the buildings of sam houston state university

Building
Photographs

1836 Sam Houston Avenue

Map

Timeline

1936

First sign presumably created

19xx-19xx

First sign removed, at least one other sign installed and later removed

Sep. 2008

New sign installed

Namesake

None

The Sam Houston Memorial Museum Archway is a welcome sign to the museum complex that faces Sam Houston Avenue. The arched sign hangs between two stone pillars.

It is assumed the first version of the sign was added around 1936, the year the museum rotunda was built. Another version of the sign later appeared in the 1962 Alcalde.

Because of its susceptibility to the elements these early versions of the signs – presumably wood – deteriorated and left the two pillars seemingly without a function.

In 2008 funds were raised through the Sam Houston Folk Festival to create a new, wrought-iron version of the sign [1].

Sources:
[1] - Memorial Museum Archway, Item, (Sep. 20, 2008)

Possibly the earliest version of the sign, as seen from the 1937 Alcalde; the lower sign reads “A Historic Shrine to Texas.”

By the late-1950s/early-1960s another version of the sign hung out front the museum.

During the 1990s and 2000s the two pillars stood sign-less out front the museum and hidden somewhat by tree growth.

The new wrought-iron sign shortly after its installation in September 2008.