Mame Roberts
Howe, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Aug. 19, 1883 - Dec. 24, 1976) The daughter of James M. and Martha Sue (Baxter) Roberts, Mame Roberts lived her entire life in or near the community of Howe. Largely self-taught, she worked as a substitute teacher in the lower grades at the Howe Public Schools in the early 1900s before turning to her life's work-promoting civic improvements and beautification. As the writer of a weekly column in the Howe Messenger, Mame Roberts promoted her hometown and encouraged its beautification. Her campaign to make Howe the "prettiest little town in Texas" motivated other small Texas towns to take similar action. A series of articles in the Dallas Morning News provided step-by-step instructions for carrying out beautification efforts, and she was in great demand as a speaker at garden club gatherings throughout this part of the state. Mame's work attracted the attention of Life magazine and Reader's Digest, and she was named "Woman of the Day" on May 14, 1949, on Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt's national radio program. Her leadership positions included: president of the Grayson County Federation of Women's Clubs; president of the Texoma Redbud Association, which urged the planting of redbuds along highways in Texas and Oklahoma; and founder and president of the Howe Sesame Club. Her work, which spanned the decades before and after World War II, is a significant part of the civic history of Howe and of all the towns that put her lessons into action. (2002)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Largely self-taught, Mame Roberts spent her life in and around Howe, first substitute-teaching and then devoting herself to civic beautification. Through a weekly newspaper column and later articles in the Dallas Morning News, she coached small towns step by step on how to make themselves lovely, campaigning to make Howe the 'prettiest little town in Texas.' Her work drew national notice, including a 1949 spotlight on Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt's radio program.
Why it matters
Roberts embodies the women-led civic-improvement movement that reshaped countless American small towns in the first half of the twentieth century, an often-overlooked form of grassroots public leadership.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Mame Roberts was born in 1883 and spent her whole life in and around Howe, a small farming town in Grayson County, north Texas. Her lifetime ran from the horse-and-buggy era through two world wars to the age of interstate highways. Small Texas towns saw huge change in that time: paved roads, automobiles and radio reached even quiet places.
In the early twentieth century, women across the United States put enormous energy into civic improvement. Through women's clubs, federations and garden societies, they campaigned for parks, libraries, cleaner streets and more attractive public spaces. They often did this before they could vote, and long before many held public office. For many women, the club movement was their way into public leadership.
The automobile brought a new concern: how a town looked to people driving through. Highways turned small towns into places that travelers saw from their cars, and beautification became a point of local pride and a way to compete with other towns.
People & events
Mame Roberts was the daughter of James M. and Martha Sue (Baxter) Roberts. She was largely self-taught. In the early 1900s she worked as a substitute teacher in the lower grades of the Howe Public Schools, and then she found her life's work: making her hometown, and towns like it, better and more beautiful.
Her main tool was writing. Through a weekly column in the Howe Messenger, she promoted Howe and encouraged her neighbors to clean up and plant. Her campaign to make Howe the 'prettiest little town in Texas' caught on, and other small Texas towns began their own efforts. A series of articles in the Dallas Morning News gave readers step-by-step instructions, and garden clubs across the region asked her to speak.
National attention followed. Her work was noticed by Life magazine and Reader's Digest, and on May 14, 1949, Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt named her 'Woman of the Day' on their national radio program. She also led locally and regionally. She was president of the Grayson County Federation of Women's Clubs and president of the Texoma Redbud Association, which pushed for redbuds along highways in Texas and Oklahoma. She also founded and led the Howe Sesame Club. She died on Christmas Eve, 1976.
Its place in the American story
The changes Mame Roberts helped make, such as tidier streets, planted yards and flowering trees along the highways, are easy to take for granted. That is exactly why her story matters. Much of what makes American small towns pleasant was the work of volunteers, very often women, who organized, wrote, spoke and persuaded their neighbors one project at a time.
Her approach was practical and could be copied. She did not simply admire beautiful towns. She published instructions so that any community could follow them. That is why her influence reached far beyond Howe, into every town that took up her lessons.
Her redbud campaign also fits a bigger American story about roadside beauty. In the decades after her work, highway beautification became a national cause. Mame Roberts's career shows that the idea began at the grassroots, in garden clubs and small-town newspaper columns, long before it reached Washington.
If you visit
Howe is a small north Texas town in Grayson County, an easy detour from the main highway corridor between the Dallas area and the Red River. As you walk or drive through town, think about her campaign. Notice the trees, the yards and how the town presents itself, and remember that one woman with a weekly column set out to make this the prettiest little town in Texas.
If you visit in early spring, watch the roadsides for redbuds. Their bright pink-purple blossoms appear before the leaves, on bare branches. The Texoma Redbud Association that Roberts led promoted exactly these trees along the region's highways.
The marker is a good stop for families interested in women's history or civic life. It shows that history is made by presidents and generals but also by a substitute teacher with a pen, a garden-club audience and a clear idea of what her hometown could become. It pairs well with exploring other Grayson County towns and the Lake Texoma area to the north.
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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