Childers Classical Institute

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Childers Classical Institute, right here in Taylor County. Now, you might not guess it standing on this block today, but what was once called the West End residential area of Abilene is where the whole story of Abilene Christian University got its start. And it started, as so many good Texas stories do, with a purchase, a plan, and a handful of people willing to bet on something that hadn't happened yet.

In 1906, a Tennessee educator and preacher named Allen Booker Barret, along with five trustees, purchased land and a house from a man by the name of Colonel John W. Childers. That fall, president Barret, his brother W.S.

Barret, and a man named Charles H. Roberson opened the doors of what they called Childers Classical Institute. Now, the first class that walked through those doors numbered twenty-five students.

By the time the school year was done, fifty had enrolled. Small, sure. But something was growing on that block.

The institute carried the Childers name all the way to 1920, when it changed its name to Abilene Christian College. Nine years after that, in 1929, the college picked up and moved to the site it occupies today. The growth was slow at first, the marker is honest about that.

But today, thousands of students are enrolled at Abilene Christian University, more than a hundred years after that first class of twenty-five showed up on a residential block in West Abilene. Twenty-five students. Thousands today.

Colonel Childers sold the land, but he couldn't have known what he was selling it for.

What the marker says

Abilene Christian University began as an educational institution on this block known as the West End residential area. In 1906, Allen Booker Barret, a Tennessee educator and preacher, and five trustees purchased land and a house from Col. John W. Childers. That fall, president Barret, his brother W.S., and Charles H. Roberson opened Childers Classical Institute. The first class comprised 25 students, with 50 enrolling during the school year. In 1920, the institute's name changed to Abilene Christian College and in 1929, moved to its current site. The college grew slowly at first, but today, thousands of students are enrolled at Abilene Christian University, more than 100 years after its founding.