DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. There's a building sitting in Marble Falls, Burnet County, that has seen more than its share of life. Two stories of granite, solid as the hill country itself, and it's got a story worth knowing.
A man named Adam R. Johnson donated the land at this very site for its construction. And when that building was completed in 1891, it opened its doors as the Marble Falls Alliance University.
Now picture that. A university, right here. And just to the east of the main building, near Backbone Creek, they put up a wooden boarding house for the students.
So you had young people coming in, settling near the creek, filling up those granite halls with the noise of learning. Then here's where things take a turn. Later that same year, 1891, the property went to a sheriff's sale.
Sold off. But the story doesn't end there, not by a long shot. The building kept on being leased as a tuition school.
The doors stayed open. The lessons kept coming. And then, in 1908, the local voters made their move.
They chose to buy the structure outright. The people of Marble Falls looked at that old granite building and said, this one's ours. And from that date forward, it has been used for classes by the Marble Falls School District.
Donated, completed, sold at sheriff's sale, leased, then finally bought by the community it always served. That building outlasted every chapter written against it.
What the marker says
Adam R. Johnson donated land at this site for construction of the present two-story granite building. Completed in 1891, it originally housed the Marble Falls Alliance University. Near Backbone Creek, east of this main building, a wooden boarding house was built for the students. The property was sold later in 1891 at a sheriff's sale, but continued to be leased for use as a tuition school. In 1908 the local voters chose to buy the structure, and it has been used for classes by the Marble Falls School District since that date.