Home County of Lafayette Lumpkin Foster

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. There's a marker out here in Limestone County, and it honors a man named Lafayette Lumpkin Foster. Now, that name alone ought to stop you in your tracks.

Lafayette Lumpkin Foster. Say it slow. That's a name that was built for a courthouse, a podium, or a history book, and as it turns out, Foster found his way into all three.

The marker lays out a life of public service that just keeps stacking up, one chapter at a time. So let's go through it. In 1885 and 1886, Foster was serving as a state representative.

And not just any representative, he was speaker of the house. Same years. Speaker of the house.

Then, years later, he became president of Texas A. and M., a post he held from 1898 to 1901. That would be enough for most men. That would be a full life right there.

But Foster was not most men. Governor James S. Hogg appointed him to a newly formed commission, created to regulate shipping rates and practices.

Now this commission, it was young, it was finding its footing, and Foster served out his term from 1891 to 1895. During those years, the transportation of petroleum was becoming important to Texas railways. Something was stirring under the Texas soil, and the railroads were starting to feel it.

The commission, though, was just getting started. In 1917, jurisdiction over pipelines arrived, and with it, oil and gas regulation became a major responsibility. Then in 1919, the Legislature made the commission responsible for oil and gas conservation.

By the 1920s, proration had begun. And then came the east Texas fields, where the commission didn't just write rules, it enforced them with martial law. Martial law.

Out there among the derricks and the pipelines. That tells you something about the stakes involved. And then came the test that made everything matter.

World War II. Texas was able to supply the allies with great stores of oil necessary for victory. The policies that had been built up, argued over, enforced, and refined across decades, they held.

They delivered. The marker is clear about the commission's goal: to prevent waste and protect oil and gas reserves by orderly regulation of exploration, production, and transportation. And here is where the marker lands the whole thing.

It says that men like Commissioner Foster set high ethical standards that still prevail, causing the commission to merit the confidence of the people and of the petroleum industry. Still prevail. Not prevailed.

Present tense. Lafayette Lumpkin Foster came out of Limestone County, served his state in the legislature, led a university, helped build a regulatory institution from its earliest days, and the standards he helped set were still holding when they put this marker up in 1966. That's not a footnote.

That's a foundation.

What the marker says

A state representative, 1885-1886; speaker of the house, 1885-1886. President of Texas A. & M., 1898-1901. Appointed by Gov. James S. Hogg to newly-formed commission, created to regulate shipping rates and practices. In his term, 1891-1895, transportation of petroleum became important to Texas railways. Oil and gas regulation, a major responsibility, began in 1917 with jurisdiction over pipelines. The Legislature made the commission responsible in 1919 for oil and gas conservation. Proration began in the 1920s. Complete regulation in east Texas, and use of martial law to enforce commission rules. Commission policies were acclaimed when in World War II Texas was able to supply the allies with great stores of oil necessary for victory. The commission's goal is to prevent waste and protect oil and gas reserves by orderly regulation of exploration, production and transportation. Such men as Commissioner Foster set high ethical standards that still prevail, causing the commission to merit the confidence of the people and of the petroleum industry.