Texas College was founded in Tyler in 1894 by ministers of the Colored (now Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church to educate Black East Texans shut out of the state's segregated colleges. After a brief stint as Phillips University around 1909-1912, it took back its original name and grew to dozens of buildings by midcentury. Three of its buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, two of them the work of McKissack & McKissack, among the oldest Black-owned architecture firms in the country. This short walk visits all three and closes at the gym, home of a founding SWAC athletic program.
About this site
Texas College is a private college or university in Tyler, Smith County. It is one of 3 degree-granting colleges and universities TexasRoam maps in Smith County.
The site sits at 32.3743, -95.3116 near Tyler. The nearest cataloged historic site is Martin Hall at Texas College (historic place), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include D. R. Glass Library at Texas College, President's House at Texas College, and Texas African American Museum.
A group of ministers from the Colored (today Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church launched Texas College in Tyler on January 9, 1894, planning a coeducational college for Black students in East Texas. In 1909 it was renamed Phillips University in honor of Bishop Henry Phillips, a change the church reversed within a few years; the Texas College name was formally restored in 1912. State education officials recognized its junior college work in 1924, it gained accreditation as a four-year college in 1932, and the Southern Association rated it Class A in 1948. D. R. Glass led the college for three decades, from 1931 to 1961, and the 1948 D. R. Glass Library, designed by the Black-owned architecture firm McKissack & McKissack, is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By 1949 the campus covered 66 acres with 35 buildings, and about 1,000 students enrolled that year. Long focused on preparing teachers, the college was also a founding member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, where its Steers competed from 1920 until 1962.
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