San Jacinto Museum of History: Sharing the Past, Shaping the Future

by Thomas J. Zalar

A rare enthusiasm and determined pride in the achievement of a small army led by former Tennessee Governor Samuel Houston on April 21, 1836, at a battlefield soon to be called San Jacinto were never far from the minds of leaders of the new Republic of Texas. As early as 1842, an anonymous poet, writing an “Ode to San Jacinto,” expressed the hope that “In future time, then may the pilgrim’s eye see here an obelisk point toward the sky “This astonishing prediction was made almost one hundred years before the world witnessed the completion of a monument to the men who fought and died on the plains of San Jacinto, making the Republic of Texas a reality.

In 1856, efforts to erect a fitting memorial had been initiated by the Texas Veterans Association. Specific recognition of the historic value of the battlefield came in the 1890s when the Texas Legislature provided funds and gave the State authority to purchase the battlefield from its private owners.

Finally, after years of lobbying by two patriotic organizations, the Daughters and Sons of the Republic of Texas, and spurred by the upcoming centennial celebration of Texas independence, local business leaders successfully acquired the federal and state funds to build an appropriate memorial building. Prominent among those was Jesse H. Jones, Secretary of Commerce in President Roosevelt’s cabinet and an outstanding financial leader who helped guide Houston into its modern urban era. Jones took a strong personal interest in the construction of the memorial and later donated his time and money in insuring its successful completion.

Construction began in 1936 under the supervision of Albert C. Finn, a talented Houston architect who employed a Rice Institute instructor and sculptor, William McVey, to assist in the design of the building. The finished products were a memorial tower and a functional 125 feet square base consisting of two entrance foyers and two large galleries originally intended for Texana exhibitions. The exterior of the building and the terraces which surround it are made of Texas Cordova shell limestone quarried in Burnet County near Austin.

The Monument’s observation room is immediately under the giant 34-foot, 220-ton Texas Lone Star. The tower is just over 567 feet tall, over 12 feet taller than the Washington Monument. According to the Guiness Book, the San Jacinto Monument is still the tallest monument column in the world.

The memorial tower was nearing completion in 1939 when the San Jacinto State Park Commission, realizing that funds were almost depleted, appointed five distinguished Houstonians on September 22, 1938, to form a museum of history to occupy the building. The trustees included Louis W. Kemp, historian, author and leading authority on the Battle of San Jacinto; William B. Bates, who was instrumental in the founding of the University of Houston; Albert C. Finn; Mrs. Madge Hearne, granddaughter of Sam Houston; and George A. Hill, Jr.
Shortly thereafter, on November 7, 1938, these trustees chartered the San Jacinto Museum of History Association, a private, non-profit organization to own, operate, and support a “museum of the first rank,” which would:

“revisualize the history of Texas and the region; instill and encourage historical inquiry; collect and preserve the materials of history and spread historical information; illustrate the chronological story of the region as determined from authoritative history by means of exhibits worthy of a museum of first rank; extend and diffuse knowledge of our history, and promote and perpetuate peace, friendship, and sympathetic understanding between the people of Texas and the people of Mexico, Spain, France, and the Latin-American Republics.”

Today, the Monument is operated for the State of Texas by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which provides the Museum with rent-free space, building repairs, utilities, security, maintenance, and custodial services. This arrangement allows the privately owned Museum to dedicate its funds to the exhibitions and related educational activities. Free admission to the Monument and the Museum is made possible by modest charges to ride to the observation room and supplemented by corporate and individual memberships in the Museum Association.

George A. Hill, Jr. had a special feeling for the battlefield and the new museum. His grandfather, James Monroe Hill, captured a Mexican fifer boy during the Battle of San Jacinto. This boy was taken home, reared and educated by the Hill family, after being given the alternative of returning to Mexico. In a rare coincidence, James Monroe’s younger brother, John Christopher Columbus Hill, was captured by the Mexicans, at age 13, in the 1842 Mier expedition and brought to Mexico City where he was reared and educated by Santa Anna’s Secretary of War, General Tornel. He chose to remain in the Republic of Mexico.

In 1897, James Monroe Hill was appointed chairman of the San Jacinto Commission, which was to purchase the battleground after carefully determining the outlines of the historic site. His son, George A. Hill, Sr., was appointed Secretary of the San Jacinto Park Commission. The San Jacinto Park Commission fittingly requested George A. Hill, Jr., active in Texas historical societies and distinguished collector in the field of our Mexican heritage, to serve as chairman, and later as president of the first Museum board of trustees. His contributions, and the contributions of his family, formed the nucleus for the campaign to raise funds, and provided Texans with a proper depository for their forefather’s history.

The Hill family has contributed to the Museum’s success through generous gifts of vast and priceless collections of documents, books, and relics relating to the exploration and settlement of Mexico and the greater Texas region. Descendants of Mirabeau B. Lamar, Thomas Jefferson Chambers, Sidney Sherman, and many other prominent Texans have contributed generously to the Museum’s holdings. Mrs. Madge Hearne, granddaughter of Sam Houston, selected the San Jacinto Museum of History as an appropriate place for the preservation of her grandfather’s personal possessions.

The Museum’s collection spans more than four hundred years of regional history, from the Spanish conquest through Texas in the 19th century. Emphasis is on colonial Texas as a part of Mexico, and the Republic of Texas. The collection contains more than 100,000 objects, 250,000 documents, 10,000 visual images, and a 35,000-volume rare book library.

Press Contacts:

Dianne Powell

P.R. Coordinator
Work: 210.824.9474
Home: 210.828.2436
Cellular: 210.887.8777

Larry Spasic

San Jacinto Museum of History
Museum: 281.479.2421

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