Lyndon Baines Johnson Museum of San Marcos

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

This museum preserves and interprets the formative years of Lyndon Johnson, a student in San Marcos and teacher in southern Texas who became the 36th President of the United States. Johnson was a student at Southwest Texas State Teachers College between 1927 and 1930 and it was here that he returned in 1964 as President to announce the creation of the Job Corps program. Like many teachers colleges, the institution has developed into a comprehensive regional university and is now known as Texas State University. The museum opened in 2006 and expanded in 2010 to include two floors of exhibits. In addition to exhibits about Johnson's years in San Marcos, there are exhibits dedicated to his efforts to promote civil rights and education in the Senate and as President.

Images

San Marcos' LBJ museum contains exhibits about the 36th President and his years as a student and teacher in the region.

The museum also includes exhibits about the First Lady Claudia Johnson, such as this exhibit commemorating her 1964 train tour of the South aboard the “The Lady Bird Special"

Learn more about LBJ's early years with the first volume of Robert Caro's series, The Path to Power. Click the link below to learn more about this book.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The museum traces its origins to local discussions during the mayor of San Marcos' special committee that began in 1996 and was tasked to find ways to promote heritage tourism in the city. The idea for a museum dedicated to LBJ gained support in the following years, especially after the city a physical location for the museum- a former movie theater near the city's courthouse square. Much of the work renovating the former theater was done by craftsmen and trainees who were part of the federal Jobs Corps program that Johnson created as President. The effort received support from a number of local agencies and the university. With broad-based community support, funds were raised to complete the renovations and the museum opened in 2006.

LBJ announced the creation of Job Corps near the present museum that was made possible by this program. Click the video below to watch President Johnson's announcement of the program during his visit to San Marcos.

Sources

"Our History & Beginning" San Marcos LBJ Museum website, http://lbjmuseum.com/our-history/ accessed 10/7/15