Sixth-generation Texan Sarah Reveley shares how the roadside granite markers with the bronze Texas star guided her to learn about the 1936 Texas Centennial Celebration; like everything else Texas does, it was the biggest and best celebration of a Centennial the world has ever seen. Through her preservation efforts, mementos and memories of the major event have been saved.

The Exposition, held in Dallas at Fair Park, drew over six million visitors. Most of Fair Park’s buildings built for the 1936 Exposition still exist and the complex is a recognized National Historic Landmark due to the significant concentration of Art Deco architecture.

With additional celebrations in Fort Worth and elsewhere in the state, the Centennial observance of Texas’s independence from Mexico spurred the construction of 9 memorial museums, 5 community centers, 16 restorations of historical structures, 2 park improvements, 20 statues of important Texans, and over 1,000 historical markers, grave markers, and highway markers.

September 24, 2009