East Texas Normal College, Original Site of
Cooper, Delta County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded 1889 by W. L. Mayo (1861 - 1917), a teacher educated in Kentucky, Virginia and Indiana, who came to Pecan Gap, Texas in 1886. He was a native of Kentucky. He attracted a strong faculty to college on this site. A young teacher he soon married was a capable business manager. A high board fence enclosed campus here. The one building (T-shaped, 2-story, typical of its era, with porches upstairs and down), housed a dynamic school until razed by fire in 1894. Mayo was given aid to rebuild in Commerce; school survives as East Texas State University. RTHL - 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1889, Kentucky-educated teacher W.L. Mayo founded East Texas Normal College on this site, drawing a strong faculty behind the high board fence that enclosed its single T-shaped, two-story building. The lively little teacher-training school ran here until fire razed the structure in 1894. Aided in rebuilding at Commerce, the institution endured and grew into what became East Texas State University.
Why it matters
The college is the seed of a major regional university and reflects the "normal school" movement that professionalized teaching and spread public education across rural America.
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Related people
- · W.L. Mayo
Themes & tags
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