DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, picture this: somewhere in the Hill Country of Gillespie County, there stands a hand-cut stone building with a story that burns bright and fast — the way the best stories often do. This is the tale of Fredericksburg College.
The German Methodist Mission Conference of Texas and Louisiana — organized in 1874 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South — they raised up this hall of higher learning, and they raised it to last. Hand-cut stone. You don't do that unless you mean it.
And for a while, they had something real. At its peak, Fredericksburg College drew two hundred and fifty students. Two hundred and fifty.
Some of them came from as far away as Galveston — which, if you know Texas geography, is no short hop. But here's the detail that gets me every time. Some local boys walked ten miles daily to get their education here.
Ten miles. Every day. Not once, not twice — daily.
That tells you something about what learning meant to folks in this corner of Texas. Now, here's where the story turns. The college operated from 1876 to 1884.
That's it. Eight years of open doors, two hundred and fifty students at the high-water mark, boys walking ten miles through the Hill Country to sit in a classroom — and then it was over. But that hand-cut stone building?
It didn't go anywhere. The public school district picked it up and put it back to work. Some buildings outlast their first purpose by finding a second one worth keeping.
This one did exactly that.
What the marker says
Early hall of higher learning, erected by the German Methodist Mission Conference of Texas and Louisiana (organized 1874 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South). Fredericksburg College at its peak had 250 students-- some from far away as Galveston. Many local boys walked 10 miles daily to obtain education here. The college operated only from 1876 to 1884. The hand-cut stone building has been used since by the public school district. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971