SABINE VALLEY UNIVERSITY. Sabine Valley University, at Hemphill, was founded by the Mount Zion Baptist Association. The project began in 1875, when the board of trustees accepted Hemphill's offer of the building and equipment of a private school there. The new school opened in 1876 and made sufficient progress by 1879 for other Baptist associations, including those in Louisiana, to be asked for support. In 1880 the Bethlehem Baptist Association added its support and appointed some of the trustees. The school was closed in 1881 because of the competition of public schools.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Carl Bassett Wilson, History of Baptist Educational Efforts in Texas, 1829–1900 (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1934).
