Site of Andrew Female College
Huntsville, Walker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Site of Andrew Female College Andrew Female College was founded in 1852 and chartered in early 1853. It was named for Bishop James Osgood Andrew and sponsored by the Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Couth, although its charter allowed no religious tests for faculty or students. The institution's first five-month session began in may 1853 in an old Huntsville College building known as "The Brick Academy." At a time when there were few educational opportunities for women, enrollment was high and classes soon outgrew the academy. Citizens of Huntsville supported education for women by contributing funds for a larger, 2-story building completed in 1855. Eighty students, primarily from Walker and surrounding counties, were enrolled in the Andrew Female College in the 1856-1857 school year. Course work included requirements for a classical education as well as moral instruction and classes in music, drawing, painting and embroidery. The college operated without interruption through the Civil War. The 1867 epidemic of yellow fever claimed the lives of the college president, several members of the faculty and a number of students. The fall term was delayed until the first frost, which killed the mosquitoes carrying the disease. Andrew Female College suffered from competition as other institutions such as the Sam Houston Normal Institute opened their doors to women. Enrollment declined steadily after 1872; the school was closed in 1880. The college property was conveyed to the city of Huntsville and reopened later that year as the community's first public school. The structure eventually was relocated and became a public school for African American children. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Andrew Female College was founded in 1852 and chartered in 1853, sponsored by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, though its charter barred religious tests. At a time of scarce schooling for women, it opened in Huntsville's old "Brick Academy" and soon needed a larger building, teaching a classical curriculum alongside music, drawing, and painting. It survived the Civil War and an 1867 yellow fever epidemic that killed its president and others, but declining enrollment closed it in 1880, after which the property became Huntsville's first public school and later a school for African American children.
Why it matters
The college was a pioneering effort to give women a serious education in an era when few institutions would, and its afterlife reflects the shifting shape of public schooling in Texas.
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Related people
- · James Osgood Andrew
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Andrew Female College
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Chartered in 1853 and named for Methodist Bishop James Osgood Andrew, Andrew Female College was one of the earliest institutions of higher learning for women in Texas. Founded by the Methodist Church in Huntsville, it educated young women for roughly a quarter century before closing. Only the site remains to mark its work.
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