Add-Ran Christian College

Duane's take

The old marker tells it straight, so let me tell it the way it deserves to be told. Right here, right on this spot in Hood County, a man named J.A. Clark and his two sons, Addison and Randolph, planted something that would outlast all of them.

They started a private school, and in 1873 it was chartered under the name Add-Ran Christian College. Named for the two boys, you notice: Add from Addison, Ran from Randolph. That's a father braggin' on his sons in the most permanent way he knew how.

Now, nothing stays put forever in Texas, and this school was no different. On December 25th, 1895, Christmas Day, of all days, Add-Ran Christian College was removed to Waco. Whether that felt like a gift or a loss to the folks left behind in Hood County, the marker doesn't say.

But the story wasn't finished moving. The institution reestablished itself again, this time at Fort Worth, in 1909; and when it did, it carried a new name: Texas Christian University. So what began right here, on this quiet piece of Hood County ground, with one man and his two sons and a charter, grew into something that's still standin'.

Not bad for a school that started with family.

What the marker says

Here J.A. Clark and his two sons, Addison and Randolph began a private school chartered in 1873 under the name of Add-Ran Christian College. Removed to Waco on December 25, 1895. Reestablished at Fort Worth in 1909 as Texas Christian University.