Eleanor Brackenridge - San Antonio, TX USA
N 29° 27.451 W 098° 28.381
14R E 551100 N 3258791
In the middle of Brackenridge Park is a memorial to Eleanor Brackenridge. She promoted woman's rights for voting and for an education. She was famous all across Texas.
Waymark Code: WM13VTP
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 02/25/2021
Views: 1
Mary Eleanor Brackenridge, know simply as Eleanore Brackenridge, was a powerful woman, mostly because of who she was personally; but, it certainly didn't hurt to have the name recognition and financial backing of her father, George W. Brackenridge. Miss Brackenridge waked her talk! She was a co-founder of the Woman's Club of San Antonio, an organization for women to advance and support the right for women to vote and for women to pursue higher education. She set the example by actively pursuing the rights for women to vote and in doing so, she not only supported multiple voting rights groups, but became the first women in San Antonio, TX to become registered to vote. In a similar pattern, Miss Brackenridge advocated for educational institutions to not only admit women to all levels of schooling, but especially to higher education. In her quest for better education for women, she was one of three women nominated as a Board of Regents for the Texas Woman's University.
Her father, George W. Brackenridge used to own the land that is now Brackenridge Park and the water works plant that provided a dependable source of water to the residents of San Antonio. Mr. Brackenridge had many business interests and investments that made him one of the most influential men of his time. His daughter evidently was a lot like him; and, in her own right, earned honors and respect for pursuing and accomplishing goals that brought about a broad swath of humanitarian good.
The memorial marker in the middle of the mature oak grove that composes most of Brackenridge Park must have been an appropriate memorial at the time it was placed within the park. But, based on what it looks like around this memorial at the time of posting this waymark entry, one can easily assume that the look of the park and the placement of the trees surely has significantly altered from what it was like in 1925 when this memorial was dedicated. The marker is a large one but surprisingly plain. It is a rectangular block of gray granite with a slight slope on the side that is the face, where the printing is placed. The memorial stone is rough cut, but the sloped face has been polished. Then, to form the letters of the text, the granite had been etched or roughened within the polished area to essentially show polished letters within a polished frame. At the top of the marker, above this polished frame is an etched bow of ribbon design with the polished initials W. C. on one end of the ribbon and the polished letters T. U. on the other end of the ribbon. There are only three lines of text inside the polished frame. The first line simply states, "In Memory of", with her name in large letters making the second line of text. Finally the third and last line of text states a date, probably the date of the dedication of this memorial since she died a year earlier on Feb. 14, 1924. The marker reads as follows:
In Memory of
ELEANOR BRACKENRIDGE
Feb. 26, 1925"
Link to webpage about the life of Mary Eleanor Brakenridge:
(
visit link)