Brazos County commission approves two new state historical markers to be placed outside the courthouse

This podcast contains comments from the February 24, 2026 Brazos County commission meeting.Brazos County commissioners approve adding two new state historical markers outside the courthouse.Historical commission chairman Henry Mayo says one of the new state plaques will recognize a Black state lawmaker who represented Brazos County after the Civil War, John Mitchell of Burleson County. Mayo said Mitchell's marker is one of 23 special markers memorializing Reconstruction legislators of Texas, as requested by the 88th Texas Legislature in 2023 (Senate Bill 667). The emblem on top of Mitchell's marker is the State seal, and the typical Texas Historical Commission emblem is in the lower left. There is another state marker for Mitchell in Caldwell.A former member of the Brazos County historical commission, Randy Haynes, pursued the second state marker, recognizing one of the first Black lawyers in Texas, John N. Johnson. The marker notes Johnson appealing the death sentences of two Black Brazos County men...where one man's sentence was overturned and the other was commuted to a life sentence. The state bar of Texas website also says Johnson taught school in Bryan before pursuing his legal career.To make room for the two new state historical markers outside the courthouse, two other markers will be moved to Brazos County's Boonville Heritage Park. They are the confederate commissioners court marker and the daughters of the american revolution cedar tree marker.No dates have been set for dedicating the new state historical markers and moving the existing markers.