Howard Payne began in 1889 when Baptists of the Pecan Valley Association resolved to put a college in Brownwood, and it took its name from the donor who made the first building possible. The walk starts among a cluster of historical markers honoring the ministers who dreamed up the school, the benefactress who kept it growing, and a pair of students who briefly ruled the pop charts. It then heads a few blocks southeast to the old Daniel Baker College campus, which Howard Payne absorbed in 1953 and which now houses its MacArthur memorial and honors academy.
About this site
Howard Payne University is a private college or university in Brownwood, Brown County.
The site sits at 31.7193, -98.9857 near Brownwood. The nearest cataloged historic site is Howard Payne University (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include St. John's Episcopal Church, Rogers, R. B., House, and Walker, J. A., House.
Photo: Revesq at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
History
Howard Payne College was founded on June 20, 1889, by the Pecan Valley Baptist Association, with Brownwood pastor John David Robnett leading the fund drive and Noah T. Byers among its founders; it was named for Robnett's brother-in-law Edward Howard Payne, its first major donor. Classes began on September 16, 1890, under President A. J. Emerson, and the college awarded its first degree in 1895, to Robnett himself. After operating as a junior college from 1900 to 1914, it returned to senior-college status, and during the Great Depression President Thomas H. Taylor kept it open by running without deficits after Baptist convention funding dried up. In 1953 it absorbed Brownwood's Presbyterian Daniel Baker College, whose main building was remodeled under President Guy D. Newman as the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom, a memorial to the general that now houses the university's honors academy. The school became Howard Payne University in 1974 and remains affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, with extension centers beyond Brownwood. Among its proudest modern moments was 2008, when the women's basketball team finished a perfect 33-0 season with the NCAA Division III national championship.
Wilson Gate on the Howard Payne campus. Photo: Revesq at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsMuse Mall and Plaza, with the 'Do As I Have Done' statue and Old Main Tower beyond. Photo: Rightoftexas, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsDaniel Baker College around 1895; the building later became HPU's Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom. Photo: Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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