Texas College Campus Tour

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.

In 1894 ministers of what is now the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church opened Texas College in Tyler to serve Black East Texans barred from the state's segregated colleges. The school used the name Phillips University for a few years in the early 1900s before returning to its original name. By 1949 the campus had grown to about 35 buildings on 66 acres.

Several campus buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. The D. R. Glass Library, a Classical Revival building completed in 1948, was designed by McKissack & McKissack of Nashville, one of the country's oldest Black-owned architecture firms. It honors Dominion R. Glass, whose presidency from 1931 to 1961 was the longest in the school's history. Martin Hall, the administration building facing North Grand Avenue, was built in stages over several decades and was listed in 2005 for its importance to Black education and community life in Tyler.

Athletics are part of the story too: Texas College was a founding member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference in 1920, and its Steers won several conference football titles. It's a short but meaningful visit for anyone interested in HBCU history, African American architecture and education in East Texas.