Meeting at Fort Concho, commissioners will weigh conservation work on the Alamo Church’s west façade, roof probes at the Long Barrack, and an appeal from Bandera County after staff denied a permit to pave part of the courthouse square.
When: 9:00 AM CT, Friday, July 31, 2026
Where: Fort Concho National Historic Landmark, Commissary Building, 630 S. Oaks St., San Angelo
Governing body: Texas Historical Commission
Format: Full commission meeting closing out the July 30–31 quarterly cycle; opens in joint session with the Antiquities Advisory Board, then a consent agenda and committee reports.
Live video: THC livestream on YouTube
Full agenda: Posted notice, TRD 2026004405 (Secretary of State) · THC quarterly commission meetings
The Texas Historical Commission opens its quarterly business meeting Friday sitting jointly with the Antiquities Advisory Board, and the first substantive item is the Alamo. Under item 3.3, commissioners will consider three historic buildings and structures antiquities permits: an amendment to Permit #1095 for conservation of the west façade of the Alamo Church, an amendment to Permit #1286 for roof probe investigations at the Long Barrack, and issuance of Permit #1416 for vibration monitoring at the Alamo Church. Item 3.2 is an update on the Alamo Plan from Alamo Trust, Inc.
Antiquities permits are the mechanism by which the state controls what can be done to a State Antiquities Landmark. Vibration monitoring at the church is the kind of item that sounds procedural and is not: it is the instrumentation you install when heavy construction is happening close to a 300-year-old limestone structure you cannot afford to crack.
Item 3.4 is a rarer thing — an appeal. Bandera County is contesting the staff’s denial of Historic Buildings and Structures Antiquities Permit Application #1375, which sought to install a parking lot on the Bandera County Courthouse square. Appeals of staff denials come to the full commission, which means the argument over paving a courthouse square gets made in public.
The commission’s regular business follows once the Antiquities Advisory Board adjourns. The Architecture committee report under item 11 carries the meeting’s largest grant decision: approval of Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program Round XIV awards, plus supplemental funding awards under the same program. The courthouse program is the state’s flagship preservation grant, and Round XIV determines which county courthouses get restoration money in the coming cycle.
Historic Sites, under item 13, is unusually dense. Commissioners will consider a name change for the Iwo Jima Monument and Museum State Historic Site; a Phase II assessment of the Eagle Nest Canyon property in southern Val Verde County, one of the most significant rock art and deep-time archeological landscapes in North America; the deaccession of objects from the Eisenhower Birthplace, Fulton Mansion, Sam Bell Maxey and Varner-Hogg Plantation sites; final approval of a pipeline easement agreement with Intercontinental Terminals Corporation for installation of a pipeline at the San Jacinto Battleground; donor naming opportunities for the San Jacinto capital campaign; and a TxDOT land transfer to Presidio La Bahía.
The consent agenda under item 8 bundles historic cemetery designations, official marker text, a slate of rule reviews and adoptions across the courthouse, tax credit, State Board of Review, marker, cemetery and state archeological program chapters, and recertification of UTSA’s Center for Archaeological Studies as a curatorial facility. Under the Executive committee, Chairman Nau’s items include the Legislative Appropriations Request, a grant to the Lockhart Rosenwald School from an 89th Legislature earmark, the land acquisition priorities list, and a proposal to seek statutory changes to Chapter 448 of the Government Code regarding the Friends of the Texas Holocaust, Genocide and Antisemitism Advisory Commission.
Public comment is in person only, by registering at Fort Concho on the day of the meeting.
Commissioners
- John L. Nau, III, Houston — Chairman (term 2015–2027)
- Garrett Donnelly, Midland — Vice Chair (2018–2029)
- Catherine McKnight, Dallas — Secretary (2017–2029)
- John W. Crain, Dallas (2007–2031)
- Fritz Duda, Dallas (2023–2029)
- Lilia Garcia, Raymondville (2018–2027)
- David Gravelle, Dallas (2018–2027)
- Michael W. Hagee, Fredericksburg (2025–2031)
- Kay Hindes, Pleasanton (2025–2031)
- Ted Houghton, El Paso (2023–2029)
- Laurie Limbacher, Austin (2018–2029)
- Gilbert E. “Pete” Peterson, Alpine (2007–2031)
- James “Jamey” Steen, Houston (2025–2027)
- Robert D. “Dick” Tips, San Antonio (2025–2031)
The commission has 15 seats; 14 members were listed on the agency roster as of this writing. Executive Director: Joseph Bell. General Counsel: Kristen Worman.