HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

John Lang Sinclair

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

(November 26, 1879 - January 4, 1947) In 1899, John Lang Sinclair became a student at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin. The first UT band was formed in 1900 and Sinclair, possessing an aptitude for music, joined it as well as the Glee Club. The student head of the Glee Club, Lewis Johnson, urged Sinclair to write a school song in 1903. His first attempt was "The Jolly Students of Varsity." His second, to the tune of "I've Been Working on The Railroad," was "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You." UT President William L. Prather, formerly a student at Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), had often heard Robert E. Lee admonish his students, "The Eyes of The South Are Upon You." Prather altered the saying for use at UT, and Sinclair borrowed it for his song. "The Eyes of Texas," first performed at a minstrel show at Austin's Hancock Opera House to benefit the UT track team, was an instant success. Sinclair graduated in 1904 and returned to his family's dairy farm in eastern Bexar County. When Prather died in 1905, his family requested a performance of "The Eyes of Texas" at his funeral. Sinclair moved to New York City, where he and his wife, Stella Anderson of San Antonio (also a UT graduate) were active in the New York Texas Exes' Association. The song was so popular throughout the nation that many confused it with the official state song of Texas. After years of copyright battles, the UT acquired the rights to it in the 1980s. According to the university magazine "The Alcalde," the chimes atop the UT tower played "The Eyes of Texas" during Sinclair's San Antonio funeral. Though he revised the words from the original version, the spirit of the song remained the same. Its popularity continues at the dawn of the 21st century. (2000)

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

As a University of Texas student around 1903, John Lang Sinclair set new lyrics to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and produced "The Eyes of Texas." The refrain borrowed a phrase UT's president had adapted from Robert E. Lee, and the song was an instant hit at its Austin debut. Sinclair later moved to New York, but the anthem outgrew him — so beloved that many mistook it for the official state song.

Why it matters

A student's casual composition became one of America's most recognizable college songs, a small window into how school spirit and popular culture took shape at the turn of the twentieth century.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

At the turn of the twentieth century, American college life was taking on many of the traditions we still recognize today — school bands, glee clubs, athletic teams, and the songs that bound students together. The University of Texas in Austin was a young and growing institution, and its early students were in the very act of inventing the customs that later generations would inherit.

This was the Progressive and early modern era, a time when higher education was expanding rapidly and campus culture was becoming a national phenomenon. A university song could travel far beyond the campus gates, carried by graduates and spread through sheet music and performance until it belonged to a whole community.

Into this moment stepped a musically gifted student who, almost by accident, would write one of the most enduring college songs in the country.

People & events

John Lang Sinclair enrolled at the University of Texas in 1899, and when the school formed its first band in 1900 he joined both it and the Glee Club, putting his natural aptitude for music to use. In 1903 the student head of the Glee Club, Lewis Johnson, urged him to write a school song. Sinclair's first try, 'The Jolly Students of Varsity,' didn't catch on. His second attempt did — set to the familiar tune of 'I've Been Working on the Railroad,' it became 'The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You.'

The song's signature phrase came down a curious chain. UT President William L. Prather had studied at Washington College, where he had often heard its president, Robert E. Lee, tell students, 'The Eyes of the South Are Upon You.' Prather reworked the line for use at UT, and Sinclair in turn borrowed it for his song — a phrase passed from mouth to mouth until it landed in a melody.

'The Eyes of Texas' made its debut at a minstrel show at Austin's Hancock Opera House, staged to benefit the university track team, and it was an instant hit. Sinclair graduated in 1904 and returned to his family's dairy farm in eastern Bexar County. The song's hold on the university was already deep: when President Prather died in 1905, his family requested that it be performed at his funeral.

Its place in the American story

'The Eyes of Texas' grew into something far larger than the campus that produced it. Sinclair eventually moved to New York City, where he and his wife, Stella Anderson — herself a University of Texas graduate from San Antonio — remained active in the Texas alumni community. But the song outran its author entirely, becoming so widely known across the nation that many people assumed it was the official state song of Texas.

That kind of reach is the mark of a genuine piece of American popular culture. The song passed through years of copyright battles before the university finally secured the rights to it in the 1980s, a reminder of how a casual student composition can become a valuable and fiercely claimed piece of shared heritage.

Sinclair's story is a small window into how school spirit and popular song took shape at the dawn of the twentieth century — how a melody borrowed from a folk tune, wedded to a borrowed phrase, could become a permanent fixture in the life of an institution and a state.

If you visit

This is a memorial marker, so a visit here is really an invitation to reflect on a life and a legacy rather than to tour a building. Come with the song in your head — most visitors already know the tune, even if they never knew the name of the young man who wrote the words.

Remember, standing here, that Sinclair was a local: after his UT years he came home to his family's dairy farm in eastern Bexar County, and it is fitting that his memory is marked in this part of Texas. There's something appealing about the ordinariness of it — a farm boy with a gift for music who wrote something the whole state would come to sing.

The marker makes a natural stop on a tour of San Antonio and Bexar County's cultural history. Take a moment to consider the long journey of those few lines of verse — from a benefit show at an Austin opera house to a song mistaken for a state anthem — and the quiet man behind them, whose casual composition long outlived him.

Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.

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  • · John Lang Sinclair
  • · William L. Prather

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