St. Philip's College (original site)
San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Opening at this site in 1898 as "St. Philip's Saturday evening sewing class for black girls", this college was found by the Rt. Rev.James Steptoe Johnston (1843-1924), Episcopal Bishop of western Texas, who considered education a tool toward solving race problems. Soon coeducatinal and in a brick building of its own, it was renamed St. Philip's industrial school, and was taught by Mrs. Alice G. Cowan,a white missionary with prior service in Mexico. In 1902, Miss Artemisia Bowden (1879-1969), a black lady from Georgia, assumed administrative and teaching duties, servingfor 52 ensuing years. Broadened by literary courses in 1903 and with teacher training added, the facility in 1906 became the St. Philip's normal, grammar, and industrial school. A new, expandable site was bought in 1917, and St. Philip's moved to Dakota Street, 2 miles east of this site. Elevated to a junior college in 1927, and in public control since 1942, it is now a part of the San Antonio Union Junior College District. In 1955, it became reacially inegrated. The enrollment has risen from 21 in 1899 to more than 8,000 today.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1898, at a time when educational opportunities for Black Texans were painfully scarce, an Episcopal bishop opened a Saturday sewing class for African American girls on this site in San Antonio. That modest class grew into St. Philip's — an industrial and normal school shaped for more than half a century by Artemisia Bowden, a Black educator from Georgia who arrived in 1902 and stayed 52 years, steering it from a handful of students toward an accredited junior college. Absorbed into public control in 1942 and racially integrated in 1955, it endured as one of the nation's historically Black colleges.
Why it matters
St. Philip's traces the long arc of African American education in the Jim Crow South — from a charitable sewing class to a public college — and honors the Black women whose determination made it endure.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Briscoe Western Art Museumnearby · 210 West Market Street
- Instituto Cultural de Mexico0.2 mi away
- Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks0.3 mi away
- Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium0.3 mi away
- Alamo Vistor Center and Museum (coming 2027)0.3 mi away
- Buckhorn Saloon and Museum0.3 mi away
Attractions
- La Villitanearby
- River boat boardingnearby
- Yanaguana Garden0.2 mi away
- Sea Life Aquarium0.2 mi away · 849 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, TX
- River boat boarding0.3 mi away
- River boat boarding0.3 mi away
Food & drink
- McDonald's0.2 mi away · 101 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX
- Chipotle0.2 mi away · 849 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, TX
- The Original Mexican Restaurant0.2 mi away
- Cafe Ole0.2 mi away
- Agave Bar0.2 mi away
- Lone Star Cafe0.2 mi away
Places to stay
- Hilton Palacio del Rionearby
- The Monarch San Antonio0.1 mi away
- Hotel Contessa0.1 mi away · 306 West Market Street
- The Westin Riverwalk, San Antonio0.2 mi away · 420 West Market Street, San Antonio
- Mokara Hotel and Spa0.2 mi away · 212 West Crockett Street, San Antonio, TX
- Marriott Riverwalk0.3 mi away
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related people
- · James Steptoe Johnston
- · Alice G. Cowan
- · Artemisia Bowden
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of Rincon/Douglass School
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St. Paul United Methodist Church
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Organized in 1866, St. Paul was the first church established for African Americans in San Antonio, growing out of a congregation many members had attended before emancipation. Working with the Freedmen's Bureau, members founded the Lincoln School for Black students that same year, and over the decades the congregation became a hub of benevolence, education, and civil rights activism. During segregation it even opened St. Paul House to shelter Black travelers turned away from hotels.
Saint Philip's College
San Antonio, TX
St. Philip's began in 1898 as a church sewing class for African American children in the rectory of St. Philip's Episcopal Church, born of a congregation determined to secure education for Black students in segregated San Antonio. Under principal Artemisia Bowden, hired in 1902, it grew from a vocational day school into a junior college by 1927 and eventually a public branch of the city's college system. After Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, it opened to all students and by its centennial enrolled nearly 9,000.
Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings
San Antonio, TX
Born in Gonzales and raised in San Antonio, Myra Hemmings became one of 22 founders of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority at Howard University in 1913, and days later marched in the women's suffrage procession in Washington. Returning home, she taught English and drama in San Antonio's Black high schools for more than fifty years while founding the city's Delta Sigma Theta chapter and, with her husband, a dramatic guild. She also acted in stage productions and several feature films, shaping the cultural life of Black San Antonio.