Austin College Building
Huntsville, Walker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Presbyterian Church established Austin College in Huntsville in 1849 and erected this structure in 1851-52. Austin College moved to Sherman in 1876, and in 1879 this building was deeded to the state for use by the newly-established Sam Houston Normal Institute (now Sam Houston State University). The Greek revival-era building features a three-bay front facade, two-story portico, and Doric columns. A third floor, added in 1882, was removed in 1926-27.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Presbyterian Church founded Austin College at Huntsville in 1849 and put up this Greek Revival building in 1851–52, its two-story portico and Doric columns announcing higher learning on the antebellum frontier. When the college relocated to Sherman in 1876, the structure was deeded to the state for the new Sam Houston Normal Institute — a teachers' college that grew into today's Sam Houston State University.
Why it matters
This single building links the earliest college in Texas to the rise of public teacher training, tracing the roots of higher education in the state across half a century.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Austin Hall
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When Texas set out to train its schoolteachers, this was the first permanent building it erected for the purpose. Its cornerstone was laid in 1889 at the Sam Houston Normal Institute—chartered a decade earlier as one of the state's earliest teacher-training schools—and completed in 1891 with the institute's first library, eight classrooms, and a chapel. Governors, superintendents, and founding faculty gathered to mark its dedication.
St. James United Methodist Church of Huntsville
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