This WWI memorial consists of a block of Texas pink granite with a bronze plaque affixed, set in a landscaped Texas Lone Star made of Austin Chalk limestone.
The plaque reads as follows:
"1917 1918
In Honor of the Boys of
AUSTIN HIGH SCHOOL
Who Served in the World War.
OUR DEAD
William B. Basford
Lewis Bell
Carl Stone Benedict
Edgar L. Bergstrom
Richard P. Bull
Marvin A. Caldwell
Calvin Clark
Leroy E. Creaton
Edwin Hutchings
J.S. Lindsey
Albert S. MacDonnell
Eugene D. Penn
Charles E. Pinckney
Walter T. Scherding
Thomas Roy Taylor
H. Grady Turner
Alvin Ulit
Arthur E. Wilkins"
This memorial's history was featured in a column that ran in the Austin American Statesman in June of 2016, when its former home at a previous AHS campus was mis-remembered as the location of a statue of Stephen F. Austin: (
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"HERMAN: SEARCH FOR MISSING SFA STATUE TURNS UP SOMETHING ELSE
OPINION By Ken Herman - American-Statesman Staff
By now, you’re familiar with “What Is That?” as the periodic feature in which I try to answer readers’ queries about stuff they see but can’t identify.
Today, we’ll branch out into what we’ll call “What Was That?” In it, we’ll deal with stuff readers think they used to see but don’t see any more. Reader Harvey Ford is our inaugural “What Was That?” participant.
“Ken,” he said in an email to Ken, “I graduated from Austin High School in 1957 and it seems there was a statue of the Father of Texas on the corner of 12th and Rio Grande. There is currently a historical marker about the building, but our buddy Stephen F. ain’t there!!!”
Indeed, the disappearance of the Father of Texas (or a likeness thereof) is cause for exclamation points in triplicate.
More from Ford: “There is a footing for a statue, but nothing is on it but it is still circled with a protective chain.”
Concerned, I quickly deputized a special “What Was That?” task force (me) to determine what it was, if it was anything, that used to be at that corner. My onsite investigation determined Ford is correct. It sure looks like something used to be there. On this particular day, the whatever-it-was served as an ad hoc rain gauge.
The historical marker right behind the chain-around-nothing is of no help. It tells us Austin High School used to be at what’s now an Austin Community College campus, one of many that soon will be as omnipresent as Starbucks.
Ford ended his query with a simple outcry: Was there a Stephen F. statue at that corner and, if so, where’d he go?
I asked ACC folks if they knew anything about what used to be where it sure looks like there used to be something. ACC spokesman Antonio Lujan kicked it upstairs and reported back.
“We have done some digging and do not have any records of a prior statue at the specified location,” he told me by email. “My recommendation is to contact AISD to see if the statue was removed prior to when the building became an ACC campus. Good luck.”
This is not a matter of luck. This, sir, is journalism.
In need of senior communication, I turned to Tiffany Young, an Austin school district senior communication specialist.
“Hmmm,” Young responded via email. “I will look into it. Depending on how old it is, we may not have anything. But we do have a librarian who keeps an archive of our historical info I can check with.”
Librarians, in general, rock. Librarian Deborah DeStefano, in particular, really rocks. She’s the district librarian and it took her no time to come up with answers. Turns out Stephen F. never was at the corner of 12th and Rio Grande — or at least a statue of him never was there. It’s possible, of course, that he was, back in the day.
DeStefano found an old photo of Austin High in its 12th and Rio Grande days. The photo, she reports, shows “a large stone with a mounted plaque that sits on top of the stone base shown in the photograph” I had sent of the current scene. She then consulted a centennial history published about Austin High.
“In 1919, students developed the idea for a memorial to the 18 Austin High School students who lost their lives in World War I,” DeStefeno told me, adding that the tablet and stone were dedicated on May 20, 1920 at the then-Austin High campus at Ninth and Trinity streets.
In 1926, the campus moved to the 12th and Rio Grande, where the memorial remained until it was moved and dedicated at the current West Cesar Chavez campus in 1977.
Sara Stewart, an Austin High librarian, found info about the tablet in some old issues of “The Comet,” the school’s yearbook that documents the original 1920 installation at what was known as “Old Red,” the Ninth and Trinity campus. I told you librarians rock.
“In honor of the boys of The Austin High School who served in the world war,” the plaque says.
And Stewart sent me this from the 1920 Comet:
“It will be years before the girl and boy of today can understand, without fear of exaggeration or false emphasis, the real motives which led our boys overseas, the ideals for which so many of them offered their lives. But it is a simple matter to remember daily that the flower of our youth did go overseas, and in France and in Flanders the torch was held aloft by the splendid boyhood of the world.
“Did these boys not believe that they were to stamp out militarism? These were their words. ‘This is a war to end war.’”
The idealism of youth.
There’s a personal note to add to this story. The plaque is displayed in an outdoor area at Austin High where I’ve often sat while waiting to have lunch with my mentee. That means I’ve sat near it many times without bothering to notice it. To make up for that, I’ve going to use some space here to list the 18 names on it.
“Our dead,” is what the plaque calls them: William B. Basford, Lewis Bell, Carl Stone Benedict, Edgar L. Bergstrom, Richard P. Bull, Marvin A. Caldwell, Calvin Clark, Leroy E. Creaton, Edwin Hutchings, J.S. Lindsey, Albert S. MacDonnell, Eugene D. Penn, Charles E. Pinckney, Walter T. Scherding, Thomas Roy Taylor, H. Grady Turner, Alvin Ulit, and Arthur E. Wilkins.
As the centennial of their deaths approaches, we thank them for their service. And we apologize for our failure to make the war in which they died live up to its billing as the war to end all wars."