| Austin College:
Sherman Journal, 1873-1886
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| The history of Austin
College may be viewed as a 150 year-old success story. It may also be viewed as a history
of crises. The coming of Austin College to Sherman, Texas, in 1876, was born of a series
of such crises. At a crucial time in his campaign for the College, Daniel Baker died
suddenly in Austin in 1857. Four years later Civil War preoccupied the state as well as
the nation. Free schools siphoned off prospective students during Reconstruction. A
national economic depression in 1873 further discouraged private school enterprise. Right
from the start, the venture in Sherman ran into difficulty. The move intended to relieve
one crisis created others. The problems of Texas, the South, and the nation could not be
overcome by a geographic cure. That Austin College survived the move to Sherman, indeed,
that it survived at all, was more than a testament to Presbyterian pride and tenacity; one
might say it was nothing less than a miracle of Divine Providence. Minutes of the
trustees’ meetings tell the story. [ Interactive
visit brought to you |
 The Austin College building in Huntsville, Texas, completed in 1852. >> Tour
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