Abilene Christian University opened in 1906 as Childers Classical Institute, a Church of Christ school in a former family home near downtown Abilene. In 1929 it moved to a new hilltop campus on former Hashknife Ranch land northeast of town, and eight buildings rose almost at once. The Depression nearly cost the college that campus until a Burkburnett couple, John G. and Mary Hardin, paid off its debt in 1934. This walk starts at the historical marker and the two 1929 buildings now on the National Register, then heads out to the coliseum and the new on-campus football stadium.
About this site
Abilene Christian University is a private college or university in Abilene, Taylor County. It is one of 3 degree-granting colleges and universities TexasRoam maps in Taylor County.
The site sits at 32.4689, -99.7113 near Abilene. The nearest cataloged historic site is Abilene Christian University (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Luce Hall, Abilene Christian College Administration Building, and Site of Old Headquarters of the Hashknife Ranch.
Churches of Christ members in Abilene launched the school on September 11, 1906, as Childers Classical Institute, with 25 students and A. B. Barrett as its founding head; its name honored J. W. Childers, who let the board have about five acres and a large house near the railroad at a discount. In its first years the institute enrolled pupils as young as the seventh grade. After Jesse P. Sewell took the presidency in 1912, the school's printed materials called it Abilene Christian College, a name made official in 1920. By the 1920s the trustees needed more space, so they purchased some 680 acres of ranchland at the city's northeast edge, financed a building program with bonds, and put up eight buildings in 1928–29 before opening the fall 1929 session there. When the 1929 crash stalled bond and lot sales and foreclosure loomed, Burkburnett benefactors John G. Hardin and his wife stepped in in 1934 with securities that paid off what the college owed. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accredited the college in 1951, and in 1962 Billy Curl became the first Black student admitted, ending its whites-only policy. The college was renamed Abilene Christian University in February 1976, and during its 2005–06 centennial year the campus dedicated "Jacob's Dream," a sculpture by art professor Jack Maxwell. Today ACU remains governed by Churches of Christ members while fielding NCAA Division I teams and holding an R2 Carnegie research classification.
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