The Sam Rayburn Homesite
Windom vicinity, Fannin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn (1882-1961), son of William Marion and Martha (Waller) Rayburn, was born in Tennessee; moved to Texas, 1887. Educated at East Texas State University and the University of Texas Law School, became lawmaker: Texas House of Representatives, 1906-13 (House Speaker, 1911-13), United States Congress, 1913-61. World famous as Speaker, United States House of Representatives, 17 years, in terms of Presidents F. D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, J. F. Kennedy. His homesite (1887-1912) was half a mile south of this marker. Incise on base: Marker Sponsors: Jack Kreck, Robert West, John Barrett, Fannin National Bank.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This site marks the boyhood homesite of Sam Rayburn, who moved with his family from Tennessee to Fannin County, Texas, in 1887 and lived here until 1912. Educated in Texas law, he entered the legislature in 1906 and went on to a half-century in the U.S. Congress, becoming the longest-serving Speaker of the House in the nation's history. The modest rural homestead grounded a career that spanned the presidencies of Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy.
Why it matters
The homesite roots one of the most powerful figures in twentieth-century American government in the plain rural Texas soil that shaped him.
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Related people
- · Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn
- · William Marion Rayburn
- · Martha Waller Rayburn
Themes & tags
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