Odessa College was founded in 1946, but the name goes back to a Methodist school that burned after a single session in 1891. The campus's great surprise is the Globe of the Great Southwest, a replica of Shakespeare's London playhouse that an Odessa English teacher dreamed up in 1948. This short walk covers the marker for the first college, the Globe and its companion cottage, and the marker honoring the teacher who made it happen.
Out on the flat, oil-rich plains of the Permian Basin, the last thing most travelers expect on a community college campus is a playhouse straight out of Elizabethan London. That surprise is the heart of this short Odessa College walk, which pairs a replica of Shakespeare's theater with the story of the frontier school whose name the college revived.
The first Odessa College was a Methodist venture of the early 1890s. It taught just one session, to 14 students, before a fire destroyed its building for good, and the name went unused until today's college was founded in 1946.
The showpiece is the Globe of the Great Southwest. It started as a classroom idea in 1948, when English teacher Marjorie Morris and her students dreamed of a copy of the Globe in West Texas, and a local architect drew up the plans without charge. Construction began in 1958 and the theater was dedicated in 1964. Today the octagonal wood-and-plaster house seats 410 for the Odessa Shakespeare Festival, concerts and other productions. Next door, a replica of Anne Hathaway's Cottage, modeled on the girlhood home of Shakespeare's wife, has held a Shakespearean library since 1989.
It's a quick, delightful stop for theater lovers, West Texas road-trippers and anyone who admires local ambition that outran every expectation.
The tour begins in Odessa. Open Texas Roam to follow the full route stop by stop, with directions and audio narration as you go.
It is a self-guided walking tour: 4 stops, about 0.4 miles, ~25 min. Go at your own pace; the app keeps your place.
In Odessa, Texas. The exact starting point, the full stop list and turn-by-turn directions are in the TexasRoam app.
Download TexasRoam for iPhone or iPad from the App Store. The tour is included with TexasRoam+. It is not available on the web map.
Go in daylight to see the Globe and cottage exteriors, and check the Globe of the Great Southwest's performance calendar if you'd like to see inside during a show.
Texas Roam guides you turn by turn through Odessa with maps, audio narration and check-ins as you go — plus all 4 stops on this tour and every guided tour, hiking trail and historical marker across Texas. Get it on the App Store.
