Clarendon College

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Clarendon College. Now settle in, because this story starts with a single bold idea out on the open panhandle. On April 2, 1898, the Methodist Church Conference organized the first college in the Texas panhandle.

They called it Clarendon College and University Training School, Clarendon College for short. And by September 5 of that same year, the doors were open in the town of Clarendon. Now think about that for a moment.

Spring to fall, an idea became a school. Those first years, the college didn't much stand on ceremony about who could walk through those doors. Courses ran from first grade all the way up through college level.

Whatever you needed, they'd try to get you there. The first class to graduate did so in 1904, and you can imagine that was a day worth celebrating out on those high plains. But here is where the story takes a turn toward the legendary.

February 21, 1903. The Clarendon College Bulldogs line up against the Goodnight College Buffaloes for one of the earliest football games ever played in the Texas panhandle. Now I don't know what the weather was doing that day, but I know the scoreboard said Clarendon 16, Goodnight 10 when it was all over.

The Bulldogs won. Out there in the panhandle, they were writing football history before most folks had even heard the sport was coming their way. The college kept growing, kept reaching.

Dr. George S. Slover took the helm as president and oversaw what the marker calls an expansive period, leading Clarendon to senior college status on September 14, 1926.

They conferred 28 bachelor's degrees before the institution returned to junior college status and came under the direction of the Clarendon School District in 1927. Then came another chapter. Under president Kenneth D.

Vaughan, the college separated from the public school, and a county-wide college district was formed in 1965. And then two sisters changed the shape of things entirely. Etta and Ida Harned left an endowment that allowed the college to leave its historic location and build a modern campus in 1968.

From there, Clarendon kept reaching outward. The college opened its first satellite center in Pampa in 1978, and later opened centers in Childress and Amarillo. Today, Clarendon College remains a cultural center of Donley County and the whole region, still opening doors for students across its service area.

First college in the Texas panhandle, started in 1898, still standing. That's a story the marker is right to tell.

What the marker says

On April 2, 1898, the first college in the Texas panhandle, Clarendon College and University Training School (Clarendon College), was organized by the Methodist Church Conference. The college’s doors opened in the town of Clarendon on September 5, 1898, and for the first few years, courses were offered for students ranging from first grade through college. The college graduated its first class in 1904. On February 21, 1903, the Clarendon College Bulldogs played one of the earliest football games ever held in the Texas panhandle, beating the Goodnight College Buffaloes 16-10. Dr. George S. Slover oversaw an expansive period as president and led Clarendon to become a senior college on September 14, 1926. Clarendon conferred 28 bachelor’s degrees before returning to junior college status and coming under the direction of the Clarendon School District in 1927. Under president Kenneth D. Vaughan, the college separated from the public school and a county-wide college district was formed in 1965. An endowment from Sisters Etta and Ida Harned allowed the college to move from its historic location and build the modern campus in 1968. Clarendon College opened its first satellite center in Pampa in 1978 and later opened centers in Childress and Amarillo. Clarendon College remains a cultural center of Donley County and the region and continues to provide students in its service area an opportunity for higher education. (2015)