Buffalo Gap College

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to give it to you straight with a little color on top. Way out in Buffalo Gap, Taylor County, back in 1885, the Presbyterian Church founded a college. Not a little schoolhouse, mind you.

A college. And before it was a college, it had already been running as a high school, so this institution had some seasoning before it ever hung a diploma on the wall. The first president was a man named W.

H. White, and he'd eventually come back around to the post, but we'll get to that. The building itself was something to see out on that West Texas plain.

Two stories of red sandstone, the kind of stone that glows amber in the late afternoon sun. First floor had four classrooms. Second floor held an auditorium.

And up top, crowning the whole affair, a belfry. You could hear that bell for a good long way across open country. Now the curriculum these students were working through, this wasn't a soft road.

Latin. Greek. Christian evidence.

Physics. Calculus. Music.

You came to Buffalo Gap College, you came to work your mind. And they came. In the peak year, over three hundred pupils showed up, many of them traveling from distant places to get there.

That's a number worth sitting with. Three hundred students, out in the gap. The college found its greatest success under J.

M. Wagstaff. That's what the record says, greatest success, and you don't hand out language like that lightly.

But institutions are living things, and they turn over. After Wagstaff, the presidency passed through several hands: J. W.

Melton, R. W. Benge, E.

W. Doran, J. N.

Ellis, John Collier, J. B. Clay.

And then, as if the story needed a closing of the circle, W. H. White came back.

The very first president, returning to the helm. That red sandstone building with its belfry and its four classrooms and its auditorium had seen a procession of leaders and hundreds of young minds wrestling with Greek verbs and calculus problems. Buffalo Gap College, founded 1885, built on stone that matched the land around it, and run by people who believed, apparently, that a West Texas education ought to ask something serious of you.

What the marker says

Founded 1885 by Presbyterian Church, institution previously operated as a high school. In peak year, over 300 pupils, many from distant places, attended. First president was W. H. White. College had greatest success under J. M. Wagstaff. Presidents later were J. W. Melton, R. W. Benge, E. W. Doran, J. N. Ellis, John Collier, J. B. Clay and (again) W. H. White. The two-story, red sandstone building had four classrooms on the first floor, an auditorium on the second, and a belfry. The curriculum included courses in Latin, Greek, Christian evidence, physics, calculus, and music. (1968)