Aranama College

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Aranama College, standing in Goliad County. Now settle in, because this one's got layers. The name Aranama reaches back to the 18th century, to the Indian converts of Mission Espiritu Santo de Zuniga.

That's where this story begins, long before a single Latin conjugation was ever recited on the grounds. The college itself was founded in 1852, by the Western Presbytery of Texas, and it was a men's college, built not from scratch but from something that was already there. They used the buildings of that old mission, and Goliad pitched in funds to help get it off the ground.

Now think about that for a moment. Ancient mission walls, repurposed for geometry and grammar. There is something almost audacious about it.

Inside those walls, the students took on Latin, Greek, geography, surveying, bookkeeping, writing, reading, elementary and higher mathematics, English grammar, and orthography. That is not a light course of study. These young men were being shaped into something serious.

And for a time, it worked. Aranama College stood among twenty-five colleges operating in Texas. Twenty-five.

Then 1861 arrived. The Civil War began, and like most of those twenty-five colleges across the state, Aranama closed. Most of its students joined the Confederate Army.

The classrooms went quiet. The desks sat empty. The old mission walls that had already outlasted so much now stood silent again.

And if that were the end of it, that would be enough of a story. But it isn't the end. In 1886, the great storm came, and what remained of those buildings was wrecked.

A name stretching back to the 18th century, a college built in 1852, a generation of students gone to war in 1861, and then the storm of 1886 to finish what history had started. Aranama College never did get a gentle ending. But it got a story worth remembering.

What the marker says

Named for 18th century Indian converts of Mission Espiritu Santo de Zuniga. A men's college. Founded 1852 by Western Presbytery of Texas. Used buildings of old mission plus funds given by Goliad. Taught Latin, Greek, geography, surveying, bookkeeping, writing, reading, elementary and higher mathematics, English grammar and orthography. Closed--like most of Texas' 25 colleges--after the Civil War began (1861) and most students joined the Confederate Army. Had its buildings wrecked in the great storm of 1886. (1965)