L. B. J. Boyhood Home
Johnson City, Blanco County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Sam Ealy Johnson Jr. (1877-1937) and his wife Rebekah Baines Johnson (1881-1958) bought this residence in 1913. Sam, an educator and six-term Texas legislator, and Rebekah, an educator and journalist, raised five children here. The frame house was built in 1901, with simple Classical details and decorative bargeboards of milled wood. Each wing is one room deep for light and ventilation. Various porches, open and enclosed, indicate additions over the years. In 1937, the Johnson's eldest son, Lyndon (1908-1973), launched his first campaign for Congress, and his ascent to the U.S. presidency, from the east porch. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Sam Ealy Johnson Jr., an educator and six-term Texas legislator, and his wife Rebekah, an educator and journalist, bought this modest 1901 frame house in 1913 and raised five children here. From its east porch in 1937, their eldest son Lyndon launched his first campaign for Congress. That race began a political ascent that carried him to the presidency of the United States.
Why it matters
An ordinary Hill Country home became the launching point for one of the 20th century's most consequential American political careers.
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Related people
- · Lyndon B. Johnson
- · Sam Ealy Johnson Jr.
- · Rebekah Baines Johnson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First Baptist Church of Johnson City
Johnson City, TX
Seven charter members formed this Missionary Baptist congregation in 1879, meeting first in the local schoolhouse while lumber for their 1900 church was hauled by wagon all the way from Austin. Fire destroyed a 1951 building in 1966, and the present structure followed in 1968. Members of President Lyndon B. Johnson's family were among those who worshiped here.
Home County of Pioneer Leader Joseph Wilson Baines
Johnson City vicinity, TX
Born in Louisiana in 1846 and brought to Texas as a boy, Joseph Wilson Baines served in the Civil War, then built a career as a teacher, lawyer, newspaper publisher, and public servant, holding the office of Texas Secretary of State from 1883 to 1887. He practiced law in Blanco before his death in 1906. His daughter Rebecca married Sam Ealy Johnson and became the mother of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the nation's 36th president.
Blanco High School
Blanco, TX
Chartered in 1883, Blanco High School opened its white limestone schoolhouse to students in October 1884, blending a shorter public term with a longer private one. Over the decades it grew through consolidation and new buildings, always serving the ranching country of the Texas Hill Country. A Texas Historic Landmark since 1984, it marks generations of rural education.
Williams Creek School
Stonewall vicinity, TX
The Williams Creek School—also called the Albert School—began around 1890 to serve the rural Albert community, moving into a stone building in 1897 and growing to two rooms by 1922, its dogtrot and bell tower marking a classic Texas country schoolhouse. For one year a young Lyndon Baines Johnson, an area native, was among its pupils. After merging with Stonewall in 1950, the building lived on as a community meeting hall.