1936 Texas Centennial Exposition And History

Really interesting write up. I like the brochure photos as well. I'm looking forward to part 2!

Thanks for the informative post ...

David

We shall be waiting.

Enjoyed.

Very enjoyable reading! Thanks!

A young Madge Roberts. Courtesy The Medallion, p. 4.


"Most baby books contain locks of hair or height and weight measurements. But San Antonio resident Madge Houston Thornall (now Roberts) has a book filled with photos and newspaper clippings of governors, senators, and other dignitaries posing with her at events that captured the imagination of young Texans.

Roberts had a front-row seat to parades, ribbon-cuttings, and other events associated with the 1936 Texas Centennial, designed in part to educate and inspire Texans about their Heritage and identity. Roberts was a 6-year-old Houston resident at the time, and her family connections allowed her to participate in once-in-a-lifetime occasions throughout the state.

Roberts is the great-great-granddaughter of Sam Houston, and her namesake grandmother, Madge Houston Hearne, was president of the San Jacinto chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT), responsible for many of the dedication ceremonies during the Centennial. As a result, young Madge became a flag-bearer, unveiler, mascot, and guest of honor at historical commemorations during the 1930s.




At age four, Roberts unveiled a bust of Sam Houston at the Virginia State Capitol, and joined the granddaughter of the Mexican Consul at the 98th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto. She also saw miles and miles of Texas when she accompanied her mother and grandmother to numerous planning meetings throughout the state.

Roberts recalls a visit to Mineral Wells 'at the Crazy Water Hotel or something—it has some strange name to it,' with a swimming pool, and was fascinated by it. She also remembers wandering around at many graveyard ceremonies, where she saw beautiful glass vases and jelly jars that had been colored by the sun and rainwater.
'I can remember how gorgeous the glass was,' she says. 'I would pick up the glass very carefully and I'd hold it up to the sun, and look at all the different colors and everything. Then I'd put it back very carefully where it had come from.'

On January 1, 1936, Roberts was named an honorary princess when the Alabama-Coushatta inaugurated their new chief, Bronson Cooper Sylestine (Tie-Ca-Che), at the first of many statewide events in Texas' Centennial year. She recalls pondering the type of gift to give an Indian chief. Considering many of the reservation's homes did not have electricity at the time, Roberts choose a flashlight. When she returned 50 years later, she brought another flashlight. Although the chief had reached an advanced age by this time, he recognized Roberts, gesturing her childhood height with his hand, saying, 'I remember you!'

Also in 1936, Roberts presented Jesse Jones with the official Texas Centennial pin at the groundbreaking for the San Jacinto Monument ('They were breaking the ground with an ox-drawn plow, and the plow broke. I remember that,' Roberts said). That same year, she joined Louis Bryan (descendant of Stephen F. Austin) in cutting the ribbon to open the gates of the Centennial Exposition in Dallas, and she unveiled granite historical markers all across Texas. A movie newsreel program, 'The March of Time,' covered several of these ceremonies, so Roberts and her friends would repeatedly sit through the Saturday movie to see themselves on the silver screen 'over and over and over.'

Roberts also recalls the anxious moments before the celebratory parade on Dallas' downtown Main Street preceding the official gate opening for the Centennial Exposition. She particularly remembers being on the steps of a historic hotel, jumping up and down while waiting for a car to pick her up for the parade.

'My mother kept saying, 'You're not going to fall and break a leg and you're not going to be able to go cut the ribbon to open the Centennial if you don't stop that.' She says. 'Of course it made no impression on me and I kept right on.'

Roberts' love and passion for Texas history continued throughout her life, playing a role in her job as a teacher during the State's sesquicentennial celebration in 1986, and as the president-general of the statewide DRT (following her grandmother's footsteps). She was on the DRT committee involved with the preservation and stabilization of the Alamo shrine, working with the Texas Historical Commission (THC) in the early 1990s.



The Medallion, Texas Historical Commission, Special Commemorative Edition, Remember the Centennial! San Antonio Resident Helped Dedicate Celebratory Events as a Young Girl in 1936. July/August, 2011, p. 4. (Image from The Houston Chronicle, Thursday, January 2, 1936).


She says her most treasured possession is her T. R. Fehrenbach Book Award, presented by the THC in 1996 for her book The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston, Vol. I: 1839-1945.

Roberts speculates that most Americans didn't know much about Texas until the Centennial, noting that at the time; most of the state's residents were native Texans. 'I think that's what a difference with the Centennial—it was big, big, big,' she says.

One of Roberts' fondest recollections of the Centennial was a specially designed fragrance called Bluebonnet Perfume. Though she suspects it was 'the cheapest-costing perfume that could create, because they gave it away everywhere,' she still recalls the charming little bottles and even the fragrance. 'If I were to smell it today I could identify it,' she says. 'It really didn't smell all that bad.'

Finally, Roberts remembers family visits to the San Jacinto Battlefield site, particularly the oak tree where her ancestor Sam Houston lay when he was wounded. She says the tree was eventually killed by water pollution associated with shoreline erosion.

'Even the encroachment of the oil refineries was not there when I was a child. It was a place where people picnicked with their families. Lots of things have changed through the years,' she says. 'It just broke my heart to see that happen, because we used to picnic under the tree. It just doesn't seem the same to me."4


4 The Medallion, Texas Historical Commission, Special Commemorative Edition, Remember The Centennial, San Antonio Resident Helped Dedicate3 Celebratory Events as a Young Girl in 1936, by Bob Brinkman of the THC's History Programs Division, July/August, 2011, p. 4-5.

Thanks, again!