State dedicates new downtown historical marker

A brand new Texas Historical Marker will officially post up in downtown Austin today. State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, Texas Historical Commissioner Wallace Jefferson and Travis County Historical Commissioner Joe Ramirez will headline the event put on by the Texas Historical Commission at 600 Wood St. The marker will account for the long-lost Wood Street Settlement at Shoal Creek, a community of African-American and Tejano residents lasting from the end of the Civil War to its eventual extinction in the 1980s. The Shoal Creek Conservancy teamed with the Parks and Recreation Department and the Travis County Historical Commission to secure the state’s official recognition of the Wood Street Settlement. “Awareness and education are among the best ways to guarantee the preservation of our state’s history. This designation is a tool that will help increase public awareness of important cultural resources,” Mark Wolfe, executive director of the THC, said in a press release. Friday’s dedication ceremony kicks off at 9 a.m.