Site of the Organization of the Texas Forestry Association
Temple, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of Texas' oldest conservation organiations. W. Goodrich Jones (1860-1950), who came to Temple as a banker in 1888, felt need for trees in this prairie town. He led planting drives in Temple, and in 1889 saw to the establishment of a statewide Arbor Day. Asked by the Chief U.S. Forester to survey Texas forest resources, Jones later enlisted aid of friends. On Nov. 1, 1914, he and about 20 associates met in the Carnegie Library, then adjacent to the Temple public square, and organized the Texas Forestry Association. This body's original aim, to gain public support for a state Department of Forestry, was accomplished within a year. The Department was created by law in 1915; it was later retitled "Texas Forest Service". The Texas Forestry Association has since aided in the restoration of 11,500,000 acres of commercial forests--lifeblood of a large segment of the Texas economy. Over 2,000 woodland owners, tree farmers, industrialists, professional foresters, and concerned citizens are TFA members. Under such leaders as Jones, who served as president in 1914-21, the TFA has been the voice of forestry in Texas, urging expansin, protection, proper management, and wise use of all forests and related resources. (1974) (1974)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
W. Goodrich Jones came to the prairie town of Temple as a banker in 1888 and, missing the trees of greener country, led planting drives and pushed Texas to establish a statewide Arbor Day in 1889. Asked by the chief U.S. forester to survey the state's woodlands, Jones gathered some twenty allies at Temple's Carnegie Library on November 1, 1914, and founded the Texas Forestry Association. Within a year the group won its first goal—a state forestry department, created by law in 1915—and went on to help restore millions of acres of commercial forest.
Why it matters
The gathering marks the arrival of the conservation movement in Texas, when a banker's fondness for trees grew into one of the state's oldest and most consequential environmental organizations.
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Related people
- · W. Goodrich Jones
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Founded in 1881 on the Santa Fe line and named for railroad official B. M. Temple, the town began with a barbecue-fueled town-lot sale and a rough early reputation — muddy streets, saloons, and the nickname "Tanglefoot." As a Santa Fe division point and junction with other lines, it grew quickly, established public schools by 1884, and later became a major medical center anchored by the Santa Fe, King's Daughters, Scott & White, and veterans' hospitals.
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In 1898 the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad chartered a YMCA in Temple and built a three-story hall the next year to lodge and entertain its railway workers. The "Y" also opened its doors to townspeople and pioneered youth athletics before fire destroyed the original building in 1934. Rebuilt and then handed to the USO in 1942, it served the community through war and peace.
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