Location
Katie Owens Welder
Topics
Description
Katie Owens Welder served as one of the original six members of the Texas State Parks Board, created by Senate Bill 73 in 1923, and appointed by Governor Pat Neff. She served on the inaugural Board along with Florence Martin and Phebe Warner, her fellow leaders from the Texas Federation of Women’s Club. She acted the Board’s “historian” and was heavily involved in the barnstorming tours of Texas in which the Board solicited land donations from private landowners. These gifts helped create safe and scenic roadside parks and larger recreational areas in the state, building on the earlier historical parks like those at San Jacinto and Goliad.
Location Notes
As the State Parks Board's "historian", Welder was evidently particularly involved in recognizing the value of protecting the South Texas missions and Texas revolutionary sites, such as Goliad. So, it might work well to recognize Welder's groundbreaking efforts to get later state acceptance of the Goliad site as a state park in 1931. A sign in her honor could be placed at the entrance to the Goliad State Park and Historic Site.