CARR-BURDETTE COLLEGE. Carr-Burdette College, at Sherman, was a preparatory school and junior college for women that operated from 1894 to 1929. The founders of the school were O. A. and Mattie F. (Myers) Carr. After missionary work in Australia and administrative duties in Kentucky and Missouri, the Carrs moved to Sherman in the early 1890s. The rapid growth of the North Texas area, partly a result of the emerging agribusiness centers Denison and Sherman convinced the Carrs that a preparatory school for young women was needed. Mattie financed the construction of a large brick building by selling 250 lots at $200 each in Sherman. The "Girls' Home," as Carr called it, sat on an eight-acre campus. The Carrs planned to leave the institution to the Christian Church at Sherman. The college opened in 1894, and for the next fourteen years Mrs. Carr directed its development. After her death in 1907 the Christian Church in Sherman took control of the administrative duties. O. A. Carr died in 1913. During the next sixteen years the enrollment and finances of Carr-Burdette College peaked, stabilized, and then began a slow decline. In 1929 the institution closed. In April 1939 the property was sold, and the two brick buildings were razed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Breckenridge Ellis, ed., In Memory of Mrs. O. A. Carr (Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin). J. Breckenridge Ellis, The Story of a Life (Sherman, Texas: Reynolds-Parker, 1910). Graham Landrum and Allen Smith, Grayson County (Fort Worth, 1960; 2d ed., Fort Worth: Historical Publishers, 1967). Sherman Democrat, September 19, 1948.
