School History
Samuel A. Maverick Elementary first opened its doors to SAISD students in the spring of 1952.
The original school building housed 20 classrooms and serviced 435 students.
The school sits on property known as Sunshine Ranch. It was part of the original Spanish land grant given to Samuel A. Maverick who arrived in San Antonio in 1835 from South Carolina.
Samuel Augustus Maverick (July 23, 1803 – September 2, 1870) was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His name is the source of the term "maverick," first cited in 1867, which means "independently minded." Various accounts of the origins of the term held that Maverick came to be considered independently minded by his fellow ranchers because he refused to brand his cattle. In fact, Maverick's failure to brand his cattle had little to do with independent mindedness, but reflected his lack of interest in ranching. Unbranded cattle which were not part of the herd came to be labelled "mavericks". He was the grandfather of Texas politician Maury Maverick, who coined the term gobbledygook (1944).
Samuel A. Maverick distinguished himself as a lawyer, statesman and advocate for an independent Texas. In 1836 he was one of two representatives elected from San Antonio to attend the Texas Independence Convention at Washington-on-the Brazos where he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.
In years to follow he served in the Texas legislature that made Texas the 28th state in 1845. From 1851 to 1863 he served two terms in the Texas House and Senate. He then served the city of San Antonio as mayor and a Bexar County Chief Justice. In the aftermath of the Civil War Samuel A. Maverick made many donations of land titles to the state and worked for reconstruction. He died on September 2, 1870.