Hardin-Simmons University

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to honor every word. Settle in. Somewhere out on the West Texas plains, in the year 1891, a particular combination of folks got together that you don't see every day.

Cattlemen. Preachers. And the Sweetwater Baptist Association.

Now, that is a committee with range. What they organized was Abilene Baptist College, and from that unlikely starting point, something genuinely remarkable would grow. The first building they put up needed finishing funds, and a New York pastor by the name of James B.

Simmons stepped forward and donated what was needed to get it done. The school honored that by naming itself after him. That first building, by the way, was doing a lot of heavy lifting.

It housed the president, it housed the classes, and it housed the women students, all under one roof. The men, meanwhile, were living in a nearby barn-like structure that somebody had the nerve, or maybe the poetry, to call Valhalla. The hall of the fallen Norse warriors.

For a college dormitory in Abilene, Texas. I appreciate the ambition. The early presidents left their marks.

O. C. Pope, missionary and editor both.

Oscar Henry Cooper, called a renowned educator. And then Jefferson Davis Sandefer, who served from 1909 to 1940, a term during which the school made extensive growth. Thirty-one years of building something bigger than what he found.

By the time you add up all the souls who have passed through those doors, you get approximately forty-four thousand students enrolled and ten thousand degrees conferred. Those graduates went into business, into medicine, law, teaching, engineering. Ministers and lay workers went on to serve in hundreds of pulpits, and not just in Texas, not just in the country.

On all continents. Students have come from many states and from foreign countries to study there. And then there are the Cowboys.

That's the athletic teams. And the Cowboy band, which the marker calls famous nationally, has played in forty-five states and on three continents. A band born out of West Texas cattle country, and it traveled the world.

You can't make that up. Well, I couldn't. The marker didn't have to.

The name changed over the years. Simmons University in 1925. Then, in 1934, after generous benefactions from John G. and Mary Hardin, it became Hardin-Simmons University, the name it carries today.

Since 1940, the Baptist General Convention of Texas has guided the school, and most of the buildings standing on campus now were constructed after 1945. Cattlemen and preachers on the West Texas plains, pooling their hopes and their dollars, calling their men's dormitory Valhalla, and somehow pointing a school toward all continents. That is exactly the kind of story that deserves to be told out loud.

What the marker says

Organized as Abilene Baptist College by cattlemen, preachers, and Sweetwater Baptist Association in 1891. Named for New York pastor, James B. Simmons, after he donated funds for completing the first building, which housed the president, classes, and women students during school's early years. Men lived in nearby barn-like structure, "Valhalla." Noted early presidents were the missionary-editor, O. C. Pope, Oscar Henry Cooper, renowned educator; and Jefferson Davis Sandefer, in whose term (1909-1940) the school made extensive growth. Approximately 44,000 students have been enrolled, and 10,000 degrees conferred. Ex-students enter business and the professions, including medicine, law, teaching, engineering; ministers and lay workers serve in hundreds of pulpits and on all continents. Students come from many states and foreign countries. Athletic teams are "Cowboys"; the "Cowboy" band, famous nationally, has played in 45 states and on 3 continents. Renamed Simmons University, 1925; and Hardin-Simmons in 1934, after generous benefactions by John G. and Mary Hardin. Since 1940, guided by the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Most of extant buildings have been constructed since 1945. (1967)