Science Hill
Cross Roads, Henderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A group of pioneers from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana founded the Science Hill community when they arrived in this area in 1846. Their hope for the settlement was that it would become a cultural and educational center for the county. Soon after their arrival, the residents started mills, cotton gins, mercantile businesses, churches, and schools. The decade of the 1850s was one of growth and progress for Science Hill. A Methodist church was organized by the Rev. William D. Sansom, and the Science Hill Masonic Lodge began meeting in 1857. Members of the Lodge and other citizens helped found Science Hill academy, which opened in 1858. The first school of higher education in Henderson County, the academy offered classes in arithmetic, geography, history, elocution, Latin, Greek, natural science, and logic. Educator A. J. Fowler (1815-1886) was instrumental in its founding and served as first principal. During the harsh years of the Civil War and reconstruction, families began moving away from Science Hill. The academy closed in 1872. By 1878 the Masonic Lodge had only 12 members, and its charter was surrendered. Science Hill became a ghost town, leaving only its history as a reminder of the community.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1846 settlers from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana founded Science Hill, hoping to make it a cultural and educational hub for Henderson County. The 1850s brought mills, gins, stores, a Methodist church, and a Masonic lodge, and in 1858 the Science Hill Academy opened as the county's first school of higher learning, teaching Latin, Greek, logic, and natural science under principal A. J. Fowler. The hardships of the Civil War and Reconstruction drained the community; the academy closed in 1872, the lodge surrendered its charter, and Science Hill faded into a ghost town.
Why it matters
Science Hill captures the ambition and fragility of frontier Texas settlements that staked their futures on education, and how war and economic change could erase them within a single generation.
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Related people
- · A. J. Fowler
- · William D. Sansom
Themes & tags
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