The Karle Wilson Baker Statue

Dedication of this statue, on the west side of Mound Street on the lawn of Sigma Tau Gamma, occurred on April 10, 2013.    Baker's (1878-1960) home was located on this property.  For more information see the detailed biography of Baker in the Texas Handbook Online.  We hosted a very successful four-performance run of a one-woman play on May 17, 18, and 19, 2012.  Thank you to everyone who came to support this project.  We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.  The sculptor who created this statue is Brian Keith (click here for his website).

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This statue honors Baker who lived in Nacogdoches from 1900 to her death in 1960.  She was a respected author and teacher at Stephen F. Austin University who wrote in poem and prose about the beauty of East Texas nature. Baker wrote several books including The Birds of Tanglewood and children’s book Garden of the Plynck. As a poet, her works were published in the Yale Review and in several magazines. Collections of her poems form several books such as Blue Smoke and The Burning Bush. Her poem “The Pine Tree Hymn,” became as the school song for SFA for many years.  Karle Wilson Baker received more honors than any 20th century female poet in Texas. She was a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas, an organizing member of the Poetry Society of Texas, and was the first female named a Fellow of the Texas Institute of Letters. Also, recognition of the outstanding quality of her works was realized with a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry nomination for her collection of poetry Dreamers on Horseback. In addition, the Southern Methodist University awarded her with an honorary Doctorate of Letters.

Click here to listen to the Red River Radio segment on the one-woman play (5/12/2012).

Created by SFASU History M.A. Graduate Students on behalf of FoHNI, January 2010.