The beginnings of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic site trace to the early 1880s , when the State of Texas purchased ten acres along Buffalo Bayou in preparation for the fiftieth anniversary of the Texas Revolution . The Daughters of the Republic of Texas ( DRT ) pressured the Texas Legislature for more appropriations for San Jacinto . In 1897 , Texas State Senator Waller Thomas Burns of Houston helped to pass legislation to fund $ 10,000 to establish a public park . The money was used to purchase an additional 336 acres of land at San Jacinto . The state appropriated another $ 25,000 in 1907 for improvements at the battleground and officially named it San Jacinto State Park , the first official state park in Texas . A governor appointed local commission managed the park and reported to the State Board of Control . More state-assisted improvements came to the park in preparation for the 1928 Democratic National Convention in Houston . A grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 's Coastal Impact Assistance Program will be funding a $ 2.6 million construction project for improvements to the site 's seawall , with an anticipated finish date of December 31 , 2016
1928 Democratic National Convention
1928 Democratic National Convention
San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site