Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This seminary had its origins in the Austin School of Theology, begun in 1884 by the Rev. Dr. Richmond Kelley Smoot and the Rev. Dr. Robert Lewis Dabney to provide training for candidates for the Presbyterian ministry whom the founders hoped would remain in Texas and the Southwest. Smoot and Dabney both taught classes, but received no compensation. Although the school closed in 1895, continuing enthusiasm for a permanent seminary provided momentum to the Synod of Texas to appoint a committee to carry out this vision. The new institution opened in 1902 as the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, with the Rev. Dr. Thornton Rogers Sampson as president. Classes were held at an east Austin campus in a donated building. Wishing to take advantage of an academic partnership with the University of Texas, Sampson succeeded in moving the seminary campus to this site in 1908. Smoot's and Dabney's original goal of having seminary students remain in the region was realized, as graduates accepted calls to pastorates in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. After World War I, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary began a Spanish-speaking department to serve the Hispanic population in south Texas. Other programs have developed over the years to equip Presbyterian pastors with training and education for ministry in a rapidly changing world. (2002)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The seminary grew from the Austin School of Theology, founded in 1884 by Revs. Richmond Kelley Smoot and Robert Lewis Dabney to train Presbyterian ministers who would stay in Texas and the Southwest. Though that school closed in 1895, enthusiasm carried a new Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary into being in 1902, and in 1908 it moved to this site to partner with the University of Texas. After World War I it added a Spanish-speaking department to serve south Texas.
Why it matters
It reflects the enduring effort to root theological education in Texas and to prepare ministers for the region's growing and increasingly diverse communities.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Richmond Kelley Smoot
- · Robert Lewis Dabney
- · Thornton Rogers Sampson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Campus
Austin, TX
Founded in donated quarters, the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary moved to this site in 1906 under President T. R. Sampson, who dreamed of binding the school closely to the nearby University of Texas. Buff-brick, Mission Revival buildings rose here — Lubbock Hall, Sampson Hall, faculty homes, and a 1941 chapel — even as the seminary briefly closed during World War I. Though the early buildings were razed by 1996, the seminary's partnership with the university endured through classes, lectures, and exchanges.
Rebecca Kilgore Stuart Red
Austin, TX
Rebecca Jane Kilgore Stuart Red became principal of the Live Oak Female Seminary in Washington County in 1853 and kept teaching after her 1854 marriage to Dr. George Clark Red. Moving to Austin in 1876, the couple opened the Stuart Female Seminary, and she taught until nine days before her death in 1886. Her heirs later gave the property to the Presbyterian Synod, and the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary operated on the site in the early 1900s.
All Saints' Episcopal Church
Austin, TX
Standing on land once granted to Republic of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar, this Gothic Revival chapel of native limestone was built in 1899 by Austin architect A.O. Watson to serve Grace Hall, a residence the Episcopal Diocese built in 1897 for women students at the University of Texas. Dedicated to the memory of the first Episcopal Bishop of Texas, it grew into a full parish by 1910 and became closely bound to Bishop George Herbert Kinsolving, who was buried beneath its altar. Its Medieval-mosaic stained glass is prized as fine American art.
Buen Retiro
Austin, TX
Austin financier Louis Nicholas Goldbeck built this Colonial Revival mansion in 1902, and in 1908 it was sold to the Texas association of Phi Gamma Delta, a fraternity first chartered in the state in 1856. As the home of the Tau Deuteron chapter, it has housed generations of University of Texas men who went on to careers in statecraft, culture, and business, aided by gifts from supporters including the family of regent H.J. Lutcher Stark.