King Cotton Arch

ID: 761 ~ Source: Image courtesy of the Texas Collection, Baylor University ~ Creator: Fred R. Gildersleeve
This file appears in: The Texas Cotton Palace
King Cotton Arch

William C. Abeel designed this arch for the 1914 exposition. Constructed out of one hundred and fifty bales of cotton, the arch's fifty-foot span and imposing sixteen-foot"King Cotton" statue awed visitors. Five hundred electric lightbulbs illuminated the arch each night.

This file appears in: The Texas Cotton Palace

By Jim Stingley
When Stephen F. Austin led the first Anglo-American settlers into Texas including areas along the Brazos River, they brought with them their strong agricultural tradition based on cotton-growing. From the period of annexation until well into the…