William Lewis Moody, Jr.

Moody's reach went past banks into print, hotels and politics. He set up the American Printing Company in 1920, bought the Galveston News from Belo in 1923 and added the Galveston Tribune in 1926. In 1927 he formed the National Hotel Corporation, whose properties included the Buccaneer, the Jean Lafitte and the Galvez in Galveston, the Menger in San Antonio and the Hotel Washington in the capital. He stayed close to William Jennings Bryan until Bryan's death, worked for Pat Neff's 1924 presidential bid, and served one term as Galveston's treasurer.

What the plaque says

William Lewis Moody, Jr. (January 25, 1865 - July 21, 1954) Famed for a long career of dynamic leadership in Galveston business, civic affairs, and philanthropy. Born in Freestone County; son of William Lewis and Pherabe Elizabeth Bradley Moody. Educated at Virginia Military Institute, he later traveled and studied abroad before joining his father's cotton firm in Galveston in 1886. He organized in 1889 W. L. Moody and Co., a private bank (still operating). He founded American National Insurance Co. (1905); City National Bank, later called the Moody National Bank; National Hotel Co. (1930); and other firms. He owned "Galveston News" (Texas' oldest newspaper), "Galveston Tribune," "Texas City Sun," 11 ranches, and many other interests. He took active part in relief and reconstruction after the disastrous Galveston hurricane of 1900. He married Libbie Rice Shearn in 1890. Their children were Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. E. C. Northen), W. L., III, Shearn, and Libbie (Mrs. Clark W. Thompson). Known as one of the ten richest men in America, W. L. Moody, Jr., in his lifetime gave the state a school for cerebral palsied children. With his wife he set up (1942) the Moody Foundation, which has since given millions of dollars for charitable, scientific, educational, and religious purposes throughout Texas. (1971)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Strand — steps away
  Five blocks of iron-front brick buildings near the harbor that were once called the Wall Street of the Southwest, emptied after 1900 and brought back by preservationists from the 1960s.
• Texas Seaport Museum and the Elissa — 0.3 mi
  An iron barque launched in Aberdeen in 1877 that called at Galveston twice, ended up smuggling in the Adriatic, and was bought back from a Greek scrapyard to sail again from Pier 22.
• 1859 Ashton Villa — 0.4 mi
  A brick Italianate house on Broadway, built with enslaved labor in 1859, whose lawn has held Galveston's Juneteenth commemoration of General Orders, No. 3 every year since 1979.
• Moody Mansion — 0.5 mi
  A four-story, 28,000-square-foot house on Broadway, finished in 1895, that W. L. Moody Jr. bought just after the 1900 storm and his family kept until Hurricane Alicia in 1983.

More markers nearby

• Leon & H. Blum Co. Building — steps away
• The Stewart Building — steps away
• Mardi Gras in Galveston — steps away
• Juneteenth — steps away