Ongoing Display
Sam Rayburn Museum, Bonham, Texas
On the Museum grounds in front of the entrance portico is a plaza dedicated to Rayburn’s memory. A gift of the Sid Richardson Foundation and the Anne Burnett and Charles Tandy Foundation, the plaza is dominated by sculptor Blaine Gibson’s bronze statue of Rayburn holding the Speaker’s gavel and a scroll with the words “We the People.” Completed in 1990, the plaza also features selected quotes from Rayburn speeches etched into stone.
The east lawn features Miss Lou’s rose garden, named in honor of Rayburn’s sister, Lucinda, who acted as the Speaker’s hostess and companion at many events. She passed away while the museum was being constructed. Rayburn added the rose garden as a tribute to her unwavering support of his career.
The east lawn also features the anchor and chain from the U.S.S. Sam Rayburn submarine, which launched in December 1963 and decommissioned in July 1989 as part of the SALT II treaty. The anchor and chain are on loan from the U.S. Navy.
On the southeast side of the property near the memorial garden, a Pin Oak was planted in 1960 as a memorial to Rayburn’s brother, Tom Rayburn. A pecan tree on the northwest side of the property near the annex was grown from a pecan nut from a tree at Lady Bird and Lyndon B. Johnson’s ranch in Stonewall, Texas. President and Mrs. Johnson also gifted a Southern Magnolia tree in 1969 that is located on the southeast end of the property; it was an offspring of the Andrew Jackson Magnolia at the White House.
