The front doors of the Hall of State open into a semi-circular hall that holds six bronze statues of those who helped create the Republic of Texas.  Sculptor Pompeo Coppini shows each hero either in a characteristic stance or at a decisive moment in his life.  At one end, William B. Travis stands with his sword in hand at the very moment -- legend tells us -- he drew a line in the Alamo courtyard dirt and challenged defenders to stay.  At the other end, James Walker Fannin, who was executed in the massacre at Goliad, is portrayed at the moment when he supposedly made his famous last three requests.

Stephen F. Austin (the "Father of Texas") stands in the hall, along with Sam Houston (the first president of the Republic), Mirabeau B. Lamar (known as the "Father of Public Education") and Thomas Jefferson Rusk (one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence).