DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now settle in, because this one's got the kind of story that starts in England and ends up woven right into the fabric of Texas higher education — with a few twists along the way. We're talking Carlton College, right here in Fannin County.
Charles Carlton — born 1821, died 1902 — was a native of England and a minister in the Disciples of Christ tradition. Sometime in 1867, he came to Bonham to take charge of something called the Bonham Female Institute. Now, that's the beginning, but it is far from the whole story.
Carlton brought more than his theology and his Old World education to Bonham. He brought family. His second wife, Sallie, taught classes.
Several of his children taught classes. This was, in the truest sense, a family enterprise — chalk dust on everybody's hands. The school evolved, the way good things do.
The Bonham Female Institute became a coeducational school known as Bonham Seminary, and then, formally chartered in 1881, it became Carlton College. The very next year, 1882, the first of several Carlton College buildings went up right here on this block of East Tenth Street. The school's philosophy was straightforward and, for its era, quietly radical: Carlton College admitted all young men and women who demonstrated a sincere desire for education.
That was the price of admission — sincerity. No small thing to ask, and no small thing to offer. But as the Carltons grew older, they made a decision to limit enrollment, and by 1887 the college had become an all-female school.
Now here's a number worth sittin' with for a moment. By the time Charles Carlton died in 1902, approximately thirty-six hundred pupils had attended his schools in Bonham. Thirty-six hundred lives shaped, at least in part, by this Englishman who showed up in a Texas town in 1867 with a calling and a plan.
When Carlton died, the college began to decline — the way institutions sometimes do when the person who willed them into existence is no longer there to keep the fire lit. In 1914, Carlton College merged with a school in Sherman to form something new: Carr-Burdette College. But even that chapter was brief.
Carr-Burdette closed in 1916, and you might think that's where the story ends — another institution swallowed by time. But here's the thing. The graduates of Carlton College were adopted into the alumni fellowship of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
The school was gone, but the people it made were not forgotten. They were claimed. That's not a bad ending for a sincere desire for education — it outlasted the building, outlasted the name, and found a home it never had to ask for twice.
What the marker says
Formally chartered in 1881, Carlton College began under the direction of Charles Carlton (1821-1902) as the Bonham Female Institute. Carlton, a native of England and a Disciples of Christ minister, had come to Bonham in 1867 to take charge of the institute, which soon became a coeducational school known as Bonham Seminary. Carlton, several of his children, and his second wife, Sallie, taught many of the classes at his Bonham schools. In 1882, the first of several Carlton College buildings was constructed in this block of East Tenth St. Carlton College admitted all young men and women who demonstrated a sincere desire for education. As the Carltons grew older, they decided to limit enrollment, and the college became an all-female school in 1887. By the time of Carlton's death in 1902, approximately 3600 pupils had attended his schools in Bonham. Carlton College declined with the death of its founder and in 1914 was merged with a school in Sherman to form Carr-Burdette College. When that institution closed in 1916, the graduates of Carlton were adopted into the alumni fellowship of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.