Hereford Christian College

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, out here on the Panhandle, the wind has a way of wearing things down. Buildings, names, ambitions.

But some stories refuse to stay buried, and this is one of them. It starts in 1902, when Hereford College opened its doors as a co-educational public school. Three stories tall, that main building was, brand new and full of promise.

You can almost picture it rising up out of the flat Deaf Smith County landscape, somethin to behold. But promise and money are two different things, and by 1903, the college needed financial support bad enough that it was transferred to the Christian Church. With that transfer came a new name: Add-Ran College.

Then, the very next year, the name changed again, this time to Panhandle Christian College. Two names in two years. Whether that was searching for an identity or just the nature of things out here, the marker doesn't say.

What the marker does say is this: the college was relying on tuition alone for support. Just tuition. No endowment, no patron with deep pockets stepping in.

And on the Panhandle, that is a hard way to keep the lights on. By 1912, the college was forced to close. But those three stories of brownstone didn't sit idle forever.

From 1915 to 1926, that same building housed Hereford High School. The old college walls, still teaching. Now here's the detail that stops you cold.

The marker itself, the one telling you all of this, is mounted on Roswell, New Mexico, brownstone cut from that original main building. The building is gone, but a piece of it is still standing right there, holding the story of everything it once was. Some places leave a marker.

This one left part of itself.

What the marker says

Hereford College opened 1902 as co-educational public school in newly-built three-story main building. By 1903, college was transferred to Christian Church for needed financial support. Renamed Add-Ran College. The next year, name changed to Panhandle Christian College. Relying on tuition alone for support, college was forced to close in 1912. Housed Hereford High School, 1915-26. This marker is mounted on Roswell, New Mexico, brownstone from the old main building. (1966)