|
Austin College incorporated
On this day in 1849, Austin College in Huntsville was incorporated. The college was established by the Brazos Presbytery of the Old School Presbyterian Church as a men's college and theological school. It was founded at Huntsville by Daniel Baker, James Weston Miller, and William Cochran Blair, who were appointed by the presbytery in June 1849 to select a college site somewhere between the Brazos and Trinity rivers. Huntsville citizens provided $10,000 and five acres of land to secure the location. Sam Houston and Anson Jones--both presidents of the Republic of Texas--were charter members of the board of trustees. The school opened in the fall of 1850 and generally prospered until the Civil War and Reconstruction periods, when it lost enrollment and suffered financially. In 1876 the Texas Synod of the Presbyterian Church, United States, decided to move the college to Sherman, where the first college building was completed and fifty-three students were enrolled in 1878. After 1930 Austin College was strengthened by its consolidation with Texas Presbyterian College at Milford and has enjoyed its most dynamic period of growth in students, endowment, and campus facilities since 1950.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- AUSTIN COLLEGE
- HUNTSVILLE, TX
- BAKER, DANIEL
- MILLER, JAMES WESTON
- BLAIR, WILLIAM COCHRAN
- SHERMAN, TX
- PRESBYTERIAN EDUCATION
- PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
- Links to other Web sites (will be opened in new browser window)
- AUSTIN COLLEGE
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas (1963)
- Stephen F. Austin hires builder (1821)
- "Father of Houston Heights" dies (1933)
|
