Beginning in the 1920s, local leaders sought ways to honor San Felipe de Austin as an important colonial Texas history site. After 15 years of planning and developing the property for its transfer to the State in 1940, local supporters formed a Friends organization that continues to provide volunteers and financial assistance. In 1928, the first memorials were completed with the obelisk and preservation of the colonial well. In 1934, the first replica log cabin was built in preparation for the 1936 Texas Centennial celebration. A local letter-writing campaign brought the Centennial bronze statue of Austin to San Felipe, the only town where he owned a home in Texas. The Josey Store mercantile building, dating to about 1847, was moved onto the state site in the early 1970s after being converted to a local museum a few years earlier. In 1983, the site was designated a State Archeological Landmark. In 2008, Moses Austin descendant Betty Moore reenacted the unveiling of the Austin statue at the annual Father of Texas celebration, as she had done 70 years earlier for the statue's dedication, and descendants of Austin's original settlers, the Old 300, gathered at San Felipe to honor their ancestors and support the site's development. Archeological investigations in 2009 uncovered a one-bit piece of a Spanish 8 reales coin minted in Mexico City between 1731 and 1770; such coins were commonly cut into smaller denominations, and one bit was worth one-eighth of a dollar, or 12.5 cents.