The Railroad Commission of Texas

James S. Hogg won the governorship in 1890 largely by promising railroad regulation, and the 1891 commission oversaw the rates and operations of railroads, terminals, wharves and express companies. Reagan served with William Pinckney McLean and Lafayette L. Foster. In 1894 the legislature made the posts elective, with six-year overlapping terms. Ernest O. Thompson, appointed by Governor Ross Sterling in 1932, led the fight for proration, and under the Connally Hot Oil Act of 1935 the federal government enforced the commission's orders in interstate commerce. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries used the commission as a model.

What the plaque says

The Railroad Commission of Texas (75th Anniversary) Created in 1891, as result of years of political controversy, to regulate shipping rates, practices. Considered so important that Governor James S. Hogg persuaded John H. Reagan to resign from the United States Senate to head the original commission. Oil and gas regulation, a major responsibility, began in 1917 with jurisdiction over pipelines. The Legislature made the commission responsible in 1919 for oil and gas conservation, and drilling rules were made. In the 1920's proration began. Complete regulation came in the 1930's with the 1,700,000-barrel-a-day production in east Texas. Backed by Texas Rangers, the commission closed the field until conservation rules could be revised. Commission policies were acclaimed when in World War II Texas was able to supply the Allies with great stores of oil necessary for victory. The commission's goal is to prevent waste and protect oil and gas reserves by orderly regulation of exploration, production and transportation. Members have set high ethical standards that continue in the commission, causing it to merit the confidence of the people and of the petroleum industry. (1966)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bullock Texas State History Museum — steps away
  The state's history museum at the head of Congress Avenue, built around the hull of La Salle's ship La Belle, raised from Matagorda Bay with 1.8 million artifacts.
• Texas State Capitol — 0.3 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.
• Harry Ransom Center — 0.4 mi
  The University of Texas archive where a Gutenberg Bible and the earliest surviving camera photograph are always on view, free, beside the papers of Watergate and the movies.
• LBJ Presidential Library — 0.7 mi
  A ten-story travertine archive on the University of Texas campus holding 45 million pages from a presidency of civil rights laws, the War on Poverty and Vietnam.

More markers nearby

• Diocese of Austin — steps away
• State Bar of Texas — 0.2 mi
• Confederate Texas Legislatures — 0.2 mi
• Tyler Rose — 0.3 mi