Louisa Renshaw Covey

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, if you had to picture the kind of woman who could help build not one, not two, but three colleges in nineteenth-century Texas, you might start with Philadelphia. That's where Louisa Renshaw was born, a long way, in every sense, from the brush country of South Texas.

In 1845 she married Dr. J.V.E. Covey, a Baptist minister and teacher, and whatever plans they had for a settled life back East, Texas had other ideas.

By the 1850s, the two of them had come to this state as missionary-teachers, and that word (missionary) tells you something about the kind of people they were. They weren't coming for the easy money. They were coming because they believed something needed doing.

Her associates regarded Louisa as a gifted instructor, and that reputation wasn't idle flattery. You don't help build three colleges on flattery. In 1857, she and her husband established Alma Institute at Hallettsville.

That was the first. Then the Civil War came sweeping through everything, the way it did, rearranging what was possible and what wasn't; and right in the middle of it, the Coveys stood up Concrete College near Cuero. Most folks were trying to hold things together during those years.

These two were building. And then, in 1881, McMullen College at Tilden. Three colleges.

Three towns. One woman who showed up in every chapter, gifted and steady, while the world around her kept shifting. The marker that remembers her stands right here in McMullen County, which, if you've been paying attention, is exactly where that third college put down its roots.

What the marker says

Born in Philadelphia; married Dr. J.V.E. Covey, Baptist minister and teacher, in 1845. They came to Texas during the 1850's as missionary-teachers. Regarded by her associates as a gifted instructor, Mrs. Covey aided her husband in founding and operating three colleges. In 1857 they established Alma Institute at Hallettsville; then during the Civil War, Concrete College near Cuero; an in 1881, McMullen College at Tilden. Recorded -- 1969