A campus says a lot through who it chooses to put in bronze. This short walk takes in UT's statue of George Washington, which DAR members worked toward for decades, and two later statues that students campaigned for: Barbara Jordan and Martin Luther King Jr. Along the way are the live oaks a professor saved from a building project and the quiet garden that remembers the victims of the August 1, 1966 Tower shooting. It is under a mile, and every stop is outdoors.
What a university chooses to honor in bronze and stone says a lot about it. This short outdoor walk at the University of Texas at Austin reads the Forty Acres through its statues, its oldest trees and a place of remembrance, all in well under a mile.
The Battle Oaks are older than the university itself. When a biology building was planned on their spot in 1923, classics professor William J. Battle rallied support to save them and persuaded the regents to move the building east; the trees have carried his name ever since. In their shade stands Bruce Wolfe's 2009 bronze of Barbara Jordan, the first Black woman elected to the Texas Senate and a longtime LBJ School professor, the result of a student campaign for more statues of women on campus.
George Washington's statue took three decades to arrive. The Daughters of the American Revolution began raising money after a 1924 news story claimed Texas had no statue of him, a boulder held the spot through the Depression and World War II, and sculptor Pompeo Coppini, by then in his mid-80s, finished the bronze that was dedicated in 1955.
The Tower Garden, with its memorial to those killed in the August 1, 1966, shooting, invites quiet reflection. It's a thoughtful, easy stroll through the stories UT has chosen to tell about itself.
The tour begins in Austin. Open Texas Roam to follow the full route stop by stop, with directions and audio narration as you go.
It is a self-guided walking tour: 5 stops, about 0.6 miles, ~30 min. Go at your own pace; the app keeps your place.
In Austin, Texas. The exact starting point, the full stop list and turn-by-turn directions are in the TexasRoam app.
Download TexasRoam for iPhone or iPad from the App Store. The tour is included with TexasRoam+. It is not available on the web map.
Visit in daylight, ideally in the morning or late afternoon when the Battle Oaks give the most shade; please keep voices low in the Tower Garden.
Texas Roam guides you turn by turn through Austin with maps, audio narration and check-ins as you go — plus all 5 stops on this tour and every guided tour, hiking trail and historical marker across Texas. Get it on the App Store.
