Almost 100 years of helping to care for Texas history
A Short History of the Friends of San Felipe de Austin
Efforts by local citizens to preserve and protect the historic site of San Felipe de Austin began in earnest in the 1920s. The most visible remains of the town were the town’s public well, dug in 1824. By 1928, six acres of land around the well were set aside as San Felipe Memorial Park. The superintendent of Austin County schools energized parents and children to raise money for the pink-granite obelisk.
The San Felipe Park Association grew out of that 1928 effort to develop and support the memorial they had created. Additional features for historical interpretation were added to the park in the years surrounding the 1936 Texas Centennial, including a historical marker at the site of the Town Hall that hosted the Conventions of 1832 and 1833 and the Consultation of 1835. A log-cabin replica of Stephen F. Austin's home and land office was constructed, and by 1938, a large bronze statue of Austin, sculpted by John Angel, was also unveiled at the park. Educator and historian George W. Hill led the Park Association during its important years of development from the 1930s to the early 1950s.
Efforts by local citizens to preserve and protect the historic site of San Felipe de Austin began in earnest in the 1920s as the centennial of its founding approached. The most visible remains of the town were the public well, dug in 1824. By 1928, six acres of land around the well were set aside at San Felipe Memorial Park. And the superintendent of Austin County schools energized parents and children to raise money for the pink-granite obelisk. Donated to the State of Texas in 1940, the historic site is now operated by the Texas Historical Commission.
(Photograph by James Hulse, November 29, 2020, from www.hmdb.org.)
In 1940, the Town of San Felipe and the San Felipe Park Association donated the commemorative park to the State of Texas, which opened it as the Stephen F. Austin State Park. The Park Association changed its name to the Stephen F. Austin Park Association and assisted the site's development. In 1964, the Park Association moved, restored, and opened the 1840s Josey Store building as a museum on the site.
That work, begun almost 100 years ago, continues today with the Friends of San Felipe de Austin.
