Most of the mural on the right side of the Great Hall is devoted to the social, cultural and economic development of Texas during its first century of independence. Eugene Savage did, however, deal with the history of annexation and statehood in the first part of the mural, beginning on the left. The last president of the Republic of Texas, Anson Jones, is shown lowering the Texas Republican flag, as J. Pinckney Henderson, first governor of the State of Texas, raises the flag of the United States. Those surrounding him are men and women who were instrumental in the revolution as well as bringing Texas into the fold of statehood. The women the artist chose to portray are Jane Long, Suzanna Dickinson, Rebecca Fisher, and Francisca Alvarez. At the top of this section is a tribute to the Native Americans of Texas. Next, you see gray-clad soldiers setting off to fight for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. They are led by Generals Dowling, Johnston, and Hood, all of whom had special ties to Texas. When the men returned home, they sought to make a living using the natural resource of cattle, which the Spanish had brought to their missions. So began the cattle drive, when tough cowboys drove longhorns north along the Chisholm Trail to eagerly awaiting markets in the North and Midwest.
At the top of this section, the Civil War’s end is symbolized by the three allegorical figures: North, South, and Columbia (Union).
Eugene Savage devoted the central panel of this mural to education. Mirabeau B. Lamar’s land grant system helped educate children throughout the state. Above the children, emerging from darkness into the light of knowledge is a figure representing the State of Texas, the source of the abundant fruits and grains that pour forth on either side of her.
The final two panels in the mural show the economy of the state. The busy port scene demonstrates the impact of the Gulf Coast on Texas’ economy. Cotton, lumber and oil are also given their respective due in the painting. The billowing cloud that seems to boil up around the yellow substance in the open mining car is sulfur, one of the state’s extensive mineral resources. The method of removing it from the ground by using hot water hoses turns it into a yellow powder as it dries.
Savage placed the last of his four allegorical trios in the open space at the top of this section. These two women and one man represent Music, Literature, Science Truth, and the new Plastic Arts that were just beginning to be developed when the artist was painting. Above this scene a veritable forest of oil derricks disappears on the horizon, bringing the viewer to the abrupt end of the murals in the 1930s, when Eugene Savage painted them.