DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, as near as I can put it into words. Walter Prescott Webb was born on April 3, 1888, near this very site in Panola County. His parents were Casner P. and Mary Elizabeth Kyle Webb — C.
P. Webb, a man who farmed and taught school, which is a combination that'll keep you humble in the best possible way. Then in 1893, the family packed up and moved to the edge of central West Texas.
Now, that's where things get interesting. Young Walter met a startling new terrain out there — wide, strange, and unlike anything this east Texas boy had ever seen — and something in that landscape set his mind to work on the question of how the frontier had shaped American history. That one question would follow him the rest of his life.
He studied, and he taught, and he taught, and he studied, going back and forth like a man who understood that learning and doing aren't so different after all. He earned his B. A. in 1915, his M.
A. in 1920, and his Ph. D. in 1932, all at the University of Texas. In 1918 he joined the history faculty of that same university in Austin, and he would go on to teach there for forty-five years.
Forty-five years shaping minds in the same hallways where he once shaped his own. His reach stretched well beyond Austin, too. Visiting lectureships took him across the United States and abroad, including a term as Harmsworth professor at Oxford University in England.
Not bad for a farm boy from Panola County. He molded a generation of historians and scholarly writers — folks who learned from him that a story told with vision is not the same thing as a small story. And the books he left behind bear that out.
The Great Plains. The Texas Rangers. Divided We Stand.
The Great Frontier. Works of splendid vision, the marker calls them, and I'm not inclined to argue. He collected honors the way west Texas collects dust — steadily and in quantity — and he became the first southwesterner ever to serve as president of the American Historical Association.
He married Jane Oliphant, and they had one daughter, Mildred, who became Mrs. W. B.
Bugg. He later married Mrs. Terrell Maverick.
Walter Prescott Webb died on March 8, 1963, and he is buried in the Texas State Cemetery — which is just about the right place for a man who spent his whole career arguing that the land itself is the story.
What the marker says
(April 3, 1888 - March 8, 1963) The world-renowned American historian Walter Prescott Webb was born near this site. His parents were Casner P. and Mary Elizabeth (Kyle) Webb. C. P. Webb farmed and taught school. The family moved in 1893 to the edge of central West Texas. There a startling new terrain spurred young Walter to study the influence of the frontier on American history. Alternately studying and teaching, Walter Webb earned his B. A. Degree in 1915, his M. A. in 1920, and his Ph. D. in 1932, all at the University of Texas. In 1918 he joined the history faculty of the University in Austin, where he taught for 45 years. Visiting lectureships in the U. S. and abroad included a term as Harmsworth professor at Oxford University in England. An inspiring teacher, he molded a generation of historians and scholarly writers. "The Great Plains," "The Texas Rangers," "Divided We Stand," "The Great Frontier," and his other books are works of splendid vision. Recipient of many honors and offices, he was the first southwesterner to serve as president of the American Historical Association. He married (1) Jane Oliphant, by whom he had one daughter, Mildred (Mrs. W. B. Bugg), and (2) Mrs. Terrell Maverick. He is buried in the Texas State Cemetery.