Kountze Baptist College

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to do it justice. Somewhere in Hardin County, there's a story about a school that punched well above its weight for nearly two decades, and if you blink driving through Kountze, you might just miss the ground where it all happened. The place was called Kountze Baptist College.

Some folks knew it as Jermany College. Either way, it was built for African American students in this part of Texas, and it was built to last. In 1910, the Trinity Valley Baptist Association opened the school at the primary and secondary grade level.

Now, institutions like this were commonly called colleges at the time, and there was nothing small about what they were trying to do. Professor W.H. Jermany served as president and taught classes himself, alongside four other teachers.

One of those teachers was his wife. Fifteen students walked through the door of that first small wooden building and got to work. And the work was serious.

Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Home Economics, Sewing, Dressmaking and Millinery, Music, Theology. The school had an affiliation with Bishop College in Marshall, a college preparatory academy, a teacher training program, and out on part of its eighty-one-acre campus, a truck farm running an agricultural education program. Eighty-one acres.

This was not a small dream dressed up in modest clothes. The school thrived through the nineteen-tens and into the twenties. That first little wooden building gave way to a larger one, and then in 1915, Kountze Baptist College erected a three-story building, dormitory rooms, classrooms, and a chapel all under one roof.

But time has a way of testing things. By the late nineteen-twenties, Professor Jermany had resigned, replaced by a Professor Schlyde. And then the Great Depression arrived, and the financial difficulties that were already pressing in became something heavier.

The school closed in 1930. Now here's the thing about a place like that. Closing its doors is not the end of the story.

Many of the young African American men and women educated at Kountze Baptist College went on to graduate from college. They carried what they learned here out into the world. The marker says the school served as a source of pride for both blacks and whites in the area, and it left a legacy as an institution of vital importance and significance in Hardin County.

Nearly two decades. Fifteen students in a wooden building, and a legacy that outlasted the building, outlasted the school, outlasted just about everything except the telling.

What the marker says

Kountze Baptist College (also known as Jermany College) served African American students in the area for nearly two decades. In 1910, the Trinity Valley Baptist Association opened the primary and secondary grade level school. Such institutions were often known as colleges at the time. Professor W.H. Jermany served as president of the school and also taught classes along with four other teachers, including his wife. Affiliated with Bishop College in Marshall, the school initially enrolled 15 students housed in a small wooden building. Classes included Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Home Economics and Sewing, Dressmaking and Millinery, Music and Theology. The school also operated a truck farm on part of its 81-acre campus to support its agricultural education programs, and included a college preparatory academy and a teacher training program. Kountze Baptist College thrived in the 1910s and into the 1920s. The small wooden school building was replaced by a larger structure, and in 1915 the school obtained additional land and erected a three-story building which contained dormitory rooms, classrooms and a chapel. By the late 1920s, Professor Jermany had resigned and was replaced by a Professor Schlyde. Because of financial difficulties compounded by the Great Depression, the school closed in 1930. Many of the young African American men and women who were educated here went on to graduate from college. Serving as a source of pride for both blacks and whites in the area, Kountze Baptist College left a legacy as an institution of vital importance and significance in Hardin County. (2007)