Home of William Jennings Bryan
Mission, Hidalgo County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1860 - - 1925) Once the lands of the Mission of the Oblate Fathers, this property (160 acres) was owned by Bryan from 1910 to 1916 - - While residing here he wrote many articles and engaged in a magazine debate with Senator Albert J. Beveridge. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
On land once part of the Oblate Fathers' mission, this 160-acre Rio Grande Valley property belonged from 1910 to 1916 to William Jennings Bryan, the "Great Commoner" who thrice ran for president and served as Secretary of State. While living here he kept up his prolific writing, including a widely followed magazine debate with Senator Albert J. Beveridge. The setting placed one of the era's most famous orators amid the newly irrigated farmlands of South Texas.
Why it matters
Bryan was among the most influential populist voices in American politics, and even his Texas retreat became a stage for the national debates he carried into print.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Jennings Bryan
- · Albert J. Beveridge
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Speer Memorial Library
Mission, TX
Mission's public library grew out of women's civic energy: the Tuesday Club formed in 1910, and in 1914 the Civic League of Mission set out to care for a city park and start a library. For decades the collection moved between borrowed shelves and temporary rooms before winning a permanent home in 1948. In 1974 Juanita Speer Farley and her husband Hal donated a new site honoring her pioneer parents, George and Lyda Speer, and the library took their name.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
McAllen, TX
Catholic worship in McAllen began with priests riding over from La Lomita Chapel in Mission, until a mission and wood-frame chapel were established here in 1911. Under Oblate priests, the congregation gained a school and rectory by 1917 and became an independent parish, going on to serve as the "Mother Church" for many missions across central Hidalgo County. The site was marked during the 1986 Texas Sesquicentennial.
Lamar Junior High School
McAllen, TX
Approved by the McAllen School Board in 1938 and funded through a bond election and the Public Works Administration, Lamar was built to architect Marion Lee Waller's clever pre-air-conditioning design—an L-shaped plan one room deep, with classrooms opening onto breezeways for maximum airflow. It served as a high school for only five years before a new campus opened, after which it continued as a junior high. The Spanish Colonial Revival building features a buff-brick exterior, clay-tile roof, and cast-stone detailing.
Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School
McAllen, TX
Founded in 1921 and named for President Theodore Roosevelt, this McAllen school was built specifically to educate the growing city's Hispanic children in the years after the town incorporated. A 1927 annex by San Antonio architect Ralph Cameron carried unusual pre-Columbian Indian trim, originally left unpainted, and principal Zara Thigpen led the school across four decades until it closed in the 1960s. McAllen recognized the building as a landmark in 2009.