Bronze Plaques Texas

Texas has no law that guarantees you can buy a grave marker from anyone you choose, and none that caps what a cemetery charges to set it. What Texas law does is let each cemetery write its own marker rules and require it to keep them printed and open for inspection, so the first step in any Texas order is to ask for that rulebook. A 2025 bill that would have changed this did not pass. This page explains the statute, the Department of Banking rule that people misread, what Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio cemeteries publish, and the City of Austin’s rules and its last published fee schedule. We cast the plaque in solid bronze and ship it to any Texas address with shipping included; the granite or concrete base and the setting are arranged through the cemetery office or a local monument dealer.

Texas law: the cemetery’s printed rules decide

Health and Safety Code 711.031 lets a cemetery organization regulate “the placement, uniformity, class, and kind of markers, monuments, and other structures”, with its rules printed and “kept for inspection”. That is the whole of the state’s marker law in force: no statute guarantees an outside marker and none limits a setting or inspection fee. SB 592, filed in 2025, would have barred a cemetery from restricting where a plot owner buys a marker or contracts for its installation, with civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, but it was last referred to committee on 02/03/2025 and did not pass. So in Texas, ask the office to show you its rules before you order, and ask for its setting, foundation and inspection fees in writing.

The Department of Banking rule covers the cemetery’s own markers

The Texas Department of Banking supervises perpetual care cemeteries, and its rule at 7 TAC 26.4 sets deadlines for ordering and setting a marker. Those deadlines apply only to markers the cemetery itself sells. They do not apply to a marker you buy from us, and they give no right to have an outside marker accepted. City, church and nonprofit cemeteries generally sit outside Department of Banking supervision, so for them the cemetery’s own rulebook and, for city cemeteries, the city’s rules are the only sources.

Houston

Glenwood Cemetery’s rules (revised March 2024) require written approval of “Plans and specifications covering size, design, material, and finish … including foundations” and treat niche plates as memorials, but print no sizes or fees. The Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston sell “bronze on granite” markers and set VA markers “without charge”, with no published policy on outside markers. Forest Park Westheimer, Forest Park Lawndale, Brookside and Memorial Oaks are Dignity Memorial parks with no published rules, and no Houston-area city publishes marker fees. Our Houston page covers each one.

Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington

In Dallas, Sparkman/Hillcrest, Laurel Land and Grove Hill are Dignity Memorial parks with no published rules, and Restland publishes none either. In Arlington, Moore Memorial Gardens “originally … allowed only flat, bronze-on-granite grave markers” before adding upright gardens. See our Dallas page.

Fort Worth. Greenwood Memorial Park and Mount Olivet are run by the nonprofit Mount Olivet Cemetery Association, which publishes no marker rules, and neither the Diocese of Fort Worth nor the city’s historic cemeteries publish any. As a nonprofit, the association is generally outside Department of Banking supervision, so ask its office for the printed rules, the flush marker size and the setting fee. Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery bars securing decorations to markers and uses government markers.

Austin and San Antonio

Austin. The City of Austin’s 2024 rules say “Flush type memorials shall be made of granite marble or cast bronze installed on granite, marble or concrete base”, installed “at the expense of the owner”, with the Superintendent approving size and foundations, and memorial work “may be subject to an inspection fee and other fees as set forth in the fee schedule available from Cemetery Operations”. Monuments must be pre-approved and written approval obtained before hiring contractors. The 2022 draft rules allowed “cast bronze of any thickness”, capped cremation and infant memorials at “24 inches tall, ten inches wide, and 20 inches long”, and required an approved contractor. No current fee schedule is online. The last one found, for FY2024 (the year beginning October 1, 2023), is now offline and known only from search index text: monument settings at “$0.80 per square inch”, an $85.00 inspection fee, military markers $75.00 and releveling of 24 by 12 inch flat stones $100.00. Treat those FY2024 figures as history, not today’s price, and ask Cemetery Operations for the current schedule.

San Antonio. Sunset Memorial Park, a Dignity Memorial park, says only that markers are “Crafted from granite or bronze”; Mission Park, the Archdiocese and the historic city cemeteries publish nothing usable. See our San Antonio page.

