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John Philip Sousa, known as the March King was in North Texas at the Denton, Texas College of Industrial Arts, an all female school now known as Texas Woman’s University. The famous conductor had come to the area in the fall of 1928 as part of his Golden Jubilee Tour and scheduled two concerts at the college in Denton. After one of the performances, Sousa was presented with a petition signed by 1,700 the students requesting that he compose a march just for them. Sousa agreed and asked the students to suggest names for the musical piece. As far as we know, he received no suggestions for the name but composed the march we now know as “Daughters of Texas.”

Another wrinkle in the story is as follows. Sousa was nearing the end of his long career and he was also asked by Minnesota businessman Wilbur B. Foshay to bring his band to Minneapolis in 1929. The occasion was to be a four day celebration that would include the dedication of a structure to be known as the Foshay Tower. It was an office building that was to somewhat resemble the Washington Monument.

Various accounts note that Sousa was in the process of composing his march for the Denton college but in the interest of time, he reportedly adapted his work in progress and used it for the Minnesota celebration. That piece was renamed the “Foshay Tower Washington Memorial March” and was performed there but never published. Sousa then composed a different march for the Denton school. Supposedly, early copies of both marches still exist in some form. The Minnesota trip took place and and the the Foshay Tower was dedicated. Now almost 100 years old, it still stands in Minneapolis today and is currently operated as a hotel.

The Denton Record-Chronicle reported that the new march named “Daughters of Texas” had been completed in the summer of 1929. The article below from the same newspaper notes that the first copies of the march were delivered to the College of Industrial Arts (C. I. A.) the following year.

United States Marine Band playing “Daughters of Texas” (YouTube)