The Texas Historical Commission meets Oct. 29 in El Paso to vote on nine permits covering work at the Alamo, the Battleship Texas, the San Jacinto Battleground and the Governor’s Mansion. An antiquities permit is the state’s permission to touch a landmark it has designated, and this commission is the body that grants it. The notice carries no public comment item.
Six of the nine concern the Alamo. Three would be new permits: one for disassembling the south section of the garden wall in the Convento Courtyard, one for a veterans’ lounge at the Alamo Museum gift shop, and one for site improvements on Houston Street in Alamo Plaza. Three would amend permits already in force — a structural support system, vibration monitoring at the Long Barrack, and an archeology permit at the site. The notice names each by number and gives a line of description; the applications themselves are not attached.
Vibration monitoring is the kind of item that sounds procedural and is not. It is the instrumentation installed when heavy construction runs close to limestone walls raised in the 1700s. The commission took up the underlying permit in July for the Alamo Church; the amendment would extend that monitoring to the Long Barrack, the oldest building on the site and originally the mission’s convento. Commissioners hear an update on the Alamo Plan, the long-running overhaul of the site, before any of the six come to a vote.
The other three permits are each tied to a single landmark. One would authorize moving, mooring and finishing the rehabilitation of the Battleship Texas at Pier 15 in Galveston. The ship’s foundation says it has settled an agreement with the Galveston Wharves Board for that berth and that restoration continues across the channel, with mooring engineering, federal permitting, dredging and construction all still ahead. It names no date for the move. A second covers restoration at the San Jacinto Battleground in La Porte, and a third an access ladder and rooftop equipment at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin. All three sites also get a staff update earlier in the session.
The commission’s vote is the state’s go-ahead and not the last one: at the Battleship Texas, federal permits and a dredged berth still stand between the ship and Pier 15.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 3:30 PM, Thursday, October 29, 2026, or whenever the 2:45 p.m. committee meeting ends, whichever is later. TRD 2026006360, filed October 26 at 2:25 p.m., supersedes TRD 2026006301 of October 23; the re-notice renumbers the Antiquities Advisory Board session from its 125th to its 126th and leaves the agenda otherwise unchanged.
- Where
- Hotel Paso Del Norte, Pancho Villa Ballroom, 10 Henry Trost Ct., El Paso.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas Historical Commission — 15 citizen seats filled by the governor for staggered six-year terms; 14 are listed as filled. John L. Nau III of Houston is chairman. The commission sits jointly with the Antiquities Advisory Board, whose chairman the notice names as Hindes.
- Format
- Eight numbered items, inside a quarterly cycle the agency’s own calendar runs Oct. 29–30. The advisory board opens, approves minutes and hears division reports; the commission then joins it for three presentations and two blocks of permit votes. No public comment item appears on the notice. The commission may close any item under the Open Meetings Act.
- Live video
- THC livestream on YouTube. The notice says the feed is one-way and will not carry comment from the public.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · THC quarterly meetings page
Commissioners
- John L. Nau, III — chairman; Houston; term to 2027.
- Garrett Donnelly — vice chair; Midland; term to 2029.
- Catherine McKnight — secretary; Dallas; term to 2029.
- Fritz Duda — Dallas; term to 2029.
- Lilia Garcia — Raymondville; term to 2027.
- David Gravelle — Dallas; term to 2027.
- Michael W. Hagee — Fredericksburg; term to 2031.
- Kay Hindes — Pleasanton; term to 2031.
- Ted Houghton — El Paso; term to 2029.
- Robert M. “Bobby” Lee — Amarillo; term to 2027.
- Laurie Limbacher — Austin; term to 2029.
- Gilbert E. “Pete” Peterson III — Alpine; term to 2031.
- James “Jamey” Steen — Houston; term to 2027.
- Robert D. “Dick” Tips — San Antonio; term to 2031.
The commission’s own members page, read October 23, says the body has 15 citizen seats and lists these 14; it does not say a seat is vacant. Terms run six years and are staggered; the shorter spans here appear to be unexpired seats filled mid-term. Robert M. “Bobby” Lee of Amarillo was not on the roster when the Dispatch read it in July. Meeting contact: admin@thc.texas.gov, (512) 463-6100.