HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Home of Bertha Dalton

Uvalde, Uvalde County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Built in 1893 by Clara Horner. Bought 1905 by James T. Dalton, a retired sea captain, whose daughter Bertha taught in the Texas schools for 56 years. At age 17 Miss Dalton began her career. She taught longest span, 1906-1954, in Uvalde, where she was high school principal 1917-1951. She also personally gave financial aid to help many students attend college. House formerly had ornate banisters and trim on porch. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1968.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

This Uvalde house, built in 1893, became the home of Bertha Dalton, daughter of a retired sea captain who bought it in 1905. Miss Dalton began teaching at seventeen and gave 56 years to Texas schools, spending nearly half a century in Uvalde, where she served as high school principal from 1917 to 1951. Beyond the classroom she quietly paid to send many of her students on to college.

Why it matters

Long-serving women teachers like Bertha Dalton were the backbone of public education in small-town America, shaping generations of a community from a single schoolhouse.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • Β· Bertha Dalton
  • Β· Clara Horner
  • Β· James T. Dalton

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Original Site of Uvalde High School

Uvalde, TX

Four years after the railroad reached Uvalde, townspeople built their first school here in 1885, a picketed cedar-log structure on land donated by town founder Reading W. Black. Demand quickly outgrew it: a two-story building followed, rooms were added, and the first class graduated in 1891, sometimes in the town opera house. Fire destroyed the school in 1898, but determined citizens promptly rebuilt on the same site in 1900 before finally moving the high school to West Main Street in 1908.

Judge John Nance Garner

Uvalde, TX

Before he reached Washington, John Nance Garner made his mark on Uvalde County as an able trial lawyer, rancher, banker, and its county judge. This tribute from the City of Uvalde honors his local leadership and philanthropy, including his support of Southwest Texas Junior College. It remembers the wit and wisdom for which the future Speaker and vice president was cherished at home.

John Nance Garner Home

Uvalde, TX

John Nance Garner rose from the Texas Legislature to a thirty-year run in Congress, capping it as Speaker of the House before serving two terms as Franklin Roosevelt's vice president from 1933 to 1941. This 1920 Uvalde home hosted world figures during those years at the center of national politics, and Garner and his son gave it to the city in 1952. The marker frames itself as a tribute to Ettie Garner, who served as her husband's secretary throughout his long public career.

Nicolas Street School

Uvalde, TX

Built in 1938, the Nicolas Street School is the last surviving school telling the story of African American education in Uvalde. Its creation owed much to teacher Susie Harris, who β€” after the school board reneged on promised new facilities for Black students β€” wrote directly to Uvalde resident and U.S. Vice President John Nance Garner for help, and won a new campus. In an era of "separate but seldom equal" schooling, two teachers taught eight grades here, and the school served the community until 1965, a full decade after the district voted to integrate.