Old St. Mary's College
San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1852 – 1966) Established in 1852 in frontier San Antonio by 4 members of the Society of Mary: Brothers Andrew Edel, John Baptist Laignous, Nicholas Koening, and Xavier Mauclerc--all natives of France. Construction of this building began in fall, 1852, and its doors opened March 1, 1853, to more than 100 students of all creeds. Structure then had 4 rooms. Late in 1854 brothers Eligius Beyerer and Charles Francis joined the faculty. Francis, known as "The great builder", devoted 54 years of his life to San Antonio and finished the building of the college. By 1870 it was a well-proportioned structure of rough limestone, typically Eropean in Style. Once the largest building complex in San Antonio, St. Mary's College educated many prominent south Texans, including 8 mayors of San Antonio. From 1934 to 1966 the buildings housed St. Mary's University School of law, which,under Dean Ernest A. Raba, became a leading legal institution of the southwest. St. Mary's is the only college to have served the city for 113 consecutive years. After 1966, when the building was acquired by La Posada Motor Motels, a 6-story addition was built at the rear and the exterior made Spanish in style.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Four French-born brothers of the Society of Mary founded this college in frontier San Antonio in 1852, opening its doors in 1853 to more than a hundred students of all creeds. Over the following decades it grew into a large limestone complex — for a time the city's biggest — and educated many prominent South Texans, including eight San Antonio mayors. From 1934 to 1966 it housed St. Mary's University School of Law.
Why it matters
The college shows how Catholic teaching orders brought organized education to the raw Southwestern frontier, shaping generations of civic and legal leaders.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Buckhorn Saloon and Museum0.1 mi away
- Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks0.2 mi away
- Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium0.2 mi away
- Alamo Vistor Center and Museum (coming 2027)0.2 mi away
- Briscoe Western Art Museum0.2 mi away · 210 West Market Street
- Ralston Family Collections Center0.3 mi away
Attractions
- River boat boardingnearby
- River boat boarding0.2 mi away
- La Villita0.3 mi away
- Sea Life Aquarium0.3 mi away · 849 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, TX
- River boat boarding0.4 mi away
- Casa Navarro State Historical Site0.4 mi away
Food & drink
- Paesanos Riverwalknearby · 111 Crockett Way, San Antonio, TX
- Landry's Seafood Housenearby · 517 North Presa Street, San Antonio, TX
- Texas de Brazil0.1 mi away · 313 East Houston Street, San Antonio
- Mad Dogs British Pub0.1 mi away · 123 Losoya Street
- The Local Bar0.1 mi away
- Saltgrass Steak House0.1 mi away
Places to stay
- Omni La Mansión del Rionearby · 112 College Street, San Antonio
- Mokara Hotel and Spanearby · 212 West Crockett Street, San Antonio, TX
- Holiday Inn Riverwalknearby · 217 North Saint Mary's Street, San Antonio, TX
- Home2 Suites by Hilton San Antonio Downtown - Riverwalk, TXnearby · 603 Navarro Street, San Antonio, TX
- Wyndham Riverside Suitesnearby · 218 College Street, TX
- Sheraton Gunter Hotel San Antonionearby · 205 East Houston Street, San Antonio, TX
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related people
- · Andrew Edel
- · Charles Francis
- · Ernest A. Raba
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Old St. Mary's
San Antonio, TX
As Irish, German, and other newcomers poured into San Antonio after Texas independence, the Catholic bishop of Galveston moved to serve these non-Hispanic worshippers with a church of their own. Land was purchased here in 1852, and by 1857 a Gothic building opened for both English- and German-speaking congregations. Over the decades the site nurtured a seminary, an early free parochial school, a major Catholic newspaper, and charitable societies, until the 1921 flood ruined the old church and a new Neo-Romanesque building rose in 1924.
Central Catholic High School
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When San Antonio had no boys' school at all, Bishop Jean-Marie Odin recruited teachers from the Society of Mary in France, and on August 26, 1852, they opened a school in two rooms over a livery stable near San Fernando Cathedral. Relocated to a riverside campus as "St. Mary's Institute" in 1853, it finished the year with a hundred pupils of Anglo, French, German, and Mexican descent, day students and ranch-boy boarders alike. From that pioneer effort grew St. Mary's University, and in 1932 Central Catholic High School became the successor, now the oldest and largest private boys' school in Texas.
St. Anthony Catholic School
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In 1907, families in San Antonio's Laurel Heights neighborhood asked the Sisters of the Divine Providence, a French teaching order, to open a school; the sisters bought land and taught in rented houses while a permanent home was planned. Architect Frederick Gaenslen designed the eight-classroom, buff-brick Classical Revival building completed in 1909, crowned by a niche holding a statue of St. Anthony. When closure loomed in the 1980s, parents and alumni organized to buy the property and keep the doors open, and the school still operates more than a century on.
Groos National Bank
San Antonio, TX
Frederick Groos, a German engineer, reached Texas in 1848 and won a government freighting contract during the building of Fort Duncan, sending long trains of ox carts across country plagued by raids. With his brothers he built the mercantile firm F. Groos and Co., where frontier banking meant money hidden in cotton bales and cart axles for safety on the road. In 1879 the family erected San Antonio's first purpose-built bank and took a national charter in 1912.