DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Mary Allen Seminary, right there in Crockett, Houston County. Now, every good story has a beginning, and this one starts in 1886 — with a plan, a survey, and a whole lot of determination. The Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, under the leadership of its secretary the Reverend Richard Allen, began laying the groundwork for something that hadn't existed yet: a black girls' school in the state of Texas.
They didn't just pick a spot off a map, either. They conducted a statewide survey. Looked around.
Weighed their options. And when the dust settled, they chose Crockett. The area had a large black population, and there was already something worth building on — a local black parochial school, operated by the Reverend Samuel Fisher Tenny, pastor of Crockett's First Presbyterian Church.
That was a foundation, and they knew it. Now, every institution needs someone to make it real before it ever opens its doors — someone working the phones, writing the letters, raising the funds. That someone was Mary Allen, wife of the Reverend Richard Allen.
The school was named for her, and rightly so. She was instrumental in raising the organizational funds that got the whole enterprise off the ground. The seminary grew.
It endured. And then came 1924, when Dr. Byrd R.
Smith became the school's first black president — and with him came a period of growth. New programs were adopted. Male students were admitted.
The place was expanding in ways its founders may never have anticipated. By 1944, Mary Allen had been transferred to the Missionary General Baptist Convention of Texas, and it became something larger still — Mary Allen College, a four-year liberal arts institution. Twelve buildings on campus.
A noted academic program built on quality education and religion. A community of learners where, not so long before, none had been given the chance. But here's where the story turns, as stories sometimes do.
By 1972, the college was plagued by a series of legal and financial setbacks — and the school closed. All of that — the planning, the survey, the naming, the growth, the full flowering of a four-year college — it happened on one piece of ground in Crockett, Texas. And the marker standing there today says it plainly: this site is a reminder of the proud heritage of Texas' black population.
Twelve buildings gone, but the story? That one holds.
What the marker says
In 1886 the Board of Missions for Freedmen of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, under the leadership of the group's secretary the Rev. Richard Allen, began planning for the establishment of a black girls' school in Texas. After a statewide survey, they chose Crockett as the school site because of the area's large black population and because of a local black parochial school operated by the Rev. Samuel Fisher Tenny, pastor of the city's First Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Allen's wife Mary, for whom the school was named, was instrumental in raising the organizational funds for the new seminary. Dr. Byrd R. Smith became the school's first black president in 1924 and initiated a period of growth which included the adoption of new programs and the admission of male students. Transferred to the Missionary General Baptist Convention of Texas in 1944, Mary Allen College became a 4-year liberal arts institution. In 1972, plagued by a series of legal and financial setbacks, the school closed. Once the site of a 12-building campus and the home of a noted academic program of quality education and religion, this site serves as a reminder of the proud heritage of Texas' black population.