South Texas Baptist College
Waller, Waller County, Texas
Marker Inscription
An ambitious institution chartered by Baptists who formed South Texas Educational Conference about 1895 and in 1898 secured campus site from a local landowner, C.C. Waller. Trustees serving when college opened in fall of 1898 were J.C. McGaughy, Hempsted; James F. Duncan, Houston; C.W. Matthews, Montgomery; W.J. Durham, Richmond; S.A. McCall, Willis; J.E. Boulet, E.J. Matthews, J.L. Miles, and J.T. Sanders of Waller. W.E. Clark, A.M. Georgetown College of Kentucky, was president; Matilda Shannon (Mrs. W.E.) Clark, the college matron; misses Annie Black and Bellie James, Teachers; Thomas Shannon, secretary. The first session opened with three students, closed with 33; Second opened with 15, closed with 102. Courses of study covered primary through college subjects; Tuition ranged form $10 to $20 a term. The third session opened on Monday, Sept. 3, 1900. On the night of Sept. 8-9, the great 1900 storm blew in from Galveston. It severely damaged the college building, wrecked several churches, and demolished the public school. Although no lives were lost in this town, damage throughout the section was so great that the college never reopened. Its campus has served since 1916 as a public school site.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded by an ambitious circle of Texas Baptists in 1898, this college opened with just three students in the town of Waller and grew quickly, drawing more than a hundred by its second session. Its curriculum ran from primary grades through college subjects, with tuition of just ten to twenty dollars a term. Then, on the night of September 8-9, 1900, the great Galveston hurricane roared inland and wrecked the college building along with churches and the public school; the damage was so severe that the college never reopened.
Why it matters
The story captures both the fervent drive to plant colleges across frontier Texas and the devastating reach of the deadliest natural disaster in American history, felt far beyond the Galveston coast.
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Related people
- · W.E. Clark
- · C.C. Waller
Related events
- · Galveston Hurricane of 1900
Themes & tags
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