
• F. Weigl Iron Works — 0.4 mi
• H&TC and I&GN Depots — 0.4 mi