The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980 Page: 372
464 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
terian church. McKenzie College, near Clarksville, was founded in 1841,
and, although possessing no sectarian affiliation, quickly became one of
the more prosperous schools in the decades of the 184os and 185os. The
following year the University of San Augustine, a private endeavor with
a strong Old School Presbyterian influence, became operational as the
beneficiary of a land grant of four leagues of land from the public do-
main. In 1845, Wesleyan College, a rival Methodist venture, opened its
doors in the same community, and Baylor University, a Baptist school
at Independence, was chartered. Other efforts during the 184os and
1850s included Matagorda Academy (Episcopal); Ursuline academies in
both Galveston and San Antonio (Catholic); Larissa College near Jack-
sonville, Chapell Hill College at Daingerfield, and LaGrange Collegiate
Institute (later Ewing College), all created under the synodical jurisdic-
tion of the Cumberland Presbyterians; Marshall University, and the
University of Nacogdoches, with ties (like the University of San Augus-
tine) to the Old School Presbyterians. In total, nineteen colleges were
chartered by the Congress of the Republic from 1837 to 1845, and in
the decade following statehood the number of charters for colleges,
academies, and institutes increased sharply. However, the number of
institutions which actually survived the 184os was quite small in com-
parison to the number chartered.2
The denominational competition, whether for souls or minds, on the
early Texas frontier was exceptionally keen among the three larger and
more rapidly growing protestant sects: Baptists, Methodists, and Presby-
terians (that is, Old School Presbyterians). Both the Methodists, with
Rutersville College, and the Baptists, with Baylor University, had de-
veloped modestly successful educational programs by the late 1840s. Yet
the educational efforts of the Presbyterians had languished. The Pres-
bytery of the Brazos, which was organized in 1840, endorsed the notion
of establishing a college in 1844 and the following year sent representa-
tives to visit a prospective "College of the West" site near Seguin. No
action was taken and subsequently other representatives from the Pres-
bytery selected a location near Goliad, but the outbreak of the war with
Mexico intervened and the entire matter was indefinitely delayed. Dur-
ing the war, in 1847, the universities at both San Augustine and Nacog-
doches, the latter having been the first institution endorsed by the Pres-
2Flederick Eby, The Development of Education in Texas (New York, 1925), 79-109;
E\ans, Stoiy of jexas Schools. 45-71; Lane, History of Education in Texas, 64-122; William
Stuart Red, A History of the Presbyterian Church in Texas ([Austin], 1936), 215-227.372
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 83, July 1979 - April, 1980, periodical, 1979/1980; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101207/m1/430/?rotate=90: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.