Shorty the Squirrel-(1948-1963)-Tyler, TX
Posted by: 
TeamBPL
N 32° 21.065 W 095° 18.049
15S E 283482 N 3581678
Grave stone memorial for Shorty the Squirrel. He was a resident of Tyler City Square park.
Waymark Code: WMPKBE
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/12/2015
Views: 4
Account from Roadside America website (
link):
Shorty lived outside the Smith County courthouse for 15 years. He was a panhandler and a beggar, but beloved by the town -- and particularly by Miss Geneva Pillow, who fed him daily.
The citizens of Tyler honored Shorty with free medical care, a special pedestrian crossing, and a lower speed limit on Broadway -- all with the goal of prolonging his life. But no squirrel lives forever (or even for very long) and Shorty died in 1963.
He was buried in a park across the street from the courthouse, his grave surrounded by a brick wall, marked by a Georgia granite headstone engraved with his likeness. A replacement squirrel was quickly run over by a car (another testament to Shorty's genius for survival). With no one to fill his snack-grubbing shoes, Shorty's legend grew. Paul Harvey told his story on the radio. He became even more famous in death than in life.
Shorty's headstone has moved around over the years, but it's never forgotten. It is in the outside courtyard of courthouse, in a raised planter at the southeast corner of Courthouse Square, NW corner of W. Erwin St. and N. Broadway Ave.