Angelina Eberly statue by Pat Oliphant

ANGELINA EBERLY

In 1842, six years after Texas won its independence from Mexico, the capitol of the young republic was an isolated village on the western frontier whose name had recently been changed from Waterloo to Austin. President Sam Houston thought Austin was an inappropriate location for the capitol of Texas, and campaigned to have it moved to a city he found more to his taste--Houston. When the citizens of Austin resisted his attempts to move the capitol, Houston sent a delegation of Texas Rangers to steal the government archives. They would have succeeded if it had not been for a fiery local innkeeper named Angelina Eberly, who heard the rangers loading their wagons in the middle of the night. She hurried down to the the corner of what is now Sixth and Congress and fired off the town cannon, missing the rangers but blowing a hole in the General Land Office building. The cannon fire roused the populace, who chased down the rangers and recovered the archives near Brushy Creek. Had it not been for Angelina’s impulsive gesture, Houston would now be the capitol of Texas. In a very real sense, Angelina Eberly was the savior of Austin.

The Location

The statue of Angelina Eberly firing off her cannon was erected at the very spot this historic event took place: Sixth and Congress in downtown Austin, TX.

The Artist

The sculptor of the Angelina Eberly statue is Pat Oliphant, the most widely syndicated cartoonist in the world. Among his numerous prizes are the Pultizer Prize, the German Thomas Nast Prize, and the Premio Satira Politica of Italy. His achievements as cartoonist, painter, and sculptor have been celebrated in major exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, the National Portrait Gallery, and several presidential libraries (including the Lyndon B. Johnson Library). Recently he became the first artist to be exhibited in the newly restored Great Hall of the Library of Congress.

Born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1935, Oliphant began working as a copyboy in 1953 for the Adelaide News. He became a cartoonist for the opposition paper, The Advertiser, in 1955. In 1964 he moved to the United States and began working for The Denver Post. His cartoons began to be syndicated the following year by the Los Angeles Times. In 1975 he joined the Washington Star and moved to Universal Press Syndicate in 1980.

Acknowledgements

C.A.S.T. deeply appreciates the crucial assistance of:
Austin American-Statesman
Austin Chronicle
Austin Film Society
Stacy Anderson
Scott Baker
Becky Beaver
Blue Plate Design
Colin Boyd
City of Austin—Art in Public Places
Tom Cornelius
John Cyrier
Terry Durr
Sue Edwards
Anne-Marie Helling
Scott Jackson—Outhouse Designs
Jon Kemmerer
Leslie Langford
Thomas Ricks Lindley
Kathleen Neville
Eddie Safady
Vincent Salas
John Spong
D.J. Stout and Pentagram
Kenneth Schweighofer
Mary-Dalaina Trotter
United States Field Artillery Center, Fort Sill, Oklahoma
Rebecca Wallace
Monte Warden
Brandi Warden
Megan Weiler
Reid Wittliff
Word of Mouth Fine Catering
Will Wynn
Anne Elizabeth Wynn

And gratefully acknowledges our donors:
AT&T
Philip Breland
Warren Skaaren Charitable Trust
SpawMaxwell Company
Elizabeth Avellán and Robert Rodriguez
Hillcrest Foundation, Founded by Mrs. W.W. Caruth, Sr.
Graeber, Simmons and Cowan
Dudley and Saza Dobie
Equity Office Properties Trust
Kenneth Schweighofer
Dennis and Jill McDaniel
The Charles and Betti Saunders Foundation/Steve, Pat, Kate and Ian Saunders
The Nowlin Family Fund and the Kodosky Family Fund of the
Austin Community Foundation
Terry and Sue Tottenham
Kemmerer & Patterson, P.C.
Lee Walker and Jennifer Vickers
Bill and Sally Wittliff
Lawrence and Roberta Wright
Anne Elizabeth and Will Wynn
Graves Dougherty Hearon and Moody
Vincent Salas
Troublemaker Studios: Spy Kids 3-D Cast and Crew
Downtown Austin Alliance
David Hime
Suzanne Kawaters
Headliners Club
James G. Kaighin, Jr.