Texas cemeteries at a glance

Veterans in Texas

Houston National Cemetery (page updated September 18, 2026) bars plantings and similar items on graves, Dallas-Fort Worth National bars securing decorations to markers, and Fort Sam Houston National in San Antonio bars attaching items to markers. In all three the VA orders and sets the government marker. In a private Texas cemetery the government marker is free but its placement is at private expense, although the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston sets VA markers without charge. A family may instead choose a private bronze marker with military emblems and a VA medallion. See veteran bronze grave markers.

What we supply to Texas families

We supply the bronze. Every plaque is cast in solid LG2 statuary bronze (85 percent copper, 5 percent tin, 5 percent zinc, 5 percent lead) with raised polished lettering on a textured background, a hand applied color and a clear protective coating. Cemetery markers are cast with lugs and fitted with 3/8 inch brass all thread studs, nuts and washers for bolting to a granite or concrete base; columbarium plates use 1/4 inch fittings. We publish the alloy openly and can supply a certificate of authenticity stating it, so a cemetery that has its own alloy rule can check our figures against it before you order; a few cemeteries specify a higher copper or lower lead content than LG2, and where a page knows of one it says so. The granite or concrete base and the setting are arranged through the cemetery office or a local monument dealer; we do not pour bases or install.

For bronze-on-granite lawns such as Moore’s original sections, the 24 by 12 inch marker at $1,697.45, cast to order, is the usual choice. Under Austin’s draft cremation cap of ten by 20 inches, a 20 by 10 inch plaque at $1,407.68 fits where bronze may sit on concrete, or about 18 by 8 inches on a wider base. Resurrection Cemetery’s 20×30 inch single cap leaves room for a 24 by 12 inch plaque on a base.

The price of the bronze from us, shipped anywhere in Texas

To keep the two kinds of cost apart, this table shows only our price for the bronze, taken from the design tool on this site on 21 October 2026 for a standard rectangle with the default border and background. Prices are in US dollars and include shipping to Texas.

Setting fees, permits, foundations and endowment care charges quoted on this page go to the cemetery, not to us, and sit on top of the plaque price. For any size not in the table, the design tool prices it the moment you type the width and height, and that price also includes shipping.

How to order

1. Ask the cemetery office for its written marker rules: the size it allows for your space, the base it requires, who may set the marker and the fee. Most offices email the sheet the same day, and several states require the cemetery to keep it in print for you.
2. Open the free design tool, pick the shape and type the width and height in inches. The price in US dollars updates as you go, shipping to any address in the continental United States included.
3. Add the names, dates and wording, choose a border and background, and add an emblem, motif or photo if you want one. Choose lugs with studs if the plaque will be bolted to a granite or concrete base, or a flat back for adhesive mounting on a wall or niche.
4. Save the design and order it from My Account. We send a written proof you can forward to the cemetery for approval, and nothing is cast until you approve it. Need the full 24 by 12 inch marker size? Tell us when you order; it is cast to order at the same price as the 22 1/16 by 12 inch size in the tool.

Allow six to eight weeks from payment to delivery. Casting, hand finishing and shipping from our foundry take most of that time, and we send a free written proof before anything is cast. If your cemetery sets markers only in certain months, order early enough for its next installation window.

Frequently asked questions

Does Texas law let me buy a bronze marker from anyone?

No statute guarantees it. HSC 711.031 lets each cemetery regulate the kind of markers it accepts, and SB 592 (2025), which would have barred restrictions on where you buy, did not pass. Most cemeteries still accept an outside marker that meets their printed rules.

Can I see a Texas cemetery’s marker rules?

Yes. HSC 711.031 requires the rules to be printed and kept for inspection, so ask the office to show you the marker section and its fee list before ordering.

Do the Department of Banking deadlines apply to my plaque?

No. The ordering and setting deadlines in 7 TAC 26.4 apply only to markers the cemetery itself sells.

What does the City of Austin charge to set a bronze marker?

The current schedule is not online. The FY2024 schedule showed $0.80 per square inch for monument settings and an $85.00 inspection fee; ask Cemetery Operations for today’s figures.

Do you install markers in Texas?

No. We cast and ship the bronze with lugs and studs. The base and the setting are arranged through the cemetery office or a local monument dealer.