DeLeon Plaza and Bandstand

DeLeon Plaza and Bandstand
DeLeon Plaza and Bandstand
DeLeon Plaza and Bandstand
Location 100 blk. W. Constitution
Victoria, Texas
Coordinates 28°47′57″N 97°0′22″W / 28.79917°N 97.00611°W / 28.79917; -97.00611Coordinates: 28°47′57″N 97°0′22″W / 28.79917°N 97.00611°W / 28.79917; -97.00611
Built 1839, 1885
NRHP Reference # 86002584[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP March 24, 1987
Designated RTHL 1965, 1998

DeLeon Plaza and Bandstand is 1.77 acres originally platted as the center of the city of Victoria, county of Victoria, in the U.S. state of Texas. The bandstand stood nearby the plaza until it was moved to the center of the plaza in 1923. The William P. Rogers chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy contracted with sculptor Pompeo Coppini for the DeLeon Plaza's 1912 monument to the Confederacy The Last Stand (aka Firing Line).

On March 24, 1987, DeLeon Plaza and Bandstand was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Victoria County, Texas. In 1965, the bandstand was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, Marker number 289. In 1998, the plaza was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, Marker number 12273.[2]

Plaza

When Victoria, Texas was founded by empresario Martín De León and his wife Patricia de la Garza De León, they named it after Guadalupe Victoria, who had just become the first president of Mexico.[3] The town was platted by surveyor José María Jesús Carbajal[4] around a Market Square designed in 1839 by Edward Linn and known today as DeLeon Plaza. The bandstand at the center of the plaza was built prior to 1885.[5]

Confederate Monument at DeLeon Plaza created by Pompeo Coppini

Sculptor Pompeo Coppini was paid $5,000, raised by the William P. Rogers chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, to create the plaza's monument The Last Stand (aka Firing Line) in 1912. The unveiling was held on July 12 of that year. The celebratory event was the scene of a parade and a barbecue that was free to everyone. The ceremony included various dignitaries, two Union Army veterans, and twelve Confederate States Army veterans.[6]

In 1923, the "Memorial White Way" lighting was turned on at DeLeon Plaza.[7] That same year the bandstand was moved from a nearby location and placed over the site of the town's old water source.[8]

The landscaping was re-done in 1940 as a project of the Works Progress Administration under the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose public works and welfare projects helped many people throughout the South.[9] Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Pickering completed a restoration of the bandstand in 1962. That same year, a Six Flags monument was placed on the plaza at the corner of Main and Constitution streets. The plaza today has twenty-three benches and forty-seven trees of live oak, elm, pecan, ash, magnolia, and redwood.[10]

On December 31, 1986, a time capsule was placed in DeLeon Plaza, to be opened at the 2036 Texas Bicentennial.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Staff (2006-03-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "THC DeLeon Plaza". Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  3. ↑ Shook, Robert W. "Victoria, Texas". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  4. ↑ "José Maria Jesus Carbajal". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  5. ↑ "De Leon Plaza and Bandstand - Victoria". Texas Historical Commission. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  6. ↑ Wolff Jr., Henry (10 July 2002). "Day of Southern, U.S. Pride in Victoria". The Victoria Advocate. p. 5.
  7. ↑ United Daughters of the Confederacy (1999). United Daughters of the Confederacy. Turner Publishing Company, United Daughters of the Confederacy. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-56311-530-1.
  8. ↑ Simons, Helen; Perry, Ann; Smith, Deborah; Hoyt, Cathryn A (1996). A Guide to Hispanic Texas. University of Texas Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-292-77709-5.
  9. ↑ "Waymarker-DeLeon Plaza". Groundspeak, Inc. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  10. ↑ "CV-DeLeon Plaza and Bandstand". City of Victoria. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  11. ↑ "Time Capsule Slated for Burial". The Victoria Advocate. 7 December 1986.

External links

